'New' tourist train in Bariloche

It is a train built at the beginning of the 20th. century, featuring a true relic: a Scotch machine (uses steam to work) and 20 wagons, one of them rated 'Presidential'.

This 1912 train has been refurbished with total respect for its original details. The wooden wagons are capable of transporting up to 250 passengers. It is a rolling piece of artwork that has been rescued (like another six more) by the Argentine Ferroclub from National warehouses' oblivion.

The locomotive, according to experts this train's "gem", was made in Scotland and can develop a speed of up to 100 Km./h while carrying a maximum weight of 1200 Ton. During the twenties, it served the old San Martin Railways which connected Buenos Aires with the Mendoza province.

The whole formation gets completed with two Tourist class coaches, one Presidential, two dining wagons and a luggage van. An extra van will serve as a rolling repair garage.

The Presidential wagon, which will be used as a VIP service, has got three bedrooms, living room, fully featured bathroom and a firewood fireplace.

Tourist class coaches conserve its wooden seats, upholstered in velvet, bronze details in the bathrooms, elegant light tulips and the classy ironwork on the old 'guillotine' windows.

There are lovely details that have been deliberately kept. For instance, in one of the bathrooms located at the Presidential wagon, it is still possible to read "Viva Yrigoyen" (long live Yrigoyen, an Argentine president in the early 20th. century), carved with a knife in the wood.

The tourist journey will depart from San Carlos de Bariloche up to Perito Moreno town, (at 25 Km.), in the very heart of the Rio Negro plateau. It will be possible to have a typical lunch and also horse ride in the surroundings.

This service will be run by the Trenes Especiales Argentinos company, that invested more than a quarter million dollars in order to refurbish the train and bring it back to working conditions.

During its first journey, the train was emotionally welcomed at each town it stopped at on its way to Bariloche. The old steam machine, the scent of the wooden carriages and the cranking noise of the (long ago) abandoned railways, gave way to nostalgia and immense happiness among people. A lot of people gathered at each train station that, at least for a brief moment, regained its gabbling atmosphere. And at Bariloche, the crowd was so big that it was almost impossible to walk along the platforms. The feast included a Jazz Band that played until everybody left.

Rio Negro province's company, SEFEPA (in charge of administering the trains within its boundaries), announced that it will not charge the fee for circulating and using the railways, in order to collaborate keeping the country's historic patrimony as well as fomenting the recovery of the region's train tradition.

SEFEPA has nowadays got one of the few long distance trains still operating in Argentina, linking the city of Viedma with Bariloche, with three weekly frequencies where they offer a fully featured service: Tourist, Pullman and Cabin coaches, dining room wagons, cinema and car transport.

As a consequence of the success of the proposal, which has also proved it can be profitable, right now it is being considered a relaunch of the train service from Buenos Aires to Carmen de Patagones, which would enable back a direct train link from the National Capital city, Buenos Aires, to distant Bariloche.

Over a hundred years ago, the first train's arrival meant a push in developing the area and its local economy; this 'new' train will surely give momentum to tourism in one of the most gifted regions in Patagonia.