International Railroad Discussion > Pedrop in Brazil

Haven’t heard from Pedro in over 3 weeks. 
Everything OK with you Pedro? I love your posts about 
railroads in your state, Minas Gervais with the fantastic 
narrow gauge 4,000 HP locomotives.
Hopefully you've just taken a bit of a break.
George Andrassy 
Auburn, CA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/25 07:11 by Auburnrail.

you can check his youtube channel..........

Hi George,
Yes, I am ok. I had some busy days and no time for the trains. But I think I will have more time next week.
The railroads and many other business here are apprehensive with the 50% taxes Trump put on all goods from Brazil that will start next week. The pig iron trains here will decrease a lot, since the costumers in US have already cancelled the orders. Trump also asked the European Union to tax Brazil too,so the things will be worse in the next days. Many companies will bunkrupt and a big crisis will start here.
My friend Alexandre sent me this short video taken in ABPF steam site in Sao Lourenco, MG today morning.

Pedro

Auburnrail Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Haven’t heard from Pedro in over 3 weeks. 
> Everything OK with you Pedro? I love your posts
> about 
> railroads in your state, Minas Gervais with the
> fantastic 
> narrow gauge 4,000 HP locomotives.
> Hopefully you've just taken a bit of a break.
> George Andrassy 
> Auburn, CA

Posted from Android

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/25 13:13 by pedrop.

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Thank you for your reply Pedro.
Don't get too aggravated yet about the tariffs.
Seems like they are used very much as a negotiation tool, a starting point in
where to actually set them.

I agree, the rate you currently have is
prohibitive, but I don't believe that's where it'll stay.

Yah, wish our conversation could be based just
on trains, but we'll get to  that again. Keep the faith!

Oh, and where I live is in the Sierra foothills and the old SP (now UP)
mainline through Donner is less than a mile from my
house. Only problem is that there very few trains during
daylight hours. If you go train watching during the day
you get to appreciate lots of scenery, ( trees, rocks and large drop offs)
but very few trains.

We have other TO members, Boiling Man
and Broken Link, (Boiling Man escapes the Summer heat 
in Santa Barbara). Broken Link has wonderful pictures
from the top of Donner Pass with the snow sheds and
the tunnels. The east side along the Truckee river is also
a great scenic area which he covers.
I believe you've been to Donner on one of your
visits to the U.S.?
Oh, and thanks for the video. The variety of
motive power in your country still amazes me.

Looking forward to your next train post.

George Andrassy 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/25 21:22 by Auburnrail.

Hi George, yes I visited the Dooners in July 2011. I stayed a few days in Reno NV and visited the area around with friend Greg Elems, that was a UP enginner at that time. Now he is retired. We visited Reno, Lake Tahoe, Truckee, Williams Loop, Keddie Wye, Portola, and Virginia City. I was nice. My plan was to pass by Dooners  by Amtrak, but due to the flloods in North Dakota at that time, the Amtrak train was delayed more than 10 hours, so Amtrak provided buses to take us from Reno to Sacramento. The buses stopped in an old depot in the Dooners that I forgot the name. Maybe you can tell me the name by the picture of the old SP car placed there.
1) Old SP car in a bus stop in Dooners. How is the name of this location?
2) A boy waiting the DPU open the passage to him cross the tracks. I havea video of this train in my Youtube channel;
3) My T-shirt matched the color of the Scrapper. It was my first time with snow plow and scrappers.

I´d like to come back to that area one day. I am planning to visit US once more before the I get too old.

Pedro

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/25 19:25 by pedrop.

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To answer your questions, the first stop the 
Amtrak bus made was in Truckee, where your pictures were taken.
what you call a " scraper" is actually called a spreader,
a versatile MOW unit that (at Donner) is used to assist in snow removal from the tracks.

It has "wings" on both sides which are deployed by hydraulic cylinders to push snow
either to the right or left of the tracks.

Yes, the California Zephyr still runs from Emeryville a few miles across the bay
from San Francisco. Sadly, as you may have read on the Passenger trains board, all
their equipment is old and unreliable. They are attempting to replace the now over
 20  year old GE P-42 locomotives with locomotives sourced from Siemens..with mixed results.
 
I have taken the ride through the Sierras a few times and it was wonderfully scenic, since it's done in daylight
(at least Eastbound), however the last time I took it to get to Elko Nevada, another 250 or so miles from Reno, the train unexpectedly
stopped in the Nevada desert because of engine problems. Unfortunately in this
 case this also caused a a loss of electricity which as you may know, powers everything on the train.
This was in winter, and we sat in the gathering dark for several cold hours in unheated
and unlit cars. From what I read, this occurs too frequently all over their system  for me to recommend any extended travel 
for anyone (beyond San Francisco to Reno) at this time. 
George Andrassy 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/25 12:45 by Auburnrail.