South of the Border

o anderson · **Posted:** Fri Jan 15, 2010 4:49 pm

The Mexican Railroads blog site has some interesting entries regarding rail preservation.
http://mexicanrailroads.blogspot.com/

First, this GE Boxcab on Display:

Quote:

At Encinar, Distrito Acultzingo (Linea SC) diverges from the original Linea S. The original line climbed up through a different valley, encountering 4.7% grades and very sharp curves. Distrito Acultzingo was built in the 1980's to bypass this line. A former FC Mexicano/NdeM GE box cab is put on display here as a monument to the new line. The last rail of the old line is still poking out of the dirt.

Here is an article about the last operating Alco in Mexico:
http://mexicanrailroads.blogspot.com/2009/01/mexicos-last-alco-side-trip-to-alzada.html

A former Northern Pacific B-unit. This one is an FT, rusting away in a yard!

At the same location are a couple of old passenger cars:

Quote:

Former SBC passenger cars Mexicali Rose and Maria Elena were also found in the yard. Both of these cars were frequently used on the Southwest Railroad Museum's trips to Puerto Peñasco.

http://mexicanrailroads.blogspot.com/2009/01/benjanin-hill-around-shops.html

Railbiking the Carrizo Gorge. I am all for this kind of Rail-Trail, at least until trains can run again.

http://mexicanrailroads.blogspot.com/2007/12/railbiking-carrizo-gorge.html

All in all, great photography, reporting, and usually something old included on every page - railroad facilities, architecture, and/or trains

Les Beckman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm **Posts:** 6482

OA -

Any idea as to the heritage of the "last" operating Alco in Mexico? Or was it built for that country? Are there any other surviving RS2's in Mexico? In museums perhaps, or on display?

Les

o anderson · **Posted:** Fri Jan 15, 2010 5:47 pm

I really know very little about Mexico. There used to be a surviving Alco diesel site, but apparently it is down. Web archive showed entries for the US, Canada, Portugal, and one for England.
O.

santafeboy · **Joined:** Tue May 26, 2009 12:42 am **Posts:** 113

This RS-2 is most likely ex EJ&E #801 builders #75944 6/48 sold to Hojalata y Lamina in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon ,Mexico in mid 1973 RS-2 # 808 builders #77561 11/49 also went to Mexico at around the same time going to Altos Hornos de Mexico as # 139. Unsure if the #139 is still in existance I know at least one ex Reading RS-3 made it down to Mexico

Les Beckman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm **Posts:** 6482

santafeboy wrote:

This RS-2 is most likely ex EJ&E #801 builders #75944 6/48 sold to Hojalata y Lamina in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon ,Mexico in mid 1973 RS-2 # 808 builders #77561 11/49 also went to Mexico at around the same time going to Altos Hornos de Mexico as # 139. Unsure if the #139 is still in existance I know at least one ex Reading RS-3 made it down to Mexico

The Monon Railroad Historical-Technical Society has information that former Monon RS-2 number 55 (originally #25) also went to Altos Hornos de Mexico. Supposedly that company eventually went bankrupt and MRHTS has never been able to find out if 55/25 still exists or not. Any information would be very welcome. If the old ALCO was still around, we would like to find a way to bring it back home to the Hoosier state.

Les

Dennis Storzek · **Posted:** Mon Jan 18, 2010 7:07 pm

The MARIA ELENA mentioned in one of the captions was formerly Soo Line 1257, the 1928 built Pullman CENTBURNE before the break-up of the Pullman Co.

santafeboy · **Joined:** Tue May 26, 2009 12:42 am **Posts:** 113

Les Beckman wrote:

santafeboy wrote:

This RS-2 is most likely ex EJ&E #801 builders #75944 6/48 sold to Hojalata y Lamina in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon ,Mexico in mid 1973 RS-2 # 808 builders #77561 11/49 also went to Mexico at around the same time going to Altos Hornos de Mexico as # 139. Unsure if the #139 is still in existance I know at least one ex Reading RS-3 made it down to Mexico

The Monon Railroad Historical-Technical Society has information that former Monon RS-2 number 55 (originally #25) also went to Altos Hornos de Mexico. Supposedly that company eventually went bankrupt and MRHTS has never been able to find out if 55/25 still exists or not. Any information would be very welcome. If the old ALCO was still around, we would like to find a way to bring it back home to the Hoosier state.

Les

Rescuing any US rail equipment that goes into Mexico and bringing it back to the US is almost impossible, witness all the trouble Doyle McCormak went to in order to acquire the 2 PAs The Mexican government which is a black hole of bureaucracy and corruption considers such equipment part of the countrys national heritage and makes such locomotives very difficult to return to there country of origin Unknown if the ex Monon RS-2 still exists as Mexico generally scrapped retired locomotives very quickly