International Railroad Discussion > Buenos Aires 2008 Part 1

I recently bought my first scanner - an Epson V600. So looking at my collection of tens of thousands of slides back to 1970 - I decided to start scanning the Argentina 2008 slides first! Go figure!

This 2008 trip was my second trip to Buenos Aires. My first time there in 1988, everything was operated by Ferrocariles Argentinos (FA) - one name, one paint scheme. In the intervening 20 years, privatization had occurred, and so the Buenos Aires suburban railways were a bewildering mix of private operators, with some lines operated by quasi-governmental agencies taking the place of the private operators that had gone bankrupt (such as UGOFE). In addition to each line having an operating company, such as Trenes Buenos Aires (TBA) or Ferrobaires, each line was more colloquially known to the locals by the historic railroad name for each line. Being Argentina, each line was named after a general from Argentine history, such as General Roca, Sarmiento, Mitre, San Martin, etc. So with that - my first scans. All photos between 7/31/08 and 8/06/08 - winter in Argentina.

1) Linea Sarmiento Trenes Buenos Aires (TBA) Toshiba EMU set at Merlo, heading for Once Station in central BA. This is a 5'6" gauge railway - same as India, Spain and BART. Frequencies are very close on this line, which functions almost as a rapid transit line. Trains are all 10-cars, with one car with "reversed" color scheme to indicate the "Furgon" (freight) car, which carries bikes and strollers. To those familiar with former Southern Region of British Rail the Sarmiento line is very similar to the former Southern Railway electrification south of London, though in much worse repair.
2) Another Toshiba EMU set at Merlo, toward BA-Once.
3) At Merlo, a diesel-operated branch to Lobos diverges. Here is a Lobos train with an Alco RSD-39 (I think) on the point.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/18 21:34 by dwatry.

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4) TBA Sarmiento EMU toward Once at Merlo. Note "Furgon" car.
5) Same.
6) TBA Sarmiento rebuilt Toshiba EMU at Haedo, about to cross diamond for the General Roca line with Haedo Central signalbox in background. Both lines are 5'6" gauge.

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7) Another EMU set passing Haedo Central.
8) EMU set in Haedo Station.
9) EMU set in Haedo Station outbound to Moreno.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/18 21:24 by dwatry.

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Temperley is the Clapham Junction of Argentina, with 4 mainlines all coming together and funneling toward Constitucion station in central BA.

10) Roca line (operated by UGOFE) former Portugese Railways Budd EMU set at Temperley.
11) Roca line Toshiba EMU at Temperley. Train is headed toward Constitucion Station.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/18 21:39 by dwatry.

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"So looking at my collection of tens of thousands of slides back to 1970..."

Cool! Looking forward to seeing the photos and stories unfold.

You can keep the International Board alive while I'm out of town for two weeks...

Ted in OR

Ted - it's kind of overwhelming!

dwarty -- I adopted my technique from CNStratford.

He just posted 3 photos a day, in a 50-part series, for his Trans-Siberian trip.

I was thinking I'd do some long threads with 20 or 30 photos per thread. Which I probably never would have started. So instead of doing comprehensive posts, I'm doing 1 topic a day, and usually end up doing 9 or 12 photos anyway, but could just do 1 or 3.

I've found Trainorders to be a very easy site for sharing -- you can post as much or as little as you like. You can keep the story going, or just post whatever you grab that day. And take days or weeks off when other things take up your time or capture your interest.

Ted in OR

Excellent Duncan, I paid four visits to Buenos Aires after visa restrictions were lifted, but I've not been back since 1994. These are great!!!

I look at both the International and European Boards.
I enjoy looking at different countries and how they
compare with others.The public areas shown in your
pictures are trash!Take a look at Germany posted on
the European board as an example.

Uncle Joe
Seffner,Fl.

Yes no doubt about it - the public areas in Argentina are not as clean as Germany, especially around the railroads, which tend to be the poorer areas. Not much I can do about that!

The diesel in the third photo is an ex CP (Portugal) English Electric unit.
The Argentines periodically go on buying sprees for second hand engines and rolling stock from Europe, and they bought quite a variety of used English and French built equipment from the Portuguese around about 10 years ago .
They also have quite a bit of second-hand equipment from other European countries  like the Spain(RENFE), the Dutch and Croats, as well as the US, Canada and Mexico.
The equipment either lives or dies based on its servicibilty and maintenance AR$ at the time,
though I'd say there's evidently a lot of really skilled diesel mechanics down there given the service lives of some of their locomotives, especially the MILW and Alco designs.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/19 21:02 by Atlpete.