After asking several FIT employees in Oaxaca and getting several conflicting answers, I wanted to find out exactly how for south FIT was operating on Linea K toward the Guatemala border. As previously mentioned, the line was severely damaged during Hurricane Stan in 2005, prompting Gennessee & Wyoming to give up operations and their concessions on the line. Once FIT took over operations, little was known as to how far southward on the line they operated.
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Continuing the drive southward into Chiapas state, it was clear that FIT had been doing work on the tracks and that trains were operating on the line.
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Arriaga
Tonala
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Below is a report that I posted to Mexlist in October of 2009 providing more details of FIT operations in Oaxaca and Chiapas;
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Currently, a daily manifest train is being operated between the Ferrosur Yard at Medias Aguas and Ixtepec, Oaxaca. The train generally leaves Medias Aguas around5-6 PM, passing through Matias Romero around 8 PM. It turns at Ixtepec,returning north through Matias Romero around 6 AM, arriving at Medias Aguas around 8 AM. This train uses Ferrosur locomotives, although I received differing answers if the crew was a FIT crew. I was able to photograph this train at the Matias Romero depot and spoke with the crew for a few minutes.
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From Ixtepec, the line to the south is in service as far as Tonala, Chiapas. In Tonala, Oleofin is loading some sort of oil in tanks for delivery to Guadalajara. I spoke with the men loading the tanks with palm oil. South of Tonala, the line is covered with thick brush and I was able to see several smaller bridges were washed out. I was also allowed to walk through the shop sat Tonala, where several FCCM locomotives are stored (and several damagedlocomotives too).
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At Arriaga, tank cars and grain hoppers are being trans-loaded to trucks for forwarding to Guatemala. According to a FIT employee in the depot, a small grain elevator there also receives about 5 hoppers per week. There is also some sort of Cemex facility on the north end of town that had several Cemex box cars.According to several workers, a train runs from Ixtepec to Arriaga, arriving around 8PM. Unfortunately, I did not stay to witness this train.
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According to two workers in Tonala, FIT is also hauling windmill (turbine) parts from the port of Salina Cruz to an area on the coastal plain south of Itxtepec where large windmills are being built. From Highway 200, several of these huge windmills are visible, although I did not see any that appeared to be under construction. It could be that this business has passed.
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As far as work on the line to Guatemala, there are huge stacks of wood and concrete ties at Arriaga. While I was there, several men were loading ties onto several semi-trailers throughout the day. in about an hour, three trucks left town on Highway 200 southbound. At Arriaga, there are many stacks of jointed rail along the yard, although no one seemed to be working in the area.
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Also at Tonala, there were two Kinki passenger cars in the yard that were in really bad condition. I don't know if these cars were used for the passenger train that worked the line. But several windows were broken out and pieces of the air brake system were visibly missing.
2 comments:
Interesting....those high-nose GEs looked familiar.
They were running out their last days on the NS and being purchased secondhand by the Georgia Central (now a Genesee & Wyoming property itself) when I was stationed in Georgia a little over 10 years ago.
Isn't there another G&W operation in Durango that also has some high-hood GEs?
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