To provide additional perspective to Tom's stories of riding trains in Guatemala, I thought some folks here might enjoy more images of those final days of steam on a great narrow gauge railway system. Here is a link to a album of pix taken between 1968 and 2006.

https://chasingtrains.smugmug.com/International/South-of-the-border/Guatemala/Ferrocarriles-de-Guatemala/

You thought right, Sr West.

VIVA FEGUA !!!!

Great pics JB, thanks for posting. Ned

John, have you thought about going down there and buying it all and bringing it back: lock stock and barrel? Most of it is not going to make it any other way.

Not only is it AGAINST THE LAW AS WRITTEN INTO THE GUATEMALAN CONSTITUTION to take steam locomotives out of the country, but there is an excellent museum being developed in Guatemala City: www.museofegua.com

As I've explained many times to date, I was only able to get the tenders for the Sumpter Valley articulateds out of Guatemala back in 1993 by avoiding the words "maquina de vapor", "locomotora de vapor", or "steam locomotive" on the bill of sale, sales contract, and customs declaration. Just as in Colombia, sure you can BUY one of their engines, but they don't allow you to take it out of the country with you. All it takes is one guy on the dock with a gun and a badge.

Sr West, your website won't open from this terminal (public library). What a shame, I know it's good. That is a very beautiful foto you posted earlier in this thread from Puente Fiscal. Mil Gracias.

VIVA La FEGUA !!!

Sammy, sorry my website would not open. There is no restriction I am aware of at my end, and Smugmug is add free so it should not be restricted. Computers are cranky. An alternative is some of the pix are posted on Flickr here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/124319201@N04/albums/72157646339723923

There is a picture on the website of the Fegua museum in the former Central Station in Guatemala City. It is nicely done and was well supported by Henry Posner when he was involved with the railroad. While I am not unhappy to see a few ex-IRCA engines in the U.S. (the engines at the Georgetown Loop come to mind), we have plenty of our own engines that could be restored. The real challenge is places to run them and historic cars to pull.

JBWX

In 1993, I tried to buy the hulk of Pantaleon Porter 0-4-2T #1 after I found them cutting her up in back of the mill. The FEGUA guys conspired with me to take the engine completely apart, jumbling up the pieces in a 20 foot container, which would be billed as "outdated sugar mill machinery". We were going to drop forge some new rods for her in Guatemala City, and we scrounged up about half the stuff I'd need to get her running. Too bad that the mill manager was from Cuba, and hated Gringos.

I DID get a nice, small whistle out of the deal, a 3 chime flat top from one of the FIdeCA 4-4-0s. It's base has a valve and a schedule 120, 1 1/4" male thread on it, making the steam inlet about 3/8" diameter. They told me it was made like that so the steam gauge wouldn't bounce up and down every time I used it. Turns out that it worked great for my Westfield Plantation Forney, and I'm saving it for the standard gauge Porter backtruck that I'm working on now. If their FEGUA museum outlasts me, I'll will it to them, along with whatever else I have that might interest them.

I highly recommend that anybody who is interested in the FEGUA should go visit Guatemala in person.

Besides the Georgetown Loop having two different classes of FIdeCA 2-8-0 (Salvadoran Division), Hesston Steam Museum has two different sizes of United Fruit (Bananera) Porter 2-6-0s (both run), the Smithsonian has a 4-4-0 (un FIdeCAized, and doesn't run), and Colorado's South Park City has another UFCo 2-6-0 disguised as a South Park engine, which doesn't run. These engines all came North in the 50s through the early 70s, before National Patrimony was explanded to include the railroad.

Can't load your flicker fotos, either --- this electronic junk always has a problem....