After a night of trying to get some sleep, I woke up. I ached all over and knew it was going to be a tough day. Harold and I wandered downstairs to the dining room and ordered breakfast. I was able to pick enough at mine to get some food down. One item that I did try and finish was a serving of fried plantain, unripened banana. That was a treat.

Outside, the roundhouse was active as 4 locomotives were being made ready for use. Mike 202 was called for a work extra East and had a steam ditcher (shovel) in the consist. Sister 183 would take the turn South to the Salvador border. Mike 174 would take the local back to Guatemala City and Consol 102 was the yard goat. Sitting just outside to the left is Krupp Mike 167, a Zacapa regular in the last years of steam.

I wish I'd had more enthusiasm and stamina that day. I poked around and got a couple of subjects on film, but mostly missed the work extra which would have been a great catch. There was also the rear section of a tender off of Ten-Wheeler 100 that was being used as part of a fence.

Harold suggested that we leave and look for our first photo location. He had been over the dirt road to Rancho before and his memory turned out to be good. We found a steel truss bridge right out of town and set up there. Morning light was on our side too. After a short while, we heard a whistle and then the exhausts of the Krupp. I can't explain why, but I unconsciously chose to favor black & white over color that day so many of my slides are a bit distant. The train approached and we both exposed some film. It was back in the car really quick and get doing again. Before we got up to speed on the road, the train was still passing us by. Harold yelled for me to look and there was the 102, running backward as a helper at the rear of the train to help get it up to track speed out of the yard. He took my camera for me and shot a couple of frames. They cut off on the run and the 102 returned to Rancho to her normal yard (called patio) duties.

The dirt road turned out to be in pretty good shape and for the most part, safe at 40-45. This helped us to get several locations between Zacapa @ Mile 103.0 and Rancho @ Mile 136.0. This section of the railroad was a roller coaster profile and the tonnage rating for Mikes was 450 tons.

We were quite surprised to see a large snake cross the road in front of us. While we didn't really slow down much when we passed it, we were even more surprised to discover that it had disappeared from view. There wasn't much vegetation out this way, it likely went down a burrow.

There was one location that allowed a broadside view across a planted field. I was able to capture the entire train, something like 20 cars. It remains one of my favorite memories of the line.

We met one train on the way, that at Jicaro, Mile 128.4.

When we neared Rancho, the road got further away from the rails and we entered town up on a small hill. Harold knew where to turn and I headed back down on a cobblestone street toward the station. Harold started repeating "Tope, tope" and I wondered what was up. All of a sudden, he yelled "BUMP" really loud but it was too late. We hit this speed bump really hard, but the car stayed together and on the road. Crazy gringos.

If memory serves, Harold ran into a small store here and got us something to drink. I am forever thankful for his company and attention that day. Without him, my whitened bones might still be down there.

Harold suggested driving the 3 or so miles up to the big bridge at Santa Rita. This was on a stretch of 3.3% grade. We parked the Volks out of the way next to a smaller steel bridge. He wanted to hike up the hill to shoot down on the horseshoe curve and big bridge, but I wasn't up to it. We wished each other good luck and I was able to get a decent going-away shot of the Krupp on the small bridge. He did much better for his efforts.

There was one more location to be had that day and it was Sanarate @ Mile 158.7. We had a long spell here before the local showed up, but that was alright. I was starting to feel a little better and we both were able to photograph the train pulling into town.

We had a safe uneventful drive back to Guatemala City. I took Harold to his hotel, the Plaza and returned to mine. I would later stay at the Plaza on my next trip.

Note: The IRCA/FEGUA Emp. TT used North and South to denote direction. I have used both these and also the more normal East/ West here to try to help readers understand the geography a little better. As I see the TT, East is North and that is what I remember from the few trainorders that I saved.

Tom asked me to add two of his photos to go along with the text above.

The first is Monday morning in the Zacapa Yard:



The second Tom titled "Krupp 174 brings the local into Jicaro @ Mile 128.4"



Enjoy, and thanks for sharing these memories Tom!

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

A tip of the hat to both Jeff and also John West for getting the photos out. My sincere thanks.

Great stories, thanks for the memories.

John