Just opened my invitation to the First World Congress of Steam and Tourist Trains in Buenos Aires October 19-21. Anybody out there planning to attend? Sounds like a great group of presenters including Porta, Wardale, Girdlestone, and more. Steam trips planned through Argentina and Patagonia.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

> Just opened my invitation to the First World
> Congress of Steam and Tourist Trains in
> Buenos Aires October 19-21. Anybody out
> there planning to attend? Sounds like a
> great group of presenters including Porta,
> Wardale, Girdlestone, and more. Steam trips
> planned through Argentina and Patagonia.

> Dave

Dave:

I'd be there in a minute- if Publisher's Clearing House would just show up or SC would get its lottery in gear and I'd win it somehow....

In addition to the folks you mentioned, Roger Waller, chief engineer of DLM, the successor company to SLM, will also be a guest speaker. While at SLM, Roger spearheaded the construction of several new modern rack steam locomotives for service in Switzerland and Austria in the 1990's, and he is currently working on several potential "new steam" projects at DLM.

Shaun McMahon of the FCAF railway in Ushuaia, Argentina (at the VERY southern tip of South America) is doing a lot of work to organize the event. His 500 mm gauge railway has a little Winton 2-6-2T which was originally about equivalent to a Crown Metal Works engine. It has been significantly improved with better insulation, streamlined steam pipes, a Lempor exhaust system and other changes. A second stage of improvements is planned for later which will include superheating among other things. Shaun is in the process of rebuilding his line's 0-4-0+0-4-0 Garratt right now, which was constructed in Argentina. It too will undergo a 2-stage modernization process over the next few years.

I think some of our tourist lines could learn a lot from these guys- Shaun's railway carries an immense amount of passenger traffic consisting of tourists from ocean liners who visit the national park there. Accomodating heavy passenger traffic on a 500 mm railway at the absolute end of the world is quite a task. You can read more about the FCAF at their webpage at the link below.

Good Steaming,
Hugh Odom
The Ultimate Steam Page
http://www.trainweb.org/tusp/



FCAF Railway
whodom@awod.com