Arch Bridges of Michoacan

While traveling along the coast of Michoacan in search of surf, I decided to follow Kansas City Southern of Mexico's (KCSM) line inland from the Port of Lazaro Cardenas. Of all the lines in Mexico, I am the least familiar with this line. In the 1970's, the original NdeM line to Uruapan (as well as the the branch to Apatzingan) was extended through the deep and desolate canyons of the Rio Balsas to reach the deep Pacific port. Since then, the port has grown in importance, gaining a respectable position in the west coast maritime shipping industry. Of course, the KCSM line has also seen an increase in importance as containers and other freight is shipped inland.

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One of the locations that have always fascinated me is the large steel arch bridge that is on this line near Nueva Italia. At the time, I had only seen two pictures (one in Matt Herson's book) of the bridge, and had a vague idea of where it was located. Since I only had one day to spare, I decided to drive inland with the hope of locating it. After a while wandering back roads near El Marques, I finally pin-pointed the ravine, and eventually made my way to the bridge. Unfortunately, in the next 6 hours of waiting, there was very little action to be found.

After waiting for about 1 hour, I finally heard the dispatcher issuing track warrants to a southbound train that was approaching. About 45 minutes later, I was disappointed to find that it was only a high-rail truck inspecting the line

Later in the afternoon, I heard a local train in Nueva Italia calling the dispatcher. The had finished their work (presumably on the branch to Apatzingan) and were ready to depart north. After being excited about the approaching train, I was again disappointed to find that it was only a single engine returning to the yard in Uruapan. Here is is seen crossing the bridge.

While returning to the autopista, I was surprised to find a second such arch bridge located about 20KM to the north. Unfortunately, this ravine was covered with tall heavy brush, limiting the photographic opportunities.

Mexico's Last Alco - A Side Trip to Alzada

On this trip through Mexico, I decided to make a sidetrip to Alzada, Colima. Hylsamex runs an ore pelleting plant here in the coastal mountains of Colima state. Raw ore that is delivered by Ferromex is processed into pellets, then shipped in unit trains to steel plants around Mexico. The real attraction is a well-kept Alco RS-2 that has been used as the plant switcher for many years.

After driving around the perimiter of the plant, I finally located the RS-2 at Hylsamex's smalll engine facility. Unfortunately the unit was down for some shop work. The good news is that it looks like some heavy maintainence is being performed in order to keep the historic unit running.

Referencing these pictures, a well-versed former Alco mechanic in California said "it looks like they are going to replace some cylinder heads,under the plastic in the foreground, valve covers with rocker arms on the running board to the left of the mechanics. The old girl may get a chance to continue working."

Now just lettered "Hylsa," number 801 is sitting in the small engine shop on Hylsamex's property at Alzada.

While the RS-2 was not running on this visit, the other plant switcher was busy shuffling loaded gondolas between the Ferromex transfer and the plant. Here, the GE engine is seen shoving one last gondola of raw ore into the rotary dumper.

After unloading raw ore, the plant switcher is seen shoving processed ore pellets back to the Ferromex transfer yard.

The small yard along the Ferromex mainline originates some of the "metalero's" that can be seen shipping ore to steel plants around Mexico. Raw ore is delivered to the plant for proccessing. Ferromex then picks up the processed ore pellets inunit trains.

After dropping off the pellets, the switcher then pulls a cut of raw ore back into the plant.

A trainman rides the end of the cut back to the rotary dumper.

At near by Atenquique, the Atenquique Paper Company has a large plant that sits in the bottom of a deep ravine. The plant has a small but impressive rail line that crosses two rivers to connect to the Ferromex mainline. Although it seems that rail operations are rare (or suspended) the plant's Porter switch engine sits at the entrance.