International Railroad Discussion > Chilean Alco Working Port of Coronel April 15 2019

We found two of Chile's 1960s era DL543 (called RSD34s on line, not sure if that is official or not) at the port in Coronel on April 15. We were down there hoping to catch a train along the beach in Lota the following day and hoped finding the train in the port was a good omen. It would end up being the only train we saw on the line, but was worth the drive as far as I was concerned. RSD34s in both schemes in grand last light of day! As far as my research shows, FEPASA has 11 of these DL543s and I managed to shoot three of them (one of them twice, and the other two here).

Image one - the RSD34 in the small yard and south of the port. I believe it is pulling cellulose in the tarp covered box cars (happy to be corrected on this).

Image two - an obstructed roster with the fence of the yard.

Image three - the train in the yard.

 

---

---

---

Image four - the train begins its run from the yard into the port.

Image five - a clean roster at the grade crossing.

Image six - the run up into the port is fairly tight, despite the broad gauge.
 

---

---

---

Image seven - and it gets tighter still.

Image eight - and then it opens up quite a bit as you reach the MU commuter yard. I read somewhere there is talk of extending the commuter trains south of here one day. The engine will run around the train here in order to pull it into the port itself.

Image nine - the train is now running the other way, crossing into the port.

 

---

---

---

Image ten - the rear of the train as it enters the port.

Image eleven - yeah I said there were two Alcos. This is the other one that was left in the yard south of the port. 

Image twelve is a shot with the caboose.

 

---

---

---

Last image is the train again, making a second run towards the port.

---

Nice.  And you nailed the only wide gauge high nose  Alco in the new livery.  After 1803 all overhauls/repaints have had low nose jobs.  1802, 05, 07 to date.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/19 06:10 by utwazoo.

Wonderful shots, thank you for traveling there and sharing. Are these US built or under lisence units? I prefer the first paint scheme over the all blue. Interesting cars, we don’t see that here in the States. PPE is world wide, good to see safety is
stressed everywhere, fewer widows and orphans!
if you have more pics from this travel adventure, please share !
thank you for taking these travel adventures for those of us who can not go that far !
CM80.46

> Image one - the RSD34 in the small yard and south
> of the port. I believe it is pulling cellulose in
> the tarp covered box cars (happy to be corrected on this).

Hello,

Yes, that's cellulose moving for export.  We had a problem down there in the early years with the local homeless people cutting the tarp covers off of these cars - turns out they found them very useful for making "tent homes".  They also stole a lot of coal for heating & cooking, but that may not be moving by rail anymore.

Take care,

Mark

That last picture is very nice. On my first visit to Chile in 1989 my overnight train from Temuco back to Santiago was delayed by several hours thanks to a freight derailment, which also brought down the catenary. We were hauled by one of the Alcos from Temuco to San Rosendo, where an E30 electric took over.

I am curious about that "caboose". It has no windows, doesn't even appear to have steps up to the platforms, and has an MU cable on this end. Is this actually a caboose or some kind of control unit for radio control operations?

Now that you mention it, in the photos I've seen on the line, it's placed between the two locomotives. Maybe to lighten weight on bridges?

My first thought was “what an armored getto cruising caboose” ! It looks like sprayed shot- crete. More info or a reaserch project.
This is one interesting trip you took!  Modeling projects galore!
CM80.46

Fepasa use spreader wagons between locos on the lighter rail routes in the far south, to reduce bridge loading