Puerto Deseado line extra photos

Archive photos are set out geographically from the coast up to Las Heras, followed by modern pictures laid out in the same way.

Archive photos
A sample debit voucher from the construction period (2). Some 15,228 track screws were cleaned and oiled at a cost of 2 cents each.

The following photo was discovered in Tierras Australes, Jerónimo Gómez Izquierdo, published by Empresa Editorial Bell, Buenos Aires,1942, page 82, and kindly forwarded by Señor Diego de Bunder of Puerto Madryn. It shows a line of wagons carrying wool bales at Puerto Deseado.

In the 1950s a large number of gas compressors for the oil field were transported up the line. These weighed forty tonnes each; hence their positioning one on each wagon. A number of these have survived as useful sheds throughout this part of Patagonia (2).

One particularly spectacular accident occurred when a train loaded with minerals from Chile ran away on the approach to Puerto Deseado station and collided with a line of carriages after running through one of the big sheds (2). Two Harlan & Hollingsworth coaches are visible.

A blueprint plan of Puerto Deseado station and yard. The port is off the the left, and the line to Las Heras leaves to the right.

An early shot of the road side of Puerto Deseado station building. There are coaches to the left in the platform.

A slightly later view, judging by the growth of the bushes to the left (2). The cars and the waiting children suggest this was some special occasion during the 1930s.

The platform side of the Pto. Deseado station building in 1936, with a portion of the platform enclosed, possibly as a restaurant.

A permanent way trolley or 'zorra' at Tellier in 1940 (2).

Ramón Lista station building in the early 1930s (2). A small canopy was later added in front as the following picture shows.

The station building at Jaramillo in 1936.

One of the Drewry railcars after a derailment (2). No further details are known.

Soldiers assisting in the line's clearance from snowdrifts, probably after the Second World War.

The livestock loading point at Cerro Blanco?? in 1936.

The station building at Las Heras in November 1934 (2).

Modern photos
A recent photo of the town side of the Puerto Deseado station building, in December 2000. The ground floor is now a railway museum and cafe/pizza parlour, but the upper floors are empty.

The opposite side, in May 2011, viewed from across the yard.

Whilst most sidings have been removed, the main line and platform tracks were still just about complete in 2000, though some sections have since been removed..

And a close up view taken at the same time in December 2000.

A telegraph tape machine is on display in the museum now housed in the old station building.

Puerto Deseado loco shed. The right hand road appears to have been sealed up professionally some time ago, but the left hand doorway has just been temporarily boarded up.

Tellier station in May 2011.

The first aid box from Jaramillo station, as now preserved in the museum in Puerto Deseado station building.

Fitz Roy station.The station building is inhabited as a private house.

A back view of the same building.

A rail rolled by Messrs Cammell in Sheffield in 1884.

A casting by the Ramapo Ironworks of New York state USA, in this case the base of a points/switch lever stand.

The photos below by Guillermo Bohrdt show two varieties of circular water tower along the line. There were also square tanks made up of 'Braithwaite' type panels, also on stone bases.

A bus passenger's view heading east towards Puerto Deseado. On the left a water tower and derelict station building can be seen - I think at either Antonio de Biedma or Pampa Alta.

References
1 Photos kindly provided by the Fundación Museo Ferroviario in Buenos Aires.
2 Photos found in the railway museum at Puerto Deseado station, and reproduced by kind permission of the staff there.

22-12-08