Well you do have me at a disadvantage, seeing as how I've never been there............. :huh: But, assuming you haven't skipped over a few tunnels, I'd say that might be the Rio Chinipas off to your right. You ought to be approaching the Rio Chinipas bridge (maybe one more tunnel to pass through first). By the way, the Rio Chinipas bridge is the highest bridge on the line, at 295 feet high and 767 feet long. Or am I skipping ahead??? :worried:
Not at all, we are right between Tunnel #84 and Tunnel #83 before reaching the bridge after that. Wasn't sure if you might have more information on the area than I have from the trip is all. You will see in the next few images just how low the water table was from the lack of rain in the canyon. I have the bridge listed as 335 feet above the water and 1,000 feet long in both the book and tour guide from the trip.
Let's go with your figures. More impressive that way. I really need to make this trip................
By the way, did you ever buy (or see) the Pentrex tape on the Copper Canyon? It would make a nice companion to your own video. The two books that I have on the route include John Leeds Kerr's "Destination Topolobampo", which is the full history of the route, from it's inceptions. It's also the source of my incorrect bridge dimensions. I also have Joseph Wampler's "New Rails to Old Towns", which is much shorter and has more info on the surrounding area (not 100% train related). Both are out of print but can be found on ebay. Regards Ed
This is what I have for reference material on this route BOOK: Copper Canyon Chihuahua Mexico By Richard D. Fisher (2005) TOUR: A Closer Look Tours - Copper Canyon Tour (Sergio Garcia) VIDEO: America's Scenic Rail Journeys - The Copper Canyon VIDEO: What I recorded during the trip itself Offical Pocket Size Route Map for the Copper Canyon Express
How good is the America's Scenic Rail Journeys video? Worth me chasing a copy? How about the Fisher book. About how much is directed at the rail journey as opposed to info on the area or the local culture? I can find that on Amazon, it's just not clear about how much is rail related. Is the tour item some type of guide that the tour company provided? Thanks Ed
The America's Scenic Rail Journeys (~54 Minutes) is something I rented from the Library and is a good resource of the line. It runs like a professional built railfan trip report (starting in Nogales to Creel) with lots of great airial shots and historical information from end to end of the route. It follows a tour group into the area with some side trips and stops into towns along the way so you get a good introduction into life along the railway as well as the RR trip itself. Copyright 1997 The Fisher book is mostly on the area and little about the railway itself. The other is something the tour company thenselves put toghether for our entire trip which Day#4 was on the RR section of our tour. Gives some highlights at Km. Post numbers so you have ideas of what you are seeing where but not much detail beyond that. Like most my RR videos now I try to catch as many Signs & MP (or in this case KP) as possible within the video to help document where along the route I'm at plus it also gives a feel for speed of travel since I know the timestamp of when they were passed. I then can take the timestamps off of Lisa's camera shots and get them placed into sequence with the video to build our own DVD productions of our adventures. When I can get more insight from people like you it only adds to the overall expereince we gain from these adventures. This is a great trip that any Railfan would enjoy and we look forward to doing this again; maybe as a 2+ day roundtrip from end to end next time. :lightbulb: :lightbulb: :lightbulb: :lightbulb:
Then you might want to look for the Kerr book. It's a good read, and is all railroad. After the fact, but lots of information about the construction.
We do plan to take this trip at least once more, hopfully a 2+ roundtrip tour from end to end, so I will definitly check out the Kerr book! Thanks!
Holy Macaroni! And I thout 55 tunnels from Denver-Craig CO was a lot... WOW! I need to make this trip now...:shade:
86 tunnels in 420 miles sounds pretty good. It sounds even better when you realize that 84 of those occur between km 555 and km 755. That is 84 tunnels in 120 miles. :yes:
Jeez! Why was this route built? Certainly that amount of tunnels would be pricey to construct, and if it weren't for the Yampa coal fields, the DNW&P/D&SL/D&RGW would have gone under decades ago...
Video time? Sounds like this might be a good point to put another video clip together to show this latest section in sound & motion. To help set the stage, the time it took from the "El Descanso" sign to the Rio Chinipas Trestle was about 12 minutes and we passed through Tunnels #86, #85, #84, & #83. All this between Km post 754 to 748; about 3.75 miles of distance. :computer: :computer: :computer: :computer:
Without going into a long history of the line (although we could if you so desire), the entire route was originally seen as the shortest distance between the mid-west and the Pacific Ocean. It started life around 1902 as the Kansas City, Mexico, and Orient RR, built by Arthur Stillwell (of KCS fame). They got the easy parts built first. That is, the from the mid-west almost to the Texas/Mexico border, the relatively east stretch in northern Mexico (up to the top of the Sierra Madre), and the last 80 miles or so from the Pacific east to where the tunnels begin. Then the railroad ran out of steam for various reasons, probably including the fact that they realized how badly they had underestimated the difficulty of building through the mountains, lack of traffic (on a discontinuous mainline) and the Mexican Revolution. Fast forward 20 or so years, and the Mexican portion of the road has come under control of the government, who now propose to complete the line in order to give them an outlet from northern Mexico to the Pacific. Work starts in the mid-40's on closing the gap. Pace of work increases in the 50's, and the line is finally completed in 1961. Today, in addition to being a famous tourist/passenger train trip, they are indeed routing some container traffic coming from Asia through this line to the mid-west. That's the quick version. But just since you asked........ Regards Ed
