Re: The Esquel narrow gauge in happier days

Thank you John for the link to your beautiful pictures of the Far Rail excursion. The Far Rail trip in August seems like a great opportunity for winter scenes on the Esquel line. The last time Far Rail offered a trip there I signed up, but it didn't have enough participants to run. So maybe this time it will go. I've been there four times (including your 1977 trip), but this is a fabulous line, and every trip has been an adventure. Here are a few more views from 1978 when the line still had mixed trains and pure freights.

But here, first, is an adventure my brother had some time later. He brought along an array of piping and clamps for mounting his movie camera in various inaccessible locations At one of the stops before Esquel he got permission to mount his movie camera on the side of the engine to film the running gear in action. When they got to Esquel the movie camera and it's associated clamps were gone. The engine crew set out the train and ran the engine back up the line to search for the camera. Amazingly they found the camera where it had been knocked off by one of those spiny bushes. Even more amazingly, the camera still worked, and he has a lovely shot of the running gear in sewing machine motion and the approach of the fateful bush. Then a most happy return to Esquel aboard the engine with a super friendly crew.

The double headed northbound mixed train taking water at Nahuel Pan



The double header north of Lepa



A southbound mixed train south of El Maiten



A short freight





Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2019 09:26PM by Olaf Rasmussen.