Due to Paul Theroux’s travel novel ‘The Old Patagonia Express’ La Trochita achieved a certain fame. On this magic line lies the focus of our renewed journey to a railroad of superlatives. In addition, we will search for the last remaining broad-gauge and standard-gauge steam in
In one of the popular cafés of Ing Jacobacci, deep in Patagonia, the walls are decorated with photos of the 750 mm gauge railway, which follows the
The railway closed to regular traffic in the mid 1990´s and this is only the second time since then that a special train will cover the majority of the line in winter. It is the longest preserved railway in the world, and still uses its original locomotives and rolling stock from 100 years ago.
After our Patagonia tours turned out to be so successful and exceeding expectations we want to visit the fantastic little line again, this time in winter when the weather conditions may allow you some spectacular shots which are not possible in any other season.
‘La Trochita’ tiny gauge as the locals call their 250 mile long narrow gauge railway in southern Argentina, compared to the broad gauge line to San Carlos de Bariloche, this 750 mm gauge appears to be really small. It was planned to refurbish the whole northern part of the line, but an American group who planned to use the full length of the Río Negro section of the railway cancelled their planned trip, hence the railways didn’t start the refurbishment of the tracks beyond Cerro Mesa. Due to political problems a part in the middle of the line can’t be covered, too. We will travel on some 65% of the line, so you can have it all: the experience of travelling in a vast open countryside and fantastic pictures and video sequences of the amazing little train crossing it.
The line is sandwiched between the endless plains of Patagonia and the high mountains of the Andes,
Photographs of the line in winter are few. But aunty Google and it’s sister YouTube can help out. Following are some links with wintery photos and at the end you’ll find some more. Once you’ve seen these you’ll wonder why everyone wants to visit
If the sky is deep blue, then it looks like this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY14pu_TI8s
Without a train, but the wintery landscape fantastic! And here: the magic with a steam train!
Date |
Itinerary |
02.09. |
Individual flight from Europe/Asia/North America to San Carlos de Bariloche via |
03.09. |
In Bariloche, we will be picked up by a charter bus at around lunchtime and then drive to the train station. There a Spanish diesel railcar is ready for us (chartered), with which we travel to |
04.09. |
La Trochita! We’ll leave |
05.09. |
From Cerro Mesa we will drive back to |
06.09. |
With our charter buses we will reach |
07.09. |
At sunrise (if there is one) we are out on the track again, this time on the southern section. Then we will take our charter buses to |
08.09. |
Today we will take two locomotives (double headed) and a long train from |
09.09. |
Before sunrise we will return to La Cancha with our charter bus to board our charter train to Leleque. With photo stops, the trip will take all day. Our charter bus picks us up again in Leleque and takes us back to the hotel in |
10.09. |
Once again we will leave before sunrise to arrive in Leleque on time. Our charter train will take us back to |
11.09. |
After breakfast we will visit the depot. If the flight times of the domestic flight won’t be changed, we will then have time to drive to the Hosteria Quime Quipan on Lago (Lake) Futalaufquen and make a photo stop at some scenic points. Afterwards we will drive to the airport and fly to |
12.09. |
In the morning we will take our charter bus to Lynch, where a standard gauge loco should be in steam for our group. There are several other interesting locomotives and railcars in the depot. In the afternoon we'll continue to the broad gauge depot Haedo, where some broad gauge steam locomotives and other rolling stock is visible. Afterwards our charter bus back will take us to the international airport of |
13.09. |
Arrival at home |
In short, the line is phenomenal and can’t be compared with any other narrow gauge line due to its unique character. There is no other 250 mile long narrow gauge line offering steam trains!
The rolling stock dates from the early 1920s and is 100% original. The locomotives were built by Henschel and Baldwin. We’ll see at least four different locomotives in steam.
The railway was constructed to give the remote parts of
The railway can be divided into the northern section, from
From the 1970s, the always sparse freight traffic was taken over by road competition, although at that time most of the roads in that region were still unpaved gravel. Nowadays they have asphalt roads to
From
The weather in Patagonia may prevent the odd photo, but on the other hand it can be a key factor in getting superb shots of dramatic lighting situations, when dark clouds float over the
In Buenos Aires, two railrway clubs take care of some historic locomotives. The urban area of Buenos Aires is hardly suitable for photo runpasts due to the dense occupancy of the lines, but there is no permission for lines outside Buenos Aires. Therefore, we plan only to visit the two steam depots in Buenos Aires, Lynch and Haedo.
This is a picture of the DMU we'll use from Bariloche to Ing. Jacobacci:
One of the dumped standard gauge locos in Lynch:
To get a feeling for the challenges and advantages of Patagonia please read the trip reports from the previous trips to
Political conditions can impact state employees, with each election causing unease. Everyone who depends on the government fears the loss of their job. Everything seems to be paralysed and answers are even harder to get than before. No-one wants to move, no-one wants to make a mistake, no-one wants to invest in something. This is a very tricky situation when organising such tours. But from our recent experience in the country, I’m quite confident that the Argentineans will solve the problem their way at the very last moment, but just in time. Don’t ask how, and don’t ask how well I can sleep with this attitude to sorting out and discussing things, but it worked three times already.
So here is the railway gem of the world,
For a long time, it seemed to be impossible to reach an agreement to run authentic trains, and we were really happy to see the ordered freight wagons and locos with “Ferrocarriles Argentinos” logos as we arrived. Actually, I went to a general store in
We completely depend on the good work of third parties and have arranged the tour in trust. Hence, and I have to mention it again, we cannot guarantee anything other than that we’ll always try to make things happen the way we want them. There is no reason to contact a lawyer if something doesn’t work out as planned/hoped/wished/paid for, if trains don’t look as we ordered them or if locomotives fail or derailments occur, etc. From our Argentinean partners we can expect no refund or compensation in such cases, so you must accept that there won’t be any refunds possible in any case. You have to live with the risks if you want to take part in this event, and by registering you accept this as a given. From our experience with many other not-so-easy-to-arrange-countries, such as Brazil, Paraguay, Cuba, the Philippines or North Korea we know that it’s very likely we’ll get what we want in
The survival of this long line is really quite uncertain, even in the southern
We will as usual consider the trains and daylight hours rather than fixed dining times or four and five star accommodation (which are not available anyhow, only prices would match a five star hotel in Europe sometimes). We’re not talking about a shot here and there. We’re going to
This all requires some longer photo days, uncertain times for food and sparse if any comfort when travelling on a freight train (which we’ll do only once). We need our railway crews to work together with us and hence it’s essential that we allow them some rest between the hard days and, for them, also nights to prepare everything.
Our hotel in
Between
Mobile phone coverage in the places we’re staying overnight is good, but in between there are big gaps. Internet is available in most of the places we’re going to, but not in all and, for sure, it’s not as fast as you’re used to. Electricity is available in all our accommodations.
Travellers from most west European countries do not need a visa to travel to
Argentina | ||
Patagonian Steam | 46 to 52 participants | £4,400 |
02.09.2023 13.09.2023 | 35 to 45 participants | £4,790 |
Single room surcharge | £620 | |
Registration Deadline: 01.06.2023 |
The price includes:
Not included are:
Prices in Pounds can change more than 5% if exchange rates move seriously.
Additional winter pictures from that region you can find here:
Winter photos: