Innholdsfortegnelse for February - March 2024 i Locomotives International

Introduction Imagine a parallel universe were 55-year-old English Electric designed (and in some cases built) locomotives are trusted with 200-mile round trips day in, day out, which they perform with aplomb. Sounds unbelievable? Thankfully this is not yet a dream, but a daily reality on the “Linha Do Douro” in northern Portugal. However, if you wish to experience it yourself you must be quick, as a combination of ongoing line electrification and the introduction of bi-modal diesel multiple units in the coming years will most likely limit future opportunities to tourist specials. Given the planned changes and limited options for locomotive hauled trains at “home” in the UK and of course the great weather, a visit to Portugal to experience the line first hand was long overdue. The first trip…

Contributions for this section should be sent to the Editorial Office, with the following exceptions: • Southern Africa - John Middleton, c/o Editorial Office. Email: johnmiddleton3401@gmail.com • South America - Lionel Price, 9, Liverpool Road West, Oswestry, Shropshire, SY11 1PE. Email: jldprice@btinternet.com • Spain & Portugal - Joan Carles Salmeron, c/o Editorial Office. Email: cet@terminus.cat Contributions which are primarily photographic in nature should all be sent to the Editorial Office to give the best choice of material for covers etc. Similarly historical articles and features should be sent to the Editor. The Editor's contact details are inside the front cover. AFRICA ANGOLA A further report has been received on the former CF Benguela, now operated under a concession as the Lobito - Atlantic Railway (LAR). The concession, which started operating…

POLAND 2-8-2 Pt47.65 returned to timetabled passenger service on 7 November, working its normal two round trips to Leszno until 10 November, then 13-17 November. On Sat 18 November it worked the steam rostered afternoon turn to Poznan for the first time in quite a while, then to Leszno again on 20/21 November. The Depot then said it was needed for specials in the run up to Christmas, which in reality were worked by a large Su46 diesel which was sent to Wolsztyn and is still there. The Leszno and Poznan scheduled turns have been worked by the Sm42 diesel (based at the Depot) since 22 November. From the 10th December timetable change the nominally steam turns were revised to 14h 14 Wolsztyn - Zbaszynek 15h06/15h30 - Wolsztyn 16h 16…

INTERNATIONAL (Peru - Chile) For two short periods in 2023, two daily pairs of trains were run on the Tacna-Arica line, firstly in late August to celebrate the city of Tacna's birthday, and again in late September in connection with a gastronomic event “Peru con mucho gusto”; there had been criticism of the complete lack of trains during Holy Week in April, when complaints had been raised as to the negative effect on tourism on both sides of the border. FC News via Samuel Rachdi ARGENTINA Following his election as president of Argentina on November 19 2023, Javier Milei has begun to implement his plans for transport provision in the country, and it is possible that that the negative effect on rail transport will be even worse than happened in…

Two 762mm gauge railways in China First, the cold, the very cold. At the turn of 1991-92 we spent nine days in northeastern China photographing trains hauled by JS class 2-8-2s on the Tonghua-Baihe railway. As was typical of China at the time, the passengers and frequent freight workings on this singie-tracked secondary main line were smartly operated. The line undulated and the locos worked hard through scenery which, if not spectacular, was very decent. It was, all in all, a very good way to spend Christmas and New Year. It was also the coldest I have ever been in my life. One morning, at Daoqing, we recorded a low of-28°C, and that was one of the few times we actually bothered to look at the thermometer. These sort of…

In what was my second trip with the SNCF Society, the participants met at Tonbridge to depart for the Channel Tunnel as a coach party at 7am on the 23/6/2012. Briefly, my first trip with this group was on 31/5/2008, when we went to St Quentin, for a visit to the CFTV (see LI issue 135) for travel to Origny and back. Originally the 2012 visit was to utilize the Verney autorail (railcar) X212 of 1950, but as this hadn't completed its overhaul and repaint, it wasn't therefore ready in time. However when I revisited this railway on the 27/4/2013 for the Fête de la Vapeur en Baie de Somme, this vehicle was in service and better still, ‘was had for mileage’! Returning to the previous year, our visit was…

Honshu is a mountainous island. It also has its Alps, the Nihon Arupusu (日本アルプス) or Japanese Alps, comprising three distinct ranges, running from north to south across the island. In Toyama Prefecture there are four unique mountain railways. Two of these are commercial systems, to which a third, integrating two of the others, is to be opened to the public in 2024… White Coal in the Devil River valley An environmentally-questionable activity in the Nihon-Arupusu has been the exploitation of hydropower over the past century or so. The exploitation of the hydropower resources of the Kurobegawa started in 1916, when, working with some American colleagues, Jokichi Takamine the founder of Toyo Aluminium in December 1919 with ambitions of establishing a smelter, asked the engineer Yutaka Yamada from the Ministry of…

JAPAN The Rasuchijin (or Rasschijin) Tetsudo Kyokai (=Railway Society), Rass in short, celebrated 50 years since its founding and 30 years of its activities at the Narita Dream Dairy Farm on 17th December. The Society ran almost all (7 out of 8) its steam locomotives and one, named Oscar, which Sekisui Kinzoku (railroad models manufacturer known as Kato) ordered from Rass for its park under construction in Saitama.…

Introduction In 1994, the company Tranex Turismo S.A. decided to revive this legend and founded the famous “End of the World Train” as it is known today, starting its activities on October 11 of that same year. The Southern Fuegian Railway (Spanish: Ferrocarril Austral Fueguino (FCAF)) or the Train of the End of the World (Spanish: El Tren del Fin del Mundo) is a 500 mm (193⁄4 in) gauge steam railway in Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina. It was originally built as a freight line to serve the prison of Ushuaia, specifically to transport convicts and timber. It now operates as a heritage railway into the Tierra del Fuego National Park and is considered the southernmost functioning railway in the world and arguably one of the finest journeys in the…

Information Wanted, Issue 146 Eljas Pölhö writes: This photo looks like a typical Rowan of Denmark advertising material. The passenger unit and engine unit are separated and could be easily exchanged depending of builders and required text on the passenger unit. Typical builders of engine units for Rowan cars in Denmark or Sweden were Atlas of Sweden, Borsig, Kitson and Nydqvist & Holm. At least Kitson built engine units for Rowan cars whicht have operated in Australia, including the State of Victoria. A Rowan car in Stockholm is seen above for comparison: Mystery Photos, Issue 146 Eljas Pölhö writes: The ”train” on concrete track is ”Uniline”, designed by R.E.Hagley from J. Brockhouse & Co. Ltd. and demonstrated at Mayfield in Sussex, UK. The system was described in B.G. Wilson &…