Time to enjoy this video because the northern leg of the line is now closed and likely to remain so for a while, possibly for ever, following the severe derailment that took place in October (for lack of maintenance of course).

or like it could be in a foreign made western

Thanks for the information.

I knew that had to be a baldwin locomotive simply by the look of the locomotive

Great Northern N3 ¡mil gracias por la informacion! Thanks tons for that information! Wonder, could you find out similar data for the Henschel & Sohn locos? From #101 up Saludos = cheers Ricardo

Yes indeed. The dry weather is such that, fortunately, the sleepers can survive for centuries. That helps, having regard of the fact that we ran portions of the track that have not seen a train in the past 6 years...

With the scarcity of revenue service and the inability of dry weather to preserve personnel, how did you find a crew to run the train? Does the railway maintain a skeleton crew for summer excursions? Incredibly beautiful videography. BRAVO!

Yes both provinces maintain some crew. In the South, they run trains for tourists, from Esquel to Nahuel Pan (see latrochita.org.ar). In the North, train are available as charters only, apparently from Ing. Jacobacci to Ojos de Agua.

Thank you Tim and sorry to have interrupted your work...

Así es Martín formini . pero es un servicio sólo para fines turísticos..el servicio ferroviario ""normal" es de aproximadamente 850 kilómetros de extensión entre las ciudades de Viedma cerca de la costa del océano Atlántico ..y la ciudad de turismo de nieve ..Bariloche..se presta con locomotora diesel eléctrica camarote ..coche restaurant y tiene un vagón acondicionado para el transporte de automoviles ..el servicio es semanal y lo presta la empresa TREN PATAGÓNICO.....en el invierno austral (julio a septiembre) es la temporada alta con paisaje nevados ..saludos desde mar del plata ARGENTINA. 🤗🤗

Thanks ..gracias amigo ..mostraste a mi país de manera estupenda ...y en el norte tenemos el tren de las nubes .. se está estudiando volver a poner en actividad el servicio buenos Aires Bariloche..saludos ..y gracias ..🤗🤗

Acabo de leer que Tren Patagónico va a reabrir la via entre Viedma y Carmen de Patagones. Si no me equivoco, se puede ya viajar por tren hasta Bahia Blanca. Posiblemente que lo haya en Octubre.

@@KochersbergTV parece que si..todo depende de la situación del país. 🙂🙂.. así es Argentina 😎😎

Fui a Argentina a veces y tome fotos también. Aqua: www.ona.vu/Argentine/

@@KochersbergTV bueno..siempre eres Bienvenido . .te invitamos por mi ciudad mar del plata ..😊😊

Yes. These trains are charters. During run-pasts, all passengers are out of the train taking pictures.The place being a desert, it is not possible to hire anybody to act as passengers. Unfortunately.

The problem is that there is no one to buy tickets. The region is a quasi-desert... and it was (is still being) deserted by any reasonable population born in the area. Fro those few travelers, there exists (unfortunately) an efficient network of buses, which are immensely faster than the train (at the risk of security).

Homenagem à 'LA TROCHITA': penso que as estações por onde ela passa deveriam ser limpas, sem ferragens abandonadas e outros lixos, que somente servem para enfeiar a passagem dessa instituição argentina, 'La Trochita'.

From the onset, the train was part of the national Argentine railway system. In 1993, the Government decided to move the responsibility for the railways to the provinces, which resulted in the closure of a majority of the long distance lines. The Trochita was divided into two separate companies depending respectively on the Rio Negro and Chubut provinces. The service was nevertheless re-instated for a few years, but at some point the agreement between the two provinces was broken, resulting in the closure of the middle section of the line, at the level of the provincial border (Ñorquincó). The Chubut province continues to support the railway and organises trains for tourists during the Summer season. The Rio Negro province is less committed to the railway: the necessary equipment is maintained, but not used on a regular basis.

@@KochersbergTV Thanks for your reply. I wish the railroad success and continuance into the future.

The very reason why I am shooting railway videos is precisely the possibility to add sound to the image. I do not want to spoil that sound with anything else. In this particular case, I have to say that the wind was a real challenge, and my microphone did unexpectedly well.

Actually Patagonia is in a position similar to what you find in e.g.in Nevada: a big mountain (in this case the Andes) is sheltering the place from the humid air blowing from the Pacific Ocean . As a consequence, it is seldom raining (or snowing in the winter).

Yeah it looks just like northern Nevada.

I tend to consider narrow gauge as smaller than meter/3 foot 6 gauge.

35 paying customers. And it was financially "borderline". To find out about any future excursion, please contact www.farrail.net.

The news are unfortunately correct.

Unfortunately, I could not take the broad gauge train between Viedma and Bariloche. The dates did not fit... Next time, I hope.

For more information, please refer to the website of the company: latrochita.org.ar. Only in Spanish unfortunately.

The locomotives were built according to the requirements of the railway in 1922. It is nevertheless possible that Baldwin got some inspiration from existing locomotives such as the K27.

The locomotives are oil burners. Oil is normally carried in tank wagons, which you can see on the video. As for the water, there is a water supply every 40 km (±25 mi). Surprisingly, in the middle of nowhere, in a dry climate, those water columns still work, bringing water from God knows where.

@@KochersbergTV Thank you-- and apologies for my delay in answering. Computer meltdown.

I assumed the tank wagons were for extra water.

Partly water, partly oil.

Those trains were charters. They carried a group of about 60 photographers, who most of the time were out of the train to take pictures.

@@KochersbergTV thanks for the information. Must have been fun.

It is not strictly a museum line, even though it has no other revenue activity. The staff is mostly paid by the respective provinces. In the South (Chubut province), they run regular trains for tourists from Esquel to Nahuel Pan. In the North, (Rio Grande), it seems that the staff is provided by Tren Patagonico, which operate revenue trains from Viedma to Bariloche on the broad gauge line visible at the beginning of the video.

No fire. Just another steam locomotive.

Indeed. I had to work a lot on the sound track.

@@KochersbergTV But its a masterpiece of documentation, thank you for the videos that you are uploading. Grüsse aus der Schweiz

I just went there.

@@KochersbergTV Well that's about all the information I need, thank you.

I might have elaborated a bit. The line is currently divided into two parts, corresponding each to a province. In the Rio Negro province, (in the North), there is no regular traffic, but the train can be rented (at a price!) between Ing. Jacobacci and Ojos de Agua. Due to the poor track condition, this takes more than one day and there are no hotel facilities in Ojos de Agua. I had to sleep for two nights in a school! The railway is managed by Tren Patagonico, which is also dealing with the Viedma-Bariloche broad gauge line. In the Chubut province, (in the South), there survive regular trains between Esquel and Nahual Pan, (about 20 km), but trains can be chartered to go up to Lapa station (at a price too!). Between Lapa and El Maiten, the line is officially open but blocked by the Mapuche community for political reasons. Trains can also be chartered to run around El Maiten. On the border between the two provinces at the level of Ñorquinco, the line is not open (and not usable) but still present. So it is not correct to say that the line is almost entirely closed, but it is difficult and expensive to travel on what is left of it. Just to say that this was, by far, my most expensive video.

@@KochersbergTV Thanks for the information! Such a beautiful railway.

Nope, but some of my neighbors may be...

Thank you for your nice comment. The Northern part of the line crosses a region, which the Spaniards called "El desierto" (the desert). The place is covered with a thick layer of volcanic ash, which combined with a harsh climate proves particularly hostile to any inhabitants. More in the South the railway crosses a region mostly inhabited by Mapuche "Indians". For some political reason, there tends to be some unrest in this region and it is considered unsafe to go there. So we did not go. In general there are more sheeps than humans in this part of the world and the very purpose of the railway was to carry cattle, meat and wool.

The trains shown on this video were charters, this is why they seem to be empty. Regular traffic (with passengers) is now limited to the 20 km long section between Esquel and Nahuel Pan. But I was served a steak, together with a nice bottle of Argentine red wine.

You are right, but partly so. Locomotive No. 1 seen in El Maitén is in perfect condition, in my opinion.

My mistake then... Thank you for correcting me.

Estepa Patagónica..la Pampa está más al norte..Saludos desde mar del plata ARGENTINA 😊😊

The status of the line is ambiguous, but I think we can consider it as a museum line.

Not you, but the effect of electronic stabilization of the image. The place was so incredibly windy that it was impossible to record a stable video. Sorry about that.

In 1977, Paul Theroux reported that the 400 km were covered in 13 hours. There was a stop every 40 km fro watering and a change of locomotive in El Maitén. This would suggest a maximum speed well over 40 km/h...

Please refer to previous comments on the same topic, and my answer to them...

The passengers went off the train in order to take pictures (and videos). These were charters, not regular trains.

Porque no!

...and too many steam leaks.

In real life, they never do so, do they ?

I thought that the Baldwin No.1 locomotive in part 2 ran incredibly well!

So do I.