Argentina 2012 Part 3 Steam - La Trochita Cerro Mesa to El Maiten

A RTC trip to Argentina to sample the railway scene on 8th - 17th November 2012. Featured in Part 3 are A trip on the 750mm gauge La Trochita from Cerro Mesa to El Maiten behind Baldwin 2-8-2 4 (1922). 120km of narrow gauge steam through a rugged landscape. The average gradient is around 1.5% (1 in 67) but some sections are steeper up to 2.5% to 3% (1 in 40 to 1 in 33), big sweeping curves are used to make the gradients manageable. This part of the line has no regular trains apart from a few special charters like ours. The line from Ingeniero Jacobacci to Esquel was started to be built in the mid 1920's but not completed until 1945, it closed in 1992 but was saved from destruction by the two provincial governments in the area.