INTERNATIONAL STEAM - Key Persons
Chris Capewell (chriscapewell AT googlemail.com) has provided the following data, he would greatly appreciate additions, corrections and confirmation for data with a yellow background.
Chris Lewis was in Bolivia in September 2004 (24th October 2004) and reports noting six steam locomotives in Guaqui on Lake Titicaca. Ian Thomson adds "The locomotives at Guaqui are, for the most part, as in "World of South Américan Steam", from some 30 years ago. The saddle tank is a Peckett. The main changes over the past decades have been: (i) Hunslet 2-8-0 No. 10 was sent to the stillborn Museo at Sucre (although where it is at right now I have no idea), I think bearing the makers' plates from No. 9; (ii) a couple of locomotives have been cut up, Nos. 4 and 6 if I remember correctly, but I'll have to check; (iii) No. 704 was sent to Guaqui from the Uyuni-Villazón line, initially to work tourist trains under an also stillborn arrangement with Wagon-Lits. No. 704, which was built by ALCO was operable until some seven years ago, at least, and I rented it a few times for tour groups. Also operable was No. 9. All the locomotives belong to residual ENFE. I included Nos. 9 and 704 in the list of rolling stock which should be declared national monuments. No. 704 is the only non F.C. de Guaqui machine at Guaqui. The 1939 diesel No. 1 is dumped at Viacha, or at least was when I was last there a few years ago."
Ian Thomson reports on his latest visit (11th November 2003): "In Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Nos. 544 and 796 have been placed in a shed specially constructed for them in the Ferrocarril Oriental workshop area. They are visible from the street. No. 544 is operable, and I am told regularly appears on a local TV ad. The Company seems to be investing quite heavily in refurbishing passenger equipment for tourist charters. All other dumped steam locomotives have disappeared, presumably for scrap, except the remains of an ex-FCAB Vulcan Foundry 4-8-2. I am told that the locomotives dumped at Roboré are still there. Roboré is shortly to become less inaccessible, since a highway is being built, parallel to the railway, between Santa Cruz and Puerto Suarez/Corumbá. Once opened, the Railway will withdraw regular passenger services." Marcelo Benoit questions this last statement (3rd August 2007), "The railway has invested heavily to COMPETE with buses despite the opening of the road (I cannot call it a highway)." For recent pictures of the steam graveyard at Uyuni, see http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/01/train-graveyard-in-bolivia.html (thanks to Trevor Heath for this one, 5th March 2008, this site cannot be accessed from China)
Torsten Schneider saw no live steam in October 2001 but some interesting relics including the famous graveyard at Uyuni (24th October 2001). CRJ 104 reported a return to steam at Santa Cruz in August 1995. Ian Thomson reports (14th May 1997) "The guy in charge of liquidating ENFE's assets, whom I have known personally for around 20 years, went to look at the Vulcans and the Hitachi in Cochabamba over the weekend. I am hopeful that at least two of the bunch can be saved and put back into working order, one of them in Chile. I have been invited by the Ferrocarril Oriental to work out a project for tourist trains, and hope to do so in the first week of June. Steam could be used on a part of the runs. No. 544 is no longer working but is being kept nice and clean in the depot at Santa Cruz, and I presume No. 796 must be available too, although I did not see it last time I was in Santa Cruz."
Colin Churcher has sent me an account of his trip there in 1995. Manfred Schoeler sent me a report of his visit in August and September 1996 with two of his pictures. See also the TUT report (3rd Dec 1998) for details of then current activity.
Edward Buchanan was in Botswana at the end of March 2015 and reports that steam is still hanging on with two of the 19Ds steamed each day although only one actually goes out on the line. With low prices for the mine's products, there still seems no urgency to invest in diesels. We shall see (14th April 2015). Warwick Falconer reports "Depending on whom I asked but was informed that their 19Ds will be used for 2 more years. Visited from 8th - 11th June. The sole ex-Zimbabwe loco 804 and SAR 806 were in use, 813 replaced 804 during the visit. 812 has received an overhaul, she was 99% completed and was told would steam the week commencing 15th June. The working diagram was unchanged since 2014, shift change 7am, 3pm, 11pm. Locos were on shed daily from 7am for at least 2 hours having minor maintenance done. Daylight hours saw 2 return trips to the shafts and a stores train (latter runs as required)."(23rd June 2015)
Fabrice Lanoue spent a week in the country in April 2011, he has produced a two part illustrated report the first of which covers Esquel, the second part covers other locations (17th May 2011).
Gerald Peacock tells me (16th January 2015) that 18 has been returned to operation on the San Lorenzo Railway north of Quito between Ibarra and Otavalo. There is even a suggestion of the web that it may have been used on regular services (http://www.ferrolatino.ch/en/news/ecuador/) but I think this was wishful thinking. Videos of the inaugural train are available - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEsN3tW5gII and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUXtwkDALe4 (you can stop watching the second one after 40 seconds). Gerald writes further (16th May 2015) "Hi Rob, lots of action in Ecuador, see one recent video of no14 running https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AphsgK9YIBo, I never thought this would happen. So now we have 5 locos operational 11, 14, 18, 53 and 58. However the atmosphere of the old railway is gone, but you can't have everything." Marc Enderby joined a 2015 tour which featured, in part, 14, 53 and 58 (12th October 2015), there was a similar American tour a little earlier. Kevin Hoggett was here in October 2017 and I have now uploaded his much delayed report (15th August 2020).
Graham Roberts has sent a picture of 2257 in store in Togo (21st December 2002). A visitor in April 2004 found the two YPs still in store and still in good condition (5th May 2004). Mike Clendining has provided an update on the YPs and the indigenous steam locomotive, a bit delayed, from his October 2006 visit (21st May 2007).For the latest report on railways in Togo and the YPs in particular, I have Thomas Kautzor's report of a December 2007 visit (29th February 08). Martin Potts confirms that the 'steam' situation remains unchanged in October 2012 (15th October 2012).
Ian Martin referred me to a 2012 book "Mazungu, Canoeing the Congo" which includes a picture taken on 16th August 2008 of a derelict steam locomotive, said to be one of three, at Kongolo on the Lualaba River. You can read about the trip on http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2012/jan/27/canoeing-the-congo-river and its official website is http://www.canoeingthecongo.com (link broken by 1st November 2018). It appears that this is one from the two earlier batches of 20 Tubize 2-6-0s built for the C.F. du Congo Supérieur aux Grands Lacs Africains (CFL) between 1913 and 1925. Originally metre gauge, the railway was converted to cape gauge (1067mm) when it became linked to the main Congo system (Chemins de Fer Bas Congo au Katanga (BCK). Thanks to Thomas Kautzor and Peter Bagshawe for the identification (27th May 2013). I have failed to find a picture of these on the web, but the three volumes of "Le Rail au Congo Belge" contain over a dozen pictures of locos of the class. (Perhaps not surprisingly these out of print books are 'scarce' and priced accordingly when available.) Now with the assistance of the intrepid traveller concerned, Phil Harwood, I have pictures of the locomotives. The first two are screen shots from his video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJqTYZRQ3rg, note that the second is a less than perfect 'Photoshop job' using two adjacent frames and these show that the other two locomotives belong to a batch of 2-8-2s built by Haine St Pierre in 1950 (30th May 2013).The third is a normal digital image - as usual click on the thumbnail for a larger view.
Ivor Kelly advises that there is a book on the historical side of the Ecuador Railway "The Redemptive Work - railway and nation in Ecuador 1895-1930" by A. Kim Clark, ISBN 0-8420-2674-6"
James Waite was here in October 2014 and apart from some stunning pictures he has written about the history of the line and its steam locomotives (13th December 2014).
James Waite was here in April 2012 and was treated to royal hospitality. Read about what he found (more loco information 10th May 2012), Thomas Kautzor has provided an update including the establishment of a museum (6th November 2015). Thomas also advises that there is a small preserved saddle tank at the port of Acajutla (18km from Sonsonate) - see http://soyacajutlense5.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/acajutla-historicamente.html (12th October 2016). See my railway museums pages for more information (22nd January 2018)
James Waite was here on holiday and sent me a report of preserved steam and other gems (14th September 2005). Torsten Schneider has since sent a further report which adds significantly to it (24th January 2007). Thomas Kautzor has added considerably to this account following his own February 2012 visit (23rd February 2012), to which I have later added pictures of two preserved diesels at Labourdonnais Sugar Mill (3rd September 2013).Several of these locomotives were reported still present in March 2022 (29th March 2022), but two could not be found - please see the individual reports, there is a 14th June 2022 update..
Marcelo Benoit has provided a pictorial record of steam activities in Uruguay in 2007/8 (6th March 2009).
Marcelo Benoit reports that 2005's Heritage Day celebrations on September 24th and 25th (added 22nd October 2005) included AUAR's steam crane exhibited by ANP on Montevideo Port dockside.
Little has been heard from Uruguay for some time so I was very happy to receive a report of Fabrice Lanoue's brief stopover in the country (17th May 2011). Following this, Marcelo Benoit has sent me a summary of steam activity covering 2009, 2010 and the early part of 2011, basically N120 has been the backbone of the steam programme, sadly CEFU 3 has still not worked for a while, click the link for the full illustrated report (9th June 2011). CEFU's 119 has now steamed, see a short video of a test run in April 2011 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8artIIed0gw (9th July 2011).
After another long break, Marcelo has sent further pictures from 2011 - 12 including some other static preserved items (updated 2nd May 2013)
Martin Coombs has his own site covering the 'Railways of the Far South' (2nd December 2002) including information on several present and former narrow gauge railways. Martin wrote a brief report of his December 2000 but pressure of work meant it was delayed (added 22nd February 2001).
Martin Potts was in Moatize in August 2012 and reports that some half a dozen steam locomotives remain in the shed and its immediate surroundings in varying condition, including the two Mallets which have been here dumped for the best part of 50 years (27th August 2012). There are at least 4 locomotives at Inhambane in 'better than derelict' condition and the workshops here are an absolute treasure, http://www.flickr.com/photos/quadralectics/sets/72157631062183164/with/7780103594/, added 25th September 2012. Martin Potts visited Inhambane in March 2019 and reports that of the rolling stock only 'preserved' tenderless 2-8-0 6 survives together with the derelict roofless workshop with its machinery. Everything else including track, bridges etc was apparently scrapped by a Chinese contractor 'about six years ago' (28th March 2019).
Martyn Bane has visited the Rio Turbio system and an extensive report (1st February 2004) of his visit covering the remaining steam locomotives was posted on his own site (some of which now appears on http://www.martynbane.co.uk/modernsteam/ldp/rfirt/santafes.htm), similarly a visit to the FCAF, http://www.martynbane.co.uk/modernsteam/smcmahon/fcaf/fcafjan04.htm (link dead by April 2015, 2nd February 2004). It seems that tourist steam may start to operate at Rio Turbio (11th March 2004).
Neil Edwards was here with a tour group in August 2009 and reports on his visit (23rd August 2009).
Neil Edwards has sent pictures of two metre gauge preserved locomotives at Estacio Ferroviaria, Cruzeiro (23rd August 2009).
Neil Edwards was on the LCGB/Enthusiast Holidays tour in October 2008 and has sent a brief report on the current state of the railway (14th November 2008). Thomas Kautzor was on the FarRail tour in March 2009 and stayed on to explore the extension to Keren which may one day be reinstated (6th April 2009),Thomas Kautzor was back on another FarRail tour in January 2010 (22nd February 2010) and Paul Dorsemagen similarly in March 2011 (12th April 2011).
Renaud Olgiati reports (10th February 2012) that the works at Sapucay are now rightly considered a tourist attraction and are in part open to the public. Realistic plans exist to re-open the whole railway - read his report. He also reports (27th May 2012) that "the management of Azucarera Paraguaya at Tebicuary have plans to turn what remains of their steam rolling stock en engines, both SG and MG, into a railway museum in the grounds of the Azucarera". Neil Edwards was here in August 2009 and you can read about what was left then. A widely syndicated article by Associated Press has appeared (search for this phrase "Paraguay breathes new life to its steam train") which records that short steam hauled journeys are being offered from Sapucay, although the picture captions say Asunción! (18th October 2012). Renaud Olgiati has provided an update which show that steam was almost certainly working at Encarnación earlier in 2012 although it may well have now ceased. Additionally the steam tourist service has been halted yet again, but hopefully a new service will run again from Luque in the not too distant future (22nd October 2012).
President Ricardo Lagos joined the train halfway along its journey from San Fernando, 133 km south from Santiago on the main line, and Santa Cruz, an intermediate station but the one where the main festivities took place. He declared the Wine Train officially inaugurated at a well orchestrated ceremony held at Santa Cruz. Just about everything went right on the day. Two weeks before, on the trial run, the 1913 vintage Chilean built but North British designed 2-6-0 No. 607 had produced a lot of smoke but hardly enough steam to activate the whistle, but on the 14th it did everything asked of it. It was still coal burning which at the end of the summer caused concern that the sparks could set on fire the very vineyards that the Train is meant to promote. But, even though on the day, after a murky start, the sun shone through, there was overnight rain, which eliminated serious fire risk.
Richard Wallace reported on a November 2012 RTC trip (17th December 2012).
Marcelo Benoit (28th June 1999) has sent the a large number of pictures covering preserved locomotives in the country and I have added a second set of photos (10th May 2000). I have added more pictures of preserved locomotives (1st November 2001) which includes a preserved narrow gauge (Luttermöller to me but the owner says Klien Lindner) 0-10-0 shades of Java, Indonesia. Carlos Alberto
I have since added a third page - picture left - covering some of the locomotives of the Ferroviario Club del Central Argentino (http://www.fcca.org.ar) in Perez, Santa Fe (updated 9th October 2012).
Robin Patrick has provided an illustrated report of the November 2008 RTC trip which included some of the locations above (9th December 2008), while Bill Longley-Cook somewhat later has provided a different perspective (16th August 2009). Neil Edwards was here with a tour group in August 2009 and reports on his brief visit to Posadas for the 'preserved locomotives' (23rd August 2009). Frank Ludwig reports on preserved steam at Posadas, Concepción del Uruguay and Tandil (28th April 2013).
Robin Patrick has provided an illustrated report of the November 2008 RTC trip which included some of the locations below (9th December 2008), while Bill Longley-Cook somewhat later has provided a different perspective (16th August 2009). Richard Wallace's November 2012 report covers the wine train (suspended), and trips with 620 (Valdivia) and 820 (Temuco), (17th December 2012).
Rod Peel has sent (via Chris Hodrien) this picture of a preserved 4-6-0 at Santa Cruz. It didn't take too long to work out that it was not represented on this site, but it did take a while for the experts to come up with the suggestion that it is "EFBB (EF Brazil - Bolivia) 4 which was the only 4-6-0 it was Alco-Cooke 1921 and Ex RU Cearense" - data from Walker & Binns "Railways of Bolivia" (4th May 2016)
Steve Pratt joined a Brazilian Steam Safari in September 2008 and has provided a list of active and other steam locos seen (7th October 2008).
Thomas Kautzor has been to Haiti to seek out what little is left of its railway heritage, including one preserved steam locomotive - read his report (24th May 2014). Should you, like me, be unfamiliar with its railway history, Thomas has also provided some background.
Ton Mulder has sent me some pictures of dumped steam locomotives in this former Dutch colony. I have now posted these and added some background information supplied by Chris Walker (more information 1st May 2000, roster corrected 2nd April 2013, updated 28th November 2013). Ton now reports (16th May 2001) that a Dutch business has signed a letter of intent with the Surinam Government to reactivate up to 90km of the line.
Well, that was the theory. In practice, Hans Scherpenhuizen tells me he visited Onverwacht on 26 January 2005 (report added 21st March 2005). The situation was more or less the same as depicted in 2000. No restoration had taken place. The station canopy had collapsed, which means the rolling stock was left in the open to disintegrate. One engine seems to have moved to a plinth at the adjacent road to the station: the 0-4-0 tank engine must be 'Dam'. Here are two of the pictures he sent, the second locomotive is Breda built 'Para'.
Trevor Heath reports that he found both 'new' Garratts present in March 2017, although no work was being done on them, behind the scenes spare part acquisition is going ahead and machine work being lined up. It is likely that they will be moved to the former ZR running shed where the overhead crane can be utilised (23rd March 2017). Dave Hallett has provided a current status report for June 2018, which is appended to his Zimbabwe report (1st July 2018). Good news is that 523 is now more or less complete, Trevor Heath tells me it was due to go out for a test run on the Mulobezi line on 1st October 2019 (1st October 2019). Dave Hallet has now sent a 2023 update, to which I have now added more optimistic extra from George Shields (20th July 2023).
Trevor Staats was in Botswana in August 2000, steam is still hard at work (report 4th September 2000). Jonathan Duvel was here in July 1999 (13th September 1999) and steam still works here - read his report. The previous visitor I know of was Peter-H. Patt in May 1997, read his brief report on BCL, Selebi Phikwe with their Garratts from Zimbabwe ...... Trevor Heath was here in July 2001, quite steamy too (27th September 2001) and Trevor Staats was back shortly afterwards (1st November 2001) and again in July 2002 (pictures added 4th September 2002). Chas Rickwood was here in May 2003 (added 22nd May 2003) "I had a 2-day visit to Selebi Phikwe where both the active steam locos were ex RR/NRZ, ie a 19th class and a 14A."
An update to the earlier reports (20th March 2009) is that the Garratts are for sale but the mine is still using its 19th 4-8-2's daily, indeed I have heard that they are buying a further such locomotive from Wankie (Hwange) Colliery in Zimbabwe, possibly for spares (16th July 2009). Later it was reported that the Garratts will be sent to New Zealand (20th May 2009). A brief July 2007 report (15th August 2007) suggests that there is at least one diesel here which shares the line work with one or more of the 19th class steam locomotives. The ex-RR 14A was serviceable but not used regularly. Although coal is expensive and of variable quality, the limited life of the mine decreases the chances of steam's total replacement. Jens Ingemann sent an illustrated report of an August 2007 visit (12th September 2007). The Rovos Railtour was here on 18th April 2008 and Colin Young sent me this picture of Class 19 LO 804 in action - the only locomotive seen in steam (1st June 2008).