Paraguay

All photographs date from 1995. They were taken on the F.C.P.C.A.L., Ferrocaril Presidente Carlos Antonio Lopez (today: Ferrocarriles del Paraguay S.A, FEPASA) between the capitel Asunción and Encarnación in the south near the frontier to Argentina. This was the last surviving railway line of Paraguay. Of this line, today there is only the 23 km section from the Jardim Botánico station (east of Asunción) to Areguá (on weekends, "Tren del Lago") in operation and a short section between the Argentinian border city of Posadas and Encarnación where the goods are transferred to lorries. According to latest reports (June 2005) the three steam engines No. 59, 60 and 101 continue in service which will be secure by a contract for a further two years. Speed does not exceed 20 km per hour.

The railways of Paraguay have been closed almost completely (see above) for some time. A Privatisation Project has been underways since 1991, and several offers were received. In reality, nothing has happened. The main station at Asunción has been converted into a cultural centre. During a visit in 1998 some derelict vehicles could still be admired. We would be happy to hear if anything has changed in the meantime.

The tramway of Asunción which during its final days was operated by used trams from Brussels (formerly series 1500, square and two-axle, later series 9000 of the same construction but with a modern body) has been closed since 1997. In its last days, occasionally an advertising car (a rebuilt car of the 9000 series) was operated. The tracks could still be seen in many places during a visit in 1998, and if you followed them on foot out to the suburbs, with some luck you would arrive at the former car shed and there behind the wall the outline of an advertising car could be glanced. The network was single track, side running, with passing loops, the interval between the cars about one hour.