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Kevin Hoggett reports on his trip with the Railway Touring Company in October
2016.
Click for the other parts:
Peru
Puno
We sailed into the docks on a lake cruise. S.S. Ollanta, the passenger ship built 1930 by Earles of Hull which provided the overnight service to Bolivia until 1981 is berthed there and looks in good condition. She is owned by Peru Rail, a daughter of Belmond, and they say she is under repair with the intention of operating lake cruises, let’s hope so! Close by is a steam bucket dredger, built 1930 which is apparently still used to keep the channel to Puno clear, and the old train ferry (motor). Two steam cranes were visible on the quay, at least one was a Smith,
Rodley. According to earlier reports there are actually four here, all out of
use:
Wilson 4-wheel steam
Smith C/N 7024 4-wheel steam
Smith C/N 16621 4-wheel steam (the original of the picture below
suggests 18821)
Smith C/N 16622 4-wheel steam
About two miles outside Puno, along the railway towards Juliaca, SS Coya is
beached (see other report). Next door to it is a small shipyard. This was closed since it was the weekend, but it was possible to see two steam cranes, apparently disused. Also of note was a shed from which a smokebox and tall chimney protruded, apparently the winch house for the slipway on which a modern lake cruiser was being repaired. The winch must be steam therefore!
(See also below.)
Bolivia
Guaqui
On the other side of Lake Titicaca at Guaqui where the ships from Puno used to arrive, four steam cranes are derelict in various states of disrepair. Two could be identified, both Smith,
Rodley, No 16623 and “no1” Smith 7023. The quayside is now a military base, to which access was denied, but one steam crane, another Smith, is still on the quay, maintained and used from time to time!
Unidentified crane
Smith, Rodley 16623
Smith, Rodley 7023
Smith, Rodley 7023 and unidentified boilerless crane
This is the 'off limits active crane'
The following images of the cranes at Puno,
Peru, appeared on http://www.kellstransportmuseum.com/Tit.html but that site
is now defunct as are others owned by the photographer, Michael Grimes. I have
recovered the following images from http://web.archive.org
and I think it in the public interest to preserve them. If I have offended his
inherited copyright, just let me know and I will remove them. The
'dead' page also contains some lovely pictures of SS Ollante on a cruise
probably ca 2004. This green Smith, Rodley appears to carry the number 18821,
although some sources quote 1621 which would tie in with the others.
This one of the others:
Intriguing is this boiler (referred to above) and building at the top of a slipway which suggest
that a steam winch is inside the building
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