Thursday, November 30, 2023

Locomotives Faring Poorly

I'm still working on tracking down recent (to the extent possible) photos of all 2,100 or so pieces of equipment on the PNAERC list, so that we can update all the photos at once, and a couple of surprises recently appeared. I'm hoping that perhaps I can "crowd-source" some answers.
The first mystery involves Ferrocarril Mexicano 1012, one of the big three-truck mainline boxcabs built for the electrification in Mexico by GE in 1923. This locomotive has, for some time, been plinthed along the railroad's main line in Ciudad Mendoza near Veracruz. Above is what it looked like from Google Street View in 2012.
And above is the same view from June of this year. I daresay something's missing. Anyone have any idea where the boxcab went? I have a sinking feeling that the simplest way for it to exit the scene may have been in scrap dumpsters, and I haven't been able to find any evidence online of it being relocated, but I'm hoping that perhaps it was moved somewhere else intact. EDIT: this locomotive is confirmed scrapped. More info here.

And then, moving further south, we come to Ferroclub Argentino, which was just recently featured here for the cosmetic restoration of one of their ex-Pacific Electric steeplecabs. I just came across a rather startling photo of one of their other ex-PE steeplecabs, Ferrocarril General Urquiza 951, ex-Pacific Electric 1591:
That's more than a little ominous! Until recently, at least, this locomotive was in tired shape (as can be seen from the paint job) but still had its trucks. The photo comes from this website, an online petition that I believe has something to do with the organization's trackage being seized or scrapped, but Google Translate did not make it very clear. Anyone know for sure whether 951 has, in fact, been scrapped?

1 comment:

  1. I see a dumpster filled with stuff and and equipment operator in the background to the left of 951. Sigh
    ~Wesley

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