I have travelled to Ecuador in 1988 and 1993. These pictures are a selection from these trips. Click on the thumbnail to see the picture and then use your browser's Back button to return to this page.
The Guayaquil and Quito Railway ran from the Pacific coast at Duran,
across the river from Guayaquil, across the tropical plain to Bucay.
From there the serious mountain climbing begins through Huigra, Sibambe,
Alausi and Riobamba to the summit at Urbina. The line then continues
through the Avenue of Fire, named from the volcanoes which line both sides,
to Quito.
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Updates
Dr. H.C. Lutje Spelberg, of the
University of Groningen, visited Ecuador in the summer of 2001. From
Dr. Spelberg's observations it appears that the only part of the railway
still in operation is that between Riobamba and Sibambe. Some of the
road crossings on the line north of Riobamba were asphalted over as were
those on the Cuenca branch. A tourist train was running on Sundays,
Wednesdays and Fridays from Riobamba to Sibambe and back to Alausi using
Alsthom diesel power.
Gareth Jones returned from a trip over the line in October 2005. He writes: The comparison with your visits in
1988 and 1993 were not good. The railway system is only just surviving.
The Duran - Bucay section has been cut at Milagro. About six years ago the
town mayor decided he didn't want a railway running through his town so
without consulting anyone he lifted the tracks! We travelled behind No 11
as far as Yaguachi, turned on the Y and went back to Duran.
We then travelled by bus to Bucay
where the yard is a scene of total dereliction. There is one working railcar
and one 'private' railcar (one of three operated by Metropolitan-Travel).
We used the standard railcar for the journey up the Chanchan Canyon as far
as Huigra where we picked up the bus again as far as Alausai. The line has
been cut for a length of about 4 kilometres due to a major landslide but
some attempts are being made to re-open this section.
At Alausai we had No 17 for a trip
down the Devil's Nose to Sibambe and back to Alausi. Next day we went to
Guamote and by which time No 17 was clearly in difficulty. Next morning
we should have gone through to Riobamba with No 17 but the oil pipe between
the engine and tender broke, causing a massive oil spill in Guamote station.
A diesel rescued the loco while we travelled on by railcar.
From Riobamba to Urbina we had
No 53 for a return trip. This loco seemed the best of them all. Riobamba
station is being renovated!
From Urbina northwards we travelled
by railcar to Tambillo on the outskirts of Quito. The track is too poor
to take a steam loco. For the last two years, a major highway construction
has prevented running into Quito. Again, the mayor wants to keep the
railway out of the city. Quito station has been repainted and looks good.
No 45 is on display at the station.
Finally we travelled north to Ibarra
and used No 14 for some town running but the loco was in very poor condition
and failed. We used a railcar down to Primer Paso on the old San Lorenzo
line. This line is truly amazing and was the highlight of our visit. Our
return journey was abandoned when the railcar transmission broke soon after
starting the climb back to Ibarra. We were told that a further 60 km of
line has a daily railcar service out of San Lorenzo but that the risk of
terrorist activity made it unsuitable for tourist use.
My opinion is that apart from the
Devil's Nose section, all remaining sections of line will be out of use
in a year or so. We were told that there are only 2 or 3 steam tours a year
and if the condition of our locos was typical then it will be impractical
to continue using them.
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November 2018
