Re: Railway Touring Company tour of Colombia Schedule

Steve and others,

Two years ago, the Tourist Tren operator was pushing us to do a tour to Villapinzon on the NE branch to Sogamoso. This would have been about just over 100 km. He also show us photos of previous charters on that line and the best scenery and was in the open country away from Bogota. In late 2010 heavy rains washed out part of the line near KM 79 and damaged some of nearby highway. The highways were quickly repaired, but the rail lines were not repaired. Since the line technically is owned by Fenoco, it is neccessary to get funding from both Feneco and the Government to repair this line.

Like much of South America lines that see little service or are idle suffer from neglicate and damage from the elements.

Our plan was to do a five day steam charter over both the line to Villapinzon and Zipaqiura 49 km from Bogota. The Sogamoso branch leaves the Zipaquira line at La Caro, KM 31.1 of the Zipaquira line. From my Wife's discription of the line from Bogota to here it is very urban with lots of fences, walls and nearby road that make open photography of the line difficult. It is only 19 km more to Zipaquira past the junction. The Sogamoso line extents to Briceno at KM 43 and the washouts were about 20 kms past here. The track to Villapinzon only has a few wyes to turn locomotives and the going close to the washouts would require a lot of reverse moves.

As Steve Singer pointed out that kilometers that are available do not let a charter train get into any real scenery till past the washouts. The owner of the Tourist Tren is in his mid 70's and his children are not interested in the operation as much as he is. Without Government repairs to the track, the train will be limited to shorter charter route. Feneco does not want any charter trains on it's mainline. Yes, there is three really nice steam locos to charter. Two Tourist Tren and one private owner that was recently restored by the shops.

Costs to fly to Bogota, ground transport, hotels and many other factors made the trip not as first class product for hardcore railfans. If this tour had been successful we would have made a longer tour to Sogamosa.

RTC is more of a travel group that likes to ride trains. However for a price everybody claims they will provide great charter opportunities.There are fewer tour operators that run trips in South America and providers of trains have cut back on availability.

Perurail has so many trains operating between Ollantyatambo and Aguas Caliente that a charter train is nearly impossible to schedule. Only one local train operates from Cusco to Ollantyatambo for residents and workers in Aguas Caliente. Regular tourist trains all operate from Ollantytambo or sometimes Poroy.

Thats my 2 cents worth on Colombia and little news about Peru.

Dale Brown