The Woodburners of Paraguay - English • Great Railways
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- čas přidán 5. 05. 2024
- In 1991 producer NICK LERA headed down to South America to film the world's last wood-burning state railway, in Paraguay on the northern Argentine border. British built and still using original locomotives made in Glasgow in 1910, it was the world's slowest main line. The weekly overnight mail to the capital Asuncion made the line's fastest run with an average speed of 20km per hour. Track maintenance was performed by the cattle of the pampa munching calmly at the grass covered track with plenty of time to move aside for the approaching 'express'. The southern end of the line where Lera filmed the steam veterans whistling through Encarnacion's busy streets has now vanished beneath the rising waters of a massive barrage project on the Parana River, leaving this film as a precious record of a fascinating and little known railway now gone for good.
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Such a laid back, non rushed life style! 😊😊😊 easy on the good health.
Yes…0:53 says it all, mother and child crossing a railway track right in front of a very slow train….
It must have been great to hear and smell these engines passing by in their day.
This got some Spaghetti western vibes with that mix of European and American elements. Buffers that folds up, I have never seen that before.
We had them in the army on Ramp wagons . But they folded to the side not upwards when the ramp wagon was operated !
The 5' 6" rail gauge contributes to the Good the Bad and Ugly effect. Iberian 5' 5 and 2/3" in that film.
I get strong feeling of Indian railways
Trinity is my name 😃
It was surprising that the railway survived that long. No train has passed these tracks since a long time from the early 2000s but efforts to reinstate traffic from Argentine to Encarnacion seem underway, on Google maps it's even visible that they started construction of a new track bed to replace the old worn one.
As International Railway Gazette states a lot of this is the incentive of Argentinean bodies, who have the aim to reconnect Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay to the Argentine rail network.
In Uruguay a lot of renewed track is already visible on Google maps, mainly in the Montevideo area.
Also a tourist service from Asunción to Ypacarai is planned to reopen with some of the steam locomotives.
Thanks for the update. A third of a century is a long time! As you know the former downtown area of Encarnacion with its rail line down 'Main Street' now rests in a watery grave beneath the Parana barrage. I thought the Argentine Noroeste track still ran across the 1990 bridge, terminating in a container transfer yard for road haulage on the Paraguayan side, but you write as though it hasn't done so for some time. I haven't heard of any diversion around the flooded section to restore the main line to the capital Encarnacion but it's good to know they plan to use the Northern section of the route from Ypacarai, even if it's only for tourism and would no longer be part of the nation's economic infrastructure.
@@NicholasLera-kd5tj When the information is right there was a container train in 2022 which crossed the bridge but in the seven years before nothing happened, that was when the diversion on the Argentine side had to be build as a result of the flooding. The current status of freight trains running is unclear, but earth works and building of new bridges and abutments can be seen on Google maps starting just north of the station of Encarnacion.
I did see some information on the running of passenger trains across the bridge mentioned since 2014 using old DMU's that used to run here in the Netherlands and operated by Casimiro.
The operation is between the stations either side of the bridge from Posada to Encarnacion and was still operational as by 2023.
@@Tom-Lahaye Thanks for the clarification, Tom. There was an initial confusion over the meaning of Encarnacion station. It evidently refers to the rather basic affair located close to the Parana bridge, and not the original downtown station seen in my film near the western end of the now flooded street running. Its good to know the rail track over the bridge is back in use. It's a start.
@@NicholasLera-kd5tj It's indeed the 'new' station near the bridge where currently the line ends.
The link for a tourist service is not a remote possibility, it is way beyond what the country can afford, and it could never attract private investment. I would love to be wrong.
I travelled on this railway many years ago. It was an early start on a Sunday morning, but great.
MY amazment is this lasted as long as it did! I havent seen too many lines with track as precarious as this in such heavy service!
When I first came to Paraguay in 2002 the weekend tourist train was still running. Even that stopped years ago. The old engineering works at Sapucai have been turned into a museum and are well worth a visit.
I would love to visit Paraguay 🇵🇾 and South America, beautiful country, love from England ❤
It needs a drive to get there, but worth a visit for sure. Needs a full day there.
Not a full day out, a couple of hours is ample. An afternoon out
I had three or four hours, and I was dragged away. A few interesting old boys there.
I'm not really into steam locomotives, but I found this extremely interesting and fascinating to see. Definitely a special time capsule into the not to distant past. Thanks for posting.
Ař uvidíš nějakou v jízdě na vlastni oči tak budeš mít zážitek na celý život.
That slower life seems appealing from a distance.
Wonderful video of a wood burning steam locomotive which was filmed in 1991.
In my 1969 VW campervan journey around the world in 1989 I was fortunate enough to have travelled through Paraguay where I took this lovely old steam engine.
Then I drove from Asunción, the capital city of Paraguay to Encarnación and parked and slept for the night at the ferry port where these steam ferries were still transporting wagons across the wide Paraná River.
I remember waking up to the sound of a very noisy old diesel which was shunting the marriages onto the steam ferry. I watched this process until it was my turn to drive onto the car ferry ready to go across the river. While we crossed the river we were followed by the loaded up steam ferry with the soon to be opened up huge new bridge in the background. Little did I know that it was one of the last times that the car ferry and steam driven railway ferry would operate. I was fortunate enough to have taken some pictures of this experience which I put in my book because it was one of the highlights of travelling in South America.
This video brought back some wonderful memories of this experience.
Loved the story of your 1989 travels in Paraguay. Thanks for sharing. Although I missed the steam ferry, as you can see I was fortunate that my good friend Manfred Stolz let me use his priceless 8mm film of the steam ferry, and associated steam loco workings, for the enjoyment of all, thanks to Utube.
Many, many thanks for this superb video. My son and I travelled on these trains in January 1992 and had an exciting experience, no Health and Safety here, we loved it! So sad it has almost gone.
Looks like the vegetation is loving the carbon the trains belch out, so green!
I have part of this video on VHS, recorded from the TV in the 80s -it was part of my childhood and maybe a small part of why I now live in South America. I love these trains and hope to visit Paraguay one day to see if anything remains. If you have the video of the three steam passenger trains running together in Australia, that was a great video - loved the music chosen as well.
❤❤ Quede realmente facinado encantado y sorprendido por la calidad de imagen y trabajo a pesar se ser un antiguo material .
Eternamente agradecido por compartir ❤❤❤❤
Truly wonderful , thank you.
Why am i not surprised that they brutality cut the line.
But i am shocked to see these engines of yesteryear plying the grass rails in the 1990's. Too 😎 cool.
This is brilliant
Absolutely deoghtful. Thank youso much.
Thank You for an excellent video. Well filmed and presented.
Amazing!
"FASCINATING" is too soft a word. "INTRIGUING" is minimally descriptive. Stumbled upon this vid through random suggestion. This is one of the most entertaining. Now gone -- really disheartening for railfans.
Having travelled on this railway 25 years ago we only did about 20 mph and eventually the rods fell off the locomotive and left us stranded for hours until our tour bus found us. So train brakes were not that necessary
God is also unable to believe how ancient rail works in Paraguay & other Latin American?
Anyone notice the train has NO braking system !! There are no air or vacuum brake pipes on the locomotive to couple onto the brake pipes of the next vehicle of the train ,whether it be a freight wagon or a passenger carriage ! So the only brake is on the locomotive . No wonder the train never does more than 25 mph ! So there should be in theory be a brakesman at the end of every train in case it becomes divided and the rear portion starts rolling back on a downward gradient ! I can't see any brakesman at the back of the train ready to apply the brake in an emergency can you !?
Mmm. Sounds plausible. If the track had close to no gradiences? It would be safe enough. The most early of locomotives had no brakes even on the powered wheels. It was 100% down to the pistons to stop it. At least if the locomotive here has some reliable brakes? When the hunk of metal stops and is hold by the locomotive you would simply block the wheels on a few of the wagons. They are called shoes or something? Rocks works too. Simply not very safe to do it like that...
Really when taking about anything flying or big enough to require more then a group of drunks friends to handle? You simply have to respect the forces your dealing with. A small city car you can pick up and move around if your decently strong. 4 people should be able to nudge such a car sideways if they want to. A container ship?? A Train? Na that is not going to budge by some dunkers on there way from the pub. And aircrafts are designed to crash back down to earth or possibly water. So really safety and that is out of the window when it comes to emergency braking. They are going to come down and land. It is a matter of how well they will land.
A train like this should at some point stop when not under own power. Hopefully it is going to stop on the track still. Like really. Like really, really. I do not give a singe care of interest if a train has brakes. (ofc I do not want to see trains lose control down a hill or take a turn to fast.) If a TRAIN IS A-COMIN ? There is no brakes that will stop it in time. You give trains 100% every day of the calendar year the right of way. It dose not matter if your on foot or a lorry/buss/18 wheeler truck. Train go first. Even military tanks and such are no match agents a train. The forces involved are insane. Your best bet going head to head with a train on their tracks? Run. Or possibly take a container ship into battle? Maybe you have a chance to inflict enough explosion or connective force to derail a train to save you? Anyways. Brakes on trains are at most useful to avoid it from running away. And the locomotive alone should be enough. If it really do not go down or up grades that out do it. Or your playing around with death that is.
It is a horrible scenario being a locomotive drive. You are completely powerless to stop danger out of your control. It should be the first driver jobs to go out of existence. Since some 'AI' or whatever do not have any feelings when something walks out on the track and get hurt. Yet for some reason we believe making cars or whatever else driverless? The one thing actually controllable and avoidable? With stop distance of meters. Not kilometers. But not the trains stuck on rails and???? Okay. That sounds very logical everyone.
This slow speeds are far safer then the actual trains used on modern tracks. When we are talking about brake distance. It is not the trains fault if anyone challenge it's way on the track.
Respect trains. And question why we are sending things into the air. Even spaceships and such makes more sense then flying iPhone or whatever else around as cargo. Airfreight expensive luxury items. Sounds extremely wasteful. Since it is. Even air mail seems quite ridicules. Let alone Amazon etc etc etc.
@@TheDiner50if you wish the people to read your answer, pl. make it brief.
Imagens lindas. ❤
I really enjoyed this video.
Excellent film
Fascinating!
Wow,HOW Wonderful. GRACIAS
Curiously appealing time travel.
Un video de paraguay???😊
Delightful🙂
The track guage looks exceptionally wide or was that just a camera effect ???🤫
Okay, Yup, looked it up. 1,676 mm
Broad gauge of 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in), commonly known as Indian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Argentina, Chile, and on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) in the San Francisco Bay Area. This is the widest gauge in common use anywhere in the world. 👍
Hola Kevin, la trocha es de 1.43 metro. Cuando cruza hacia argentina lo hace hacia en una vía de este ancho. En argentina hay varias trochas. Un saludo!
Kevin, you may have looked it up but I fear you may only have looked at the first line or two of your source. It was indeed broad 1676mm gauge when first opened as far as Sapucay back in 1861. The loco on display in Asuncion is of this gauge. But war with neighbour states crashed the economy shortly afterwards and the railway failed to recover. It wasn't until 1910 that a new company in Britain switched the gauge to standard 1435mm for compatibility with Argentina's Noroeste neighbour and completed the project to Asuncion. Hence the British locomotives in my film dating from 1910.
@@NicholasLera-kd5tjasí es Nicolas, no escribí mucho, por si no traduce bien el Google. Un saludo desde Argentina.
1435 mm, not 1676.
@@camucamu1332 I'm glad you liked my brief account of the Paraguay gauge question. As I see you are from Argentina, look out for my film Patagonia Express which will be posted to Utube quite soon. Also filmed in 1991 when it was still a public railway and not a touristic Trochita, when people used the railway to travel, instead of travelling to the railway just for the ride. But I had to reserve a place on a tourist train as a precaution against the weekly public train being cancelled and having nothing to film!
Wonderful
Grate vid.
THAT FORD SIERRA IN THE THUMBNAIL! OWO
and the Mercedes W114 in the same street. A little bit like New Zealand in the 1970's.
15 hours there. 15 hours back. Prep and disposal. That's your weekly hours.
Land that time forgot?
They burn wood, but there's no smoke, do they add additional air above the fire bed?
As long as enough air is mixed into the fuel while burning almost any fuel should burn clean in an engine. Seeing smoke is usually either drivers purposefully making a scene for cameras or the driver making a mistake
Friction bearing and arch bar trucks. What could go wrong?
According to wikipedia track gauge in Paraguay is 1.435 m or 4' 8.5 "
How sad!😢
EN AMERICA LATINA SI LOS GOBIERNOS DARIAN IMPORTANCIA LOS FERROCARRILES X ES UNA COSA MUY ELEMENTAL PARA LA ECONOMÍA REGIONAL DE CADA PUEBLO Y EN TURISMO EN ARGENTINA EXISTE EL TREN IGUAL QUE ESTO VIDEO EN LA ZONA DEL SUR EL TREN PATAGONICO
Paraguay's Department of Transportation has announced that it will reinstate the weekend heritage excursion train out of Asuncion. I don't know the destination or the distance. It is for city dwellers to enjoy a fun ride for a picnic in the countryside. It will have no place in the economy or infrastructure of the nation. In Patagonia they have a train for a similar purpose, but the government gave it to the province, which does not maintain the line properly. Last December there was a serious derailment when the whole train overturned and a foreign tourist later died of his injuries. Trains are not toys.
17:20 Some modern roller bearing axels, but not all.
No flanges on the centre drive wheel, must negotiate some tight curves
hi regards from Paraguay. We have two documentaries about our old train. we are now editing a new one about one of the forgotten train stations in Isla Saka, South of Paraguay in Caazapa. We have good video recorded in Sapucay, with the steam machines making the rails. very hot work. we would like to use some of your videos with the train in movement. we offer to you any of our videos too. Thanks for the time.
There is some useful 8mm film material of train in movement I can send you. But first I must find out how to send it by email. If it's a problem I'll send you a DVD disc in the post. Is personal contact info allowed in this forum?
Hi Nick, i dowloaded your video. The image is great. FHD
Can i use some parts.?
1 minute.
I wait for your answer. Have a good day.
Give me your mail, i wiil send you some videos in Sapucay.1991.
the locomotives look very similar to the BESA standard Indian locomotives of the era. I am guessing that's no coincidence
The racket these are making is pretty similar to the Indian ones
What speed would these wood burning locos do if the track was in order etc..?
Technical details of Paraguay's locos are not to hand, but as a lay observer who has visited railways elsewhere I'd say approximately 30mph/50kph would be their optimum speed. Above that the loco crew would have a job getting the logs into the grate fast enough! Apart from which more expensive high grade metals would be needed in the manufacture of bearings, motion, etc. not to mention provision of a superior braking system. These engines were built down to a price. From their appearance the locos acquired from Argentina's Urquiza system seem to have been manufactured to a higher spec.
Did that women actually walk in front of that train with a child in tow at the beginning !! (just before it hit the cows !) I'm a agog ! Weekly mail train ? The mail is urgent then ? You post a letter to the capital and it doesn't go for a week !!!!!!? I bet this is all gone now !
From where to where ?
Im argentinan i wish someone upload a video of the urquiza railway
In 2024 a world which is constantly changing ( and Not necessarily for the better ) it is NICE to know somethings REMAIN UNCHANGED!!!! And HOPEFFULLY will STAY that way for always and forever in our screwed world of EVs that take great delight in burning themselves to the ground in midst PEAK traffic!!!!!
Uh? This line is closed, only the small trackage between the international bridge and a new yard survives. All the other trackage was lifted with exception of some yards at Asunción botánico and Sapucai workshops.
Yep while the Chinese and Europe are going at full speed with HSR the British find comfort and pride with the train powered by burning wood. Best of British?
Será que ainda existe em Paraguai?
Si todavía existe también arranca
amzing to watch but at the same time kinda sad, the track is a lumpy mess and the locos rattling and wheezing due to poor maintenance
0:52 Darwin award
One of the last non-superheated locomotives ever built? That’s a load of rubbish. Unusual for the era yes but plenty of industrial steam locomotives were built in the UK after that date. My Polish locomotive was built in 1959, with the last of its series built in 1961, non-superheated of course.
I meant of course public railways. Mea culpa. But even without that qualification, 'one of the last' does not say they were the last. After all the effort and expense that goes into making these documentaries it is hardly constructive to adopt hostile vocabulary such as 'load of rubbish'. I do not deserve to be insulted. In so doing you demean yourself.
With the greatest respect, it was a fascinating documentary and I enjoyed learning about a system I knew nothing about. My aim wasn't to cause offense, my apologies., However I will stand that I think there were quite a few non-superheated locomotives built after that date, even owned by state railways, some into the 60s. All the best.
@@svemeraldspirit681 Thank you for your broader view of my film. I'm always glad to be corrected on any aspect of steam railways on which I make no claim to be an expert, merely an aficianado. It was the 'rubbish' word that jarred. Hence my initial response to your comments. I have only recently discovered for instance that the 9400 class of WR panniers on B.R. were also saturated. We live and learn. This film sold well on DVD back in the day and nobody ever queried or complained of any aspect of it before. I should like to know more of your 1959 Polish locomotive - does it steam anywhere?
@@NicholasLera-kd5tj almost. It’s not quite finished yet - it’s based at the `Plym Valley Railway. I’ve owned it for 8 years and we’ve been working on it ever since. Hopefully this will be the year. It is great that these documentaries have been made available on CZcams. I didn’t know the 94xx were saturated either - a fine class of locomotive!
Gracia
Amazing!