 |
| Photo from Wikipedia. |
 |
| Photo from Wikipedia, beginning of rack railway. Cremalheira is rack in Portuguese |
These Hitachi siderod monsters are alive in Brazil, at least for now. These were built for the rack railiway that begins at Paranapiacaba, which was built by the Sao Paulo Railway, a private British concern. Built to haul coffee, the railroad is now much more important to the steel industry. The line later became Estrada de Ferro Santos-Jundiaí, and is now MRS. The wiki article just linked mentions that replacement locomotives were ordered in 2009. The present rack railway system was built in the 1970s, and a look at the Google map below shows some of the older right of way. BTW, thanks to all the Youtubers who posted these great videos.
Translation from the Portuguese: To drive down the mountain range of the sea with a slope of 10 %, then of Paranapiacaba, needs to be used the rack (Bar notched trail, in conjunction with gears of the locomotive), to maintain traction of ascent or descent. for greater security was limited 500t per train.
Translation from the Portuguese caption: Video of maneuvers on the steering rack from MRS, in Paranapiacaba. These locomotives will be replaced by other models. They are probably the only electrical cargueiras in operation today in Brazil.
View Larger Map
Zoom in and follow the line to the south and west and you can find much evidence of the older line, including tunnels and bridges. Follow the line far enough south, you get to the huge steel mill complex near Cubatao.
View Larger Map
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please feel free to comment. You will not be spammed, or Underwood Ham Spreaded either!