The International Steam Pages


Steam in Chile 1999

Ian Thomson reports (28th October 1999):

"1. Ferronor, thanks to the enthusiasm of vice president Graham Claytor, general manager Peter Espy, and others, is to return to operation type W 2-8-2 no. 3511 (Baldwin 56479/ 1921). It was on display at Baquedano on 21st October 1999, already coaled although still not repaired, on the occasion of the ceremony to celebrate the first shipments by Ferronor of potassium salts from the Atacama salt lake to the port of Tocopilla.

2. For the first time this year, on 24th October the Accpf managed to get type 70 2-8-2 714 (Alco/Canada 59026/1919) out and back on a train without breaking down in the process. It ran from Santiago to the nearby town of Paine for visiting railfans. The state railway no longer allows 714 to go out without a diesel escort.

3. Businessman Carlos Cardoen is the prime mover behind a plan to run steam trains over an initial 39 km stretch of the out-of-use branch from San Fernando (133 km south of Santiago) to Pichilemu. Motive power would be type 57 2-6-0 607, slowly being repaired in San Fernando under the guidance of local school teacher Victor León. The branch runs through wine country, and the train will be known as the "tren del vino"."

Ian Thomson reports (15th June 1999):

"The ACCPF organised a trip with # 714 from Santiago to Chimbarongo (around 120 km south of here, on the main line) on 21st May. Things didn't go too well and the train got back four hours late. the fault was due to the directors having decided, against all engineering logic, to resurface wasted slide bars liners with plastic instead of bronze. The next trip, planned for 29th May, thus had to be postponed until 5th June. On this occasion, the train was terminated at San Bernardo on the outward leg, owing to leaking tube(s) or firebox . (I was travelling outside Chile at the time.) One of the directors, Gastón Moya, has been doing a good job on restoring old carriages, including es-15 (American car, from around 1911) and z-11 (Linke-Hoffmann, from 1930)."

Ian Thomson reports (22nd March 1999):

"Type 57 2-6-0, No. 599 (Sociedad Maestranza y Galvanizaciones, 1913, no works number) which had been dumped at Valdivia since the end of steam working in 1981, is right now being towed to San Fernando, from whence it'll be trucked to the Colchagua museum in Santa Cruz.. The (very good but mainly non-railway) museum belongs to the Cardoen Foundation.  Type 57 2-6-0 hauled trains over the San Fernando - Santa Cruz - Pichilemu branch, until dieselization in 1964/5. No. 534  has been taken from Temuco to Valdivia by the ACCPF.."


Rob Dickinson

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