Mexico’s Mainlines in the Early 1990s - National Railways of Mexico, Part 1

In this video, C. Vision Productions takes you on a fascinating journey across Mexico, as we explore several mainline routes of the country's rail network in the early 1990s. This was traditional railroading. Train orders, open stations, exotic motive power, mixed trains, and five-man crews would make one think they had stepped back in time, but this was simply the way things were in the last decade of the 20th century. We’ll see both freight and passenger trains on several important rail lines between the United States border and Mexico City, then operated by Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (FNM). Also included is coverage of FNM’s Tampico to San Luis Potosí route, one of the most scenic stretches of track in all of Mexico. On this line, we’ll visit the station in Tamasopo, where a friendly operator allows us to document him at work communicating via telegraph, as well as copying train orders from the dispatcher over the block line telephone. We’ll then hop aboard the head end of an extra passenger train for a cab ride up steep mountain grades through the Sierra Madre Oriental, aboard SD40 8577. All of this footage was documented in the early 1990s, several years before Mexico’s rail network was privatized. As of 2023, the routes covered in this program are being operated by CPKC, Ferromex, and Ferrovalle. A wide variety of EMD, GE, Alco, and MLW units are seen in this video, with many rare locomotive models viewed in operation. EMD models include SD40, SDP40, SD40X, SD40-2, GP38-2, GP40, SW1504, and G12. GE models include C30-7, C30-S7 (Super 7), B23-7, and U18B. Alco and MLW units were once very common in Mexico, with models M630, RS-11, and RSD-12 making appearances in this video. Sit back and relax, as videographer Dan Hadley takes you trackside, in the cab, and behind the scenes, in this classic look at the railroads south of the border.

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