Engine keeps derailing

Sounds like the perfect garden for a Gauge 1 Narrow gauge railway, and for you to do some tunneling........

Many thanks for the hints and tips. I shall give these a go.

Thanks.

Why not a series of zig-zags, a la Central of Peru. Ordinary locos, no fancy rack engines, but a lot of track and points. Regards, Bill.

words:

I remember the Peru switchback from "Great Railway Journeys of the World". It was still steam-powered, as the diesels were ineffective at high altitude.

"MartinS" <

Up the side of the "Devil's Nose"?

-- Cheers Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

Possibly, but I don't find that mentioned in the book.

William Pierce wrote:-

Not that ordinary. They were Shay geared locomotives. I remember seeing the maker's plate on the side: "Shay... Pennsylvania...18xx[something or other date]"

(kim)

The Andes-class loco pictured in the [1981] book, photographed at Lima, is definitely not a Shay. There is only one line out of Lima - to Huancayo in the Andes, with a narrow-gauge link to Huancavelica.

Nope, the line that climbs up the side of the Devil's Nose, don't recall the name of the line, is/was run by Baldwin 2-8-0s.

-- Cheers Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

kim wrote: >

The Central of Peru never owned or operated any Shays, nor were they built in Pennsylvania. Perhaps you saw one of the former La Paz-Beni Railroad Shays? FCLPB #2, later ENFE 508, was stored at Viacha until

That's another railway entirely, the Guayaquil & Quito in Ecuador. The Central Railway of Peru reaches an altitude of 15,805'at La Cima, and has 21 switchbacks between Callao and Huancayo. The Southern Railway of Peru reaches an altitude of over 14,000' on the line between Arequipa and Puno. It also uses a number of switchbacks, I just don't have a reference to hand as to the exact number.

Thanks for the clarification Mark.

I think they Canadian built MLW locomotives.

-- Cheers Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

And don't forget to orientate it so that the sun can shine right through on IKB's birthday (so the legend goes)! ;-)

David E. Belcher

I somehow got the impression we were talking about the railway featured in 'Great Railway Journeys of the World' as shown on TV. AOL doesn't track threads the same was ay Outlook Express so it's very difficult to refer back to previous posts. My mistake.

(kim)

Yes, from memory they have some 1200hp DL560Bs.

No worries, kim, we all make 'em! :-)

Out of interest, what the railway with Shays featured on the telly?

Mark Newton wrote:-

According to bbcfactual.co.uk it was the Lima to La Paz railway which you mentioned.

The "Three Miles High" episode of Great Railway Journeys featured Miles Kington attempting to travel from Lima, Peru to La Paz, Bolivia via several trains, a bus or two and a steamer across Lake Titicaca. Their diesel railcar actually got stranded 20 miles from La Paz as a result of a revolution and general strike, and the crew had to travel the rest of the way by truck. In the book based on the series, which I picked up at the Worth Valley Railway, the chapter concentrates on the first part of the journey from Lima to Huancayo and Huancavelica, with a passing mention of Machu Picchu (which IIRC was served by an electrified line).

The book has no photos of Shay locos, which isn't to say there weren't any seen in the TV programmes, but perhaps you are thinking of the subsequent series "Great Little Railways of the World" which featured narrow gauge branch lines rather than main lines.

Well, there you go! It's me who owes you an apology, kim. I haven't seen this programme, so I had mistakenly assumed from previous posts that it only featured the FCC/FCS lines. It sounds interesting - when it was filmed the Shay was possibly still running.