|
|
|
|
|
History The building of this railway began in 1858, under the presidency of Don Carlos Antonio Lopez. Like so many others on the continent, it is claimed to have been the first in South America. ;-3) It was built by British engineers and technicians contracted in Europe by the Paraguayan government of President Don Carlos Antonio Lopez. The first section of the line was opened in 1861. Interrupted by the War of the Triple Alliance, the construction resumed after peace was signed, but then under the private ownership of a British company. The line now extends as far as Encarnation, 440 kilometres away on the Argentine border, where it connects to the Argentine North Eastern Railway. Technical Stuff The track was originally laid at 5'6" (1.65 m) gauge, like many of those built in Argentina and Brazil; but when the rails finally reached Encarnacion, the North Western Railway that ran from Buenos Aires to Posadas, on the other side of the Parana River, used the standard 4'8'1/2 gauge, and so the whole track had to be regauged to allow through-running all the way to Buenos Aires. It is interesting to notice that, apart from two engines built in 1953, all the engines on the railway were built between 1910 and 1914 by British builders straight after the re-gauging of the line, and so does a lot of the heavy equipment used on the railway (see the picture loco30 for the builders plate on the turntable in Asuncion). The track was laid following usual British practice of the time, using bullhead rails held in chairs spiked to hardwood sleepers. The only "signalling" used on the railway was a gong on the platform in Asuncion, to warn passengers of the impending departure of the train. An electric telegraph was used to let stations communicate together. One of the original engines
"Sapukai", still in 5'6" gauge, is exposed on a plinth in the San
Francisco Central Station, with a plaque recording it pulled the
inaugural train to Trinidad on the 21st of October 1861. It was run
again in 1961 for the centenary celebrations, running on compressed air
and on a third rail hastily provided for the last 300 m of track into
the station. Other Lines There are a
number of
other railway lines in the North of the country, both in standard and
narrow (1 metre and 60 cm) gauges totalling over 600 kilometres of
track, that
connect various places to ports on the the Paraguay river. They were all
steam-hauled, and were
technically goods-only lines. I do not have any information on their
use for carrying passengers, but I have read that they were used to
transport troops during the Chaco War and that one (Puerto Casado) was
used to carry
immigrants in the fifties when the Mennonite colons came to settle in
the Chaco region. The information I have received is that they appear to have all stopped operating, although there were plans to revive the Puerto Casado line as a steam-hauled tourist attraction. The Future Following a derailment in 2000 in which a young girl passenger was killed, the last tourist passenger service that ran at week-ends between Asuncion and Ypacaray has been suppressed and the line is now completely closed. The prospects for a return of trains to the San Francisco station now look impossible, since the formation has now been taken over by a street building scheme. Still there are talks of restoring a touristic train from a station outside the city centre to Ypacaray, if the towns involved can bring together the means and the political will to do it. Should this scheme work out, the plan would be to move the engine shed, water tank and turntable from their present location outside the San Francisco Station to the Estacion Botanico on the fringe of the town; the railway owns enough land there to make this move possible. The use of the
railway for goods transport, including through to Argentina and the
Atlantic coast, has now stopped and its future is under grave threat
since the construction of the Yacyreta hydro-electric dam. The
formation will be drowned under the waters of the lake for over 40
kilometres, and there is little hope of seing it rebuilt since the
indemnities already paid by the Yacyreta project for reinstating the
railway track seem to have mysteriously "disappeared". I hope to visit the engine sheds in Sapukai this summer, and will post more pictures then. Late News (07/2006) As a result of
the posting of the above, I have received the following email from the
FCPDCAL: The wood-fired
steam tourist train is now (2006) running again to Aregua every
Saturday and Sunday, with plans to extend the working to Ypacaray and
Sapukai later. But sadly, the
above link to the official site seldom seems to work..... The whole of
Puerto Casado has now been expropriated by the State, which put in dire
jeopardy any plans to revive that line for tourists. The Pictures You can see (or download) the full pictures in another frame / tab by clicking (or shift-clicking) on the links on the right. Beware, some of the files are big. All the pictures on this page are ©Renaud OLGIATI 1999-2004. You are hereby
given the licence to use those pictures for
non-commercial purposes, on the condition that you acknowledge the
rights of the copyright holder. For commercial use, contact me by email
If needed, I have the pictures loco30 and higher in 1600x1200; just ask. The pictures loco01 to 14 were
taken in September 2001. loco21 to 28 in October 2002 during one of the last runs to Ypacaray, and loco31 to 38 in January 2004, just after the San Francisco station was cut off from the rail network. Loco99 is in the empty South, at
a level crossing near Maciel
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
If you are interested in steam, you may care to visit the
sites of
the two pioneers of steam railway preservation in Wales, the Talyllwyn Railway |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
If you want more information on this little-known but
beautiful country, you will find here a number of |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Back to the Olgiati Family in Paraguay web-site
TRENZE 22/01/2006 ©Renaud OLGIATI
|
|
|
links