A Swiss mountain railway in Costa Rica   A Swiss hotelier has built a mountain railway for the guests of his hotel "Los Heroes", Pequeña Helvecia (little Switzerland), at Nueva Arenal. The railway, the official name is "Tren Turistico Arenal", actually a field railway with a gauge of 600 mm,  originates in the village of Chéseaux, near Lausanne where a farmer originally built the line but never received permission to run it. The hotelier took over the tracks and cars at the end of 1999, and from early 2000 the line was operated on a length of 1 km and with two tunnels. Prominent visitors include the American ex-president Jimmy Carter, and he inaugurated the line as well as a locally built Panorama car.    Rolling stock consists of three locomotives, two from DIEMA, type DL 20 of 1965 and one from RACO-SAURER from 1938. This locomotive, in poor shape has now been completely overhauled in two year's work and provided with a beautiful coat of red paint (see photographs below). This overhaul work has been carefully documented (in German only; for this .pdf document you will need the Acrobat Reader or any similar product. Beware, this file has a size of almost 2 MB). Therefore, the technical data are well known. It is a RACO of type 1313 with a motor C410D from Saurer   Five green two axle coaches with nine seats each and the six axle Panorama car, 14 m long and with 30 seats transport the passengers.   The present line has a length of 3.5 km uphill and manages a height difference of almost 200 Meters. The maximum inclination is 73 per thousand. The first tunnel has a length of 43 Meter, the second 35 Meter.   The line connects the hotel "Los Heroes" with a turning panorama restaurant. The upper station is below the surface and 30 Meter long. From there, the panorama restaurant is reached by two sets of stairs.    A further attraction is a 54 Meter bridge, a circular viaduct with 10 arches which is a copy of the famous circular viaduct on the Swiss RhB Bernina line near Brusio. All Photos/Copyright:  H: Hotel Los Heroes       P: Patrick Rudin, Chairman FLB   H: Train at the lower station. To the extreme left the Panorama car. Locomotive type Diema DL 20 H: At the lower station. To the left the Panorama  car. Locomotive type DL 20  Large View   P: At the lower station. On the left Panorama car,  beside it Raco-Saurer locomotive before rebuilding P: Raco-Saurer locomotive before rebuilding     Large View   H: At the lower station, Raco loc. overhauled  and with new coat of paint, with Panorama car H: Close-up, Raco loc. overhauled and with  a new coat of paint, with Panorama car    Large View H: Underway, locomotive Diema DL 20, downhill H: After the tunnel, uphill    P: Circular viaduct. Locomotive Diema DL 20, downhill P: Circular viaduct. Locomotive Diema DL 20, uphill    Large View   Top of Page FLB Main Page Ferrolatino Home Page