Volta o Trem Number 12-1

FLB

Friends of Latin American Railroads

PR-OFFICE: Samuel Rachdi, Bahnhof,

CH-6422 Steinen SZ; Tel. +41/41/832.01.34; Fax +41/41/832.01.35

Email: info@fahrplancenter.com

Florida station, Uruguay, from Jan 2, 2008 again regularly
served by passenger trains. Photo: M. Benoit

VOLTA O TREM
Information Organ of the Association Friends of Latin American Railways

12th Year, Number 1
17th February 2008

FLB NEWS	FAHRPLANCENTER NEWS
THE NEXT FLB EVENTS
FLB COMMITTEE MEETINGS on Saturday: On 01.03.2008, 13.00 h at QZ Gutschick, Winterthur Board members may participate in any case regardless if they are participating at the main meeting or not. Please inform us!	THE FAHRPLANCENTER ONLINE: www.fahrplancenter.com Calls for meetings, orders etc. may also be made by email: info@fahrplancenter.com FLB IS ONLINE UNDER: www.ferrolatino.ch
MEMBERS' MEETINGS on Saturday: on 01.03.2008, 14.30 h at QZ Gutschick, Winterthur. Annual General Assembly, Fixing of meeting dates for 2008 and fixing up of a new meeting point. on 01.03.2008, 15.30 h Slide show by Mr. Dieter Hauss, railways at and around Valparaíso 100 years Lima – Huancayo Incas del Peru offers a superb rail voyage through Peru. By train from Lima to Huancayo, then to Huancavelica, Cuzco - Machu Picchu, Cuzco - Puno, museum tram Barranco, suburban railway Lima, car barn visits, etc. Details see under http://www.fahrplancenter.com/ AIFFLATicketHuancayo.html The International Co-operative for the Development of Latin-American Railways AIFFLA has now been working for nearly two years. Up to know AIFFLA was heavily dependent from its mother organisation FLB. This should change now. Buy AIFFLA bonds and help to make AIFFLA independent and powerful. AIFFLA is already working. In Uruguay the organisation was helping Urutren to buy a rail bus. In Brazil AIFFLA will help restoring a Locobreque of the former São Paulo - Santos funicular railway as soon as a financing and work plan has been established. For more information look at www.aiffla.com Bonds for CHF50.00 and CHF100.00 are available in unlimited quantities. Orders may be placed at: FAHRPLANCENTER, S. Rachdi, Bahnhof, CH-6422 Steinen SZ, info@fahrplancenter.com , your order will be forwarded. Interested customers in EU countries may pay to a German account, excluding high international money transfer rates. Thank you for supporting AIFFLA. A SERVICE OF FLB *In co-operation with the FAHRPLANCENTER.* all timetables of passenger trains from Mexico to Argentina, now on one single home page, go to: http://www.fahrplancenter.com/FahrplanLatino.html AND CLICK ON THE COUNTRY YOU LIKE. In Deutsch; In English; En Castellano; Em Português-Brasileiro	BOOKS ABOUT BRASILIAN RAILWAYS: *Attention please: some titles are on a very* *limited stock, delivery as long as stock last, restocking not guaranteed!* At Fahrplancenter; Prices excluding postage and packing: RAILS THROUGH THE AMAZON, (History of the railways until the 1970'is CHF35.70 / €23,80 CARROS BUDD NO BRASIL, Vol.1, CHF59.70 / €39,90 DAS EISENBAHNWESEN IN BRASILIEN (from 1975), CHF6.00 / €4,00 RAILWAYS OF PERU VOL. 1 - THE NORTHERN LINES, CHF63.60 / €42,40 YAGUAJAY MON AMOUR: Tus trapiches, tus ingenios, tus centrales, 2nd volume of Caminos de Hierro de Yaguachay; CHF24.00 / €16,00 CAMINHO PARA SANTA VERIDIANA Subtitle: As ferrovias em Santa Cruz das Palmeiras; by R. Mennucci Giesbrecht; 140 pages A5. History of the Railway from Cordeiropolis to Pirassununga until its dismantling today, over 50 b/w pictures, text in bras-port; CHF45.00 / €30,00 UM DIA O TREM PASSOU POR AQUI by R. Mennucci Giesbrecht; 184 pages, A5; History of passenger trains in São Paulo state until the end in 2001. Few b/w photographs. Text in bras-port; CHF51.00 / €34,00 THE NITRATE RAILWAYS COMPANY LIMITED by Donald Binns; on 100 pages with more than 130 photographs and pictures, as well as some technical drawings, some area maps etc., describing the history of the numerous railways in the Iquique area in the north of Chile and casting a special eye on the locomotives. Beside the Nitrate Railway are also described some narrow gauge lines (2ft6in): Agua Santa Railway, Junín Railway and Patillos Railway Text in English, few pictures also in colour. CHF59.00 / €39,35 EL FERROCARRIL OESTE SANTAFECINO Subtitle: Carlos Casado y la colonización de la Pampa, Tomo 1; by C. A. Fernandez Priotti; 303 p.; This book deals mainly with the colonisation west of the city of Rosario (in the province of Santa Fé) during the 1880 years and the influence which the construction of the railway line Rosario - Villa Casilda played. The book contains few b/w pictures, but much detailed text, tables on the cost and receipts of the railway, but also of the general economy, development of the population, specimen of the timetables, fares etc. Extension of the railway line, maps from those days; there is however NO railway technical information (about line construction and vehicles). Text in Spanish. Price CHF60.00 / €40,00 Details: http://www.fahrplancenter.com/ Buecherliste_Lateinamerika.html

FLB News
On March 1, 2008 the annual general meeting will be held at Winterthur. A separate invitation was joined to this Volta o Trem.

This meeting will again be accompanied by one of the very interesting and well prepared slide shows by Mr. Dieter Hauss from Frankfurt. During approximately 90 minutes he will present us the railways at Valparaíso, not only the national railways, but also the very interesting and very steep cable cars (Ascensores).

Further to this the annual programme will be fixed up at this meeting, bring your calendar with you.

New members
At the beginning of the year the following members joined FLB:

Mr. David Sorg from Zollikerberg, Switzerland (presently in Peru)

Mr. Cornelius Wankel from Nürnberg, Germany

Mr. Freddy Grimm from Sirnach, Switzerland

FLB directorate and members are welcoming the new members and we hope you may feel good with us.

Membership cancellation
Messrs. Kristian Nygaard from Denmark and Hugo Roth from Switzerland have left the FLB. We wish them all the best.
LATIN AMERICA NEWS

ARGENTINA / PARAGUAY
Trenes Especiales Argentinos, operator of the passenger train "Gran Capitán" between Buenos Aires and Posadas initiated talks with different authorities to expand the trains journey to the Paraguayan border town of Encarnación. Passenger traffic increased heavily over the international bridge, and this train will benefit a lot of Paraguayans. The plan contains extension of the existing train to/from Encarnación. Line concessionaire ALL on the other hand wants to end hiring out locomotives to the passenger train, and lack of maintenance on the infrastructure expands journey times from 26 to 46 hours.

   BRASIL
By mid 2008 a new tourist train, called "Trem das Uvas" (the Grapes train), will start to run from Videira in Santa Catarina state. A steam locomotive is under rehabilitation at Tubarão.

At Maceió in Alagoas the state suburban train operator CBTU/Maceio and the state administration rehabilitated a steam locomotive which will be used for a tourist train service between Jaraguá, Maceió and Lourenço de Albuquerque.

The new local train "Trem do Cariri" between Juázeiro do Norte and Crato in Ceará state is planned to commence operatiom in June 2008. The 13,6 km long line was completely rebuilt and 9 stations built. In nearby Barbalha two diesel hydraulic DMU’s have been built.
CHILE
   A German travel agency (name not yet known) started a luxury cruise train, called TRANSPACIFIC. This train consists of refurbished 1920 vintage sleeping coaches and is pulled by a "diesel autonomic" locomotive (official description). The train offers 52 seats and the journey between Santiago and Puerto Varas and back takes 14 days. The train is booked out for the whole 2008 season.

State railways EFE suspended its passenger services between Temuco and Puerto Montt definitively . The last of four ex-Renfe railcars (delivered in 2005!) continues to run three times daily as a suburban service between Victoria and Temuco.
MEXICO
The city of Monterrey plans to develop 80 km of existing rail tracks around the city to create a suburban rail network. A similar network may also be built around the city of Guadalajara.

The federal government invests MXN (New Peso)700m to repair the hurricane damaged Ixtepec - Tapachula railway; a small part of this sum will be used for repairs of the Coatzacoalcos - Mérida line. Both Chiapas - Mayab lines will be operated by the federal government for an undetermined period. URUGUAY
A new cooperation, called Urutren, was founded in Uruguay. The cooperation has many former state railway workers. In November Urutren acquired an ex-AFE/ex-German Rail bus for reconstruction. To save the vehicle AIFFLA was co-financing it with US$ 1500. Reconstruction started immediately, structural works on the rail bus are well underway. Urutren can use all the existing spare parts which are still stored at the AFE workshop Peñarol. More former German built rail buses will be taken over later, with the aim to introduce passenger services according to the Líneas Férreas Uruguayas project, which has been sustained by FLB/AIFFLA since the foundation of FLB. A special page about Urutren has been created under www.aiffla.com/URUTREN_index.html .

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