Capilla del Señor Historic Train

Former heritage railway in Argentina

4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)

The Capilla del Señor Historic Train was a heritage railway of Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. The service ran trains pulled by steam locomotives between the cities of Buenos Aires (departing from Federico Lacroze terminal in Chacarita) and Capilla del Señor, covering a distance of 86 km (53 mi). Trains ran on 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) tracks originally built by the Buenos Aires Central Railway and currently part of General Urquiza Railway since the railway nationalisation of 1948.

The service operated only on Sundays.

History

The service was started by Ferroclub Argentino, a non-profit association formed by railway enthusiasts of Argentina that restored and put into operation old rolling stock.^[1]

Some of the locomotives owned and restored by Ferroclub were Baldwin, Henschel and Kerr Stuart, being the Neilson & Co. 0-6-0 n° 27 Monte Caseros (built in 1888)^[2]^[3] one of the models used to run trains to Capilla.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7] Those locomotives had been originally acquired and run by Argentine North Eastern Railway ("Ferrocarril Nordeste Argentino") that connected the Argentine Mesopotamia from Concepción del Uruguay in Entre Ríos Province to Posadas in Misiones Province.^[8] The Yatay locomotive was also used to run trains on the line.^[8]

In 1999 the service was discontinued,^[9] although it would be reissued^[10] until it was definitely closed in 2011.

Since El Gran Capitán service was closed in 2011,^[11] only freight trains have run on those tracks. América Latina Logística operated until 2013 when the Government of Argentina revoked the contract of concession.^[12] Nowadays, state-owned Trenes Argentinos Cargas y Logística operates on Urquiza Railway routes.

References

^ "Tren Historico a vapor a Capilla del Señor", EnCapilla website
^ "Mañana en Estación Cnel. Lynch", Mis Días en la vía, 13 Dec 2009
^ "La historia viaja en ferrocarril", Página/12, 31 Ago 2007
^ "Algunas de las joyas del Ferroclub Lynch" Todo Trenes, 7 Sep 2010
^ "Tren historico a Capilla del Señor - Ferroclub Argentino (Parte 2)" by Luis Quispe, Ferrocarriles Argentinos blog, 9 May 2010
^ "Vaporeras" on Ferroclub website (Archive) 31 Ago 2005
^ Steam in South America, November 2008
^ ^a ^b "Locomotoras Neilson del F.C.N.E.A.", Basso en la Red
^ "Tomando rumbo nor-este...", Satélite Ferroviario
^ "Viaje del Ferroclub en el tren histórico hasta Capilla del Señor", Plataforma 14, 2008
^ "Piden reabrir la ruta del tren El Gran Capitán", El Cronista, 26 Nov 2013
^ "Argentina Seizes Railway From Brazil’s ALL Over Contract Breach", Bloomberg.com, 2013-06-04