Ferrocarril Central Andino

[philipmartin]

There is a lot of information about the Ferrocarril Central Andino on the internet. I was reading the work linked to below; it gives an idea of the conditions prevailing in Peru when it was built. Personally it interests me that Grace had something to do with its construction.
https://translate.google.com/translate? ... rev=search" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[philipmartin]

The article from "I Treni" certainly sounds interesting. I rode the Italian rails quite a bit as a tourist, forty years ago. However, I don't want to impose on you. Perhaps some other folks here might also be interested.
I just Googled "ferrovia deviatore" and came up with "diverter." That's what you do when you throw a switch and pull up a signal.
Gracias, Philip, or Felipe

[Benny]

SEVENTH CHAPTER
Last time I was at San Bartolome the turntable was broken so trains had to restart with the loco long hood forward. The two men that seems Darth Vader are wardens that travel on train to secure the loaded cars against mineral robberies during the journey.

D65r Guardie del carico in partenza con il merci trainato dalla 1027.jpg (152.28 KiB) Viewed 3046 times

And, speaking about the turntable, you can see that at the bottom of the pit there is a little of water, a situation seen various times and due to rain, condensation or infiltration from the ground.

D60r Piattaforma girevole di S.jpg (175.3 KiB) Viewed 3046 times

There are only five inches of water but watch what are swimming inside the pit?

D61r Pesciolini nella tina della piattaforma girevole di S.jpg (66.62 KiB) Viewed 3046 times

It's more than 35 years that I turn around in railroad areas but this is the first time I see fishes in a turntable pit!!!!
It will follows...

Ciao

[philipmartin]

Those fish don't look like very good eating. They are minnows, bait fish. Now if you got large fish in the pit, cod or salmon, that would make the record books.
So you need men "riding shotgun" on the mineral train. It's like the "old west" in North America except that the only mineral Jesse James and his ilk went for was gold.
I see the Peruvian flag on the building, and luckily it doesn't have a maple leaf in the center; but I do see the similarity to the Canadian flag,
Philip

[Benny]

Into the pit fishes are not very attractive (although a friend told me he want to seat on the turntable and do fishing) but 200m on the side of the tracks there is Rimac river, with its tasty, savage trouts.
Now, I think that Jesse James too can put himself to steal mineral as copper price has gone to the stars. Main thieves are drug addicts to maintain their vice.
Yes, Peruvian flag is very similar to the canadian one, without the leaf and with the red parts more brilliant. Sometimes it has a shield with symbols in the middle.

images.jpg

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Ciao

[philipmartin]

I worked on a draw bridge in New Jersey, less than half a mile from the Atlantic Ocean, and used to watch the fish going by in the channel below. (Brielle, for any NJ Transit guys reading this.)
Yes, people steal our line wires for the copper. There's nothing new about that. In South Africa people steal the wooden sleepers right out of the permanent way. John the Fireman, who frequently posts here, was on a train in S.A., that derailed because of sleepeer theft.
That elegant coat of arms in the Peruvian flag is much more attractive than the maple leaf in the Canadian flag, in my opinion.

[Benny]

San Bartolomé, being an ample place, is used also as a dumping site. Here you can encounter old hoppers, pieces of bogies, some motor parts and something more interesting like this steam loco. 206 is an Andes type, a 2-8-0 of north-American style but built by Beyer Peacock in England in 1937, fired by liquid fuel. It was used in the centennial of the line and, when expired, dumped here waiting better days. Note the metallic small flags.

D51r Loco 206 accantonata a S.jpg (148.71 KiB) Viewed 2975 times

There are also old friends of US railfans: GE C39-8 8620 and 8209, still in Norfolk Southern livery, waiting for a return in service or the use as spare parts banks. In the fuel tank of 8209 there still is the writing in chalk "do not fuel".

D50 Loco 8209 accantonata a S.jpg (172.32 KiB) Viewed 2975 times

Last but not least, we encounter loco 538, a EMD G22 CW now dumped and probably waiting for dismantling. A sister loco, 539, is still on use and sometimes operates shunting instead of 801 at the Callao terminals. I need to hunt it because the only shots I've taken are of bad quality because of darkness.

D52r Loco 538 accantonata a S.jpg (166.55 KiB) Viewed 2975 times

And still will follow on...

Ciao

[philipmartin]

That's interesting, Beyer Peacock producing an American style locomotive. I hope that Andes type gets more use in the future.
We have a picturesque term for taking parts from a loco for other locos. We call it "cannibalizing" it. Our moderator, David Benton, lives in New Zealand, a place where the original inhabitants, (the Maori,) did the real thing, big time, until a few hundred years ago. (Very well fed people, those old Maori.)

Here is a link to the Spanish language Wiki article on the Ferrocarril Central Andino. There is a tab for "translate." https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrocarr ... _Per%C3%BA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Video: El Tren Macho https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RthDt_KFnQ0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Benny]

In Italy too is used the same (translated) term.
Having been a rugby player I knew Maori far more because of All Blacks but if there is to eat I'm always ready, in the end human meat probably is very similar to pork one. Please, well cooked!

Ciao

[David Benton]

Well, some of my Maori friends joke that anyone left after a war probably didn't taste too good, but lets get back to the trains please.
Good luck to Italy in the rugby world cup next week , Benny.

Lets stick to the railroads now. I am racking my memory to try and remember the station I traveled to. I'm sure i will recognise it when it pops up in your descriptions.

[philipmartin]

in the end human meat probably is very similar to pork one. Please, well cooked!Ciao

Humm...Any way, here are some All Black hakas. We had a thread on this here a couple of years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwWrGx4a80A" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
La Historia del Ferrocarril Central del Peru
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVGHJw3e08k" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIf3tcr1AOA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Oh6uI20ZyY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Of the three pictures below, the top one is the most beautiful I've ever seen. It stirs your soul.

[philipmartin]

[quote="Benny"]San Bartolomé, being an ample place, is used also as a dumping site. Here you can encounter old hoppers, pieces of bogies, some motor parts and something more interesting like this steam loco. 206 is an Andes type, a 2-8-0 of north-American style but built by Beyer Peacock in England in 1937, fired by liquid fuel. It was used in the centennial of the line and, when expired, dumped here waiting better days. Note the metallic small flags.Ciao [/quote
Here's the 206 in better days.

[Benny]

Really the first image is spectacular!!!
In the steam loco shot note that one of the metallic flags is painted differently but I cannot recognize how flag it is.
Thank you very much for the hakas.
And thank you for the good luck but frankly I'm no more interested in challenging after my sports retirement: I'm interested in doing things and watching things being made is noisy for me.

Ciao

[philipmartin]

FCCA steam.

[Benny]

NINTH CHAPTER
This is for draisine fans. As the S. Bartolome platform was out of use, a repairing team came there with this service vehicle, a little better than the one showed back in the topic. It's numbered 9 and, like the other draisines I've seen here, was accompanied by a small flat car with sealing gas cylinders.

D58r Draisina 9 in sosta a S.jpg (180.45 KiB) Viewed 2877 times

After leaving the 1500m asl of Tornamesa site the line enters in a lateral valley, where it crosses the small village of San Bartolome,to gain altitude, turns back to the east and follows on the gradient uphill. In only 7 miles trains arrive at the more than 1800m asl (and 53 miles from the terminal) of the first of the most spectacular points of this railroad, the Puente Carrion. This metallic viaduct is 80m high and 218m long and can quietly be seen from the Carretera Central although there is a trail that arrives to the rails.
I can only show a photo without trains because I had another time the visit of "railfan luck": the S. Bartolome warden told me that in a little an ascending train should came and I shooted myself to the viaduct. Wait, wait and wait and finally I photographed the empty bridge with the last light.
I met the waited train two hours later, at Santa Clara in the darkness, double headed (damn...)!

D68r Ponte Carrión.jpg (108.48 KiB) Viewed 2877 times

And, to finish, something really strange for an Italian. Watch this image:

DSC01599.jpg (91.08 KiB) Viewed 2878 times

A prickly pear. What is the strange thing? That this image has been taken at approx. 2000m asl!!! In Italy these ones grow only in the hot far south and in plain but here they are cultivated in the peaks not only for the fruits but also as food for a kind of insect used to produce a red colour heavily used in cosmetics and food industry.
Well, I showed you what I discovered until now; the more I will shot, the more I will post (and I want to go more over on this magnificent line).
Hope this has been interesting.

Ciao