Notes from Mexico

Google Street View is a wonderful thing. It has helped me considerably in figuring out the locations of certain pieces of equipment, particularly cars and locomotives that are plinthed in public locations. Today I was thinking about Mexico and, going through my list of preserved electric equipment in that country, realized that there were a couple of significant questions. The first involved one of the four preserved Mexicano mainline boxcab locomotives, 1012. Fortunately this one I was able to figure out with the help of Google Street View and this web page.

Formerly I'd had 1012 listed as being in Veracruz, but it turns out it wasn't in the city of Veracruz at all, it was further away elsewhere in Veracruz province (ah, the language barrier). It's plinthed in a town called Ciudad Mendoza, right at the spot where the new and old railroad alignments heading towards Mexico City diverge. And lo and behold, it's plainly visible on Street View in all of its vandalized glory. So 1012's record has been corrected and Ciudad Mendoza added to the list of owners of preserved electric equipment.

And while I was at it, I located another locomotive from this same series plinthed in Orizaba, the next city up the line from Mendoza. Mexicano 1002 is plinthed along the main drag there and if you play with Street View a little you can actually read the plaque next to the locomotive, which states that it was put in that location in 1975. More information for the roster!

So that leaves only one big question mark in Mexico: Veracruz streetcar 15, a single-truck open car similar to the others from that system preserved hither and yon, which is supposed to be plinthed in a place called Villahermosa in Veracruz province. Trouble is, I can't find any record whatsoever that it still exists. It's probably a candidate to be taken off of the roster but does anyone know for sure?