how far can you go?

[Anonymous]

I once asked if it would be viable to build a rail line linking Canada and the lower 48 with Alaska. But how far could you theoretically go in the other direction? Mexico has a pretty complete rail network; does anyone know if it extends down into Central America? Do the Central American nations have linked rail systems?
I do know, however, that one cannot travel overland from Central America to South America due to a rugged area of mountainous jungle right on the Panama-Colombia border known as the Darien Gap (which also interrupts the Pan-American Highway). But from there, how complete is South America's rail system? Could you theoretically ride a train nonstop all the way to Patagonia?

[CG9602]

You could go only to Guatemala. That's where the track ends. Other Central American nations have standard guage rails (for example, Costa Rica), but I think they aren't connected to the North American system. Of course, there is the Panama Railway, now currently operated by a subsidiary of KCS. According to Paul Theroux, it's impossible to get from Columbia to Argentina by rail. I suppose you could get from Coumbia to Peru, and then go to Chile, but the Trans-Andean Express between Santiago and Argentina no longer runs. Come to think of it, I think the Chile - Argentina track is now out of service, and has been for several years. Theroux, in his book "The Old Patagonian Express," describes how he had to travel by sea from Central America, and by boat across Lake Titcaca. In other words, there are still several gaps in the rail system.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

South America's rail system really can't be called a system. Railroads in Colombia and Peru are generally oriented to link the interior with the coast are for the most part do not connect with each other. Venezuela's roads are primarily mineral (ore) haulers and also don't interconnect.

Chile has a fairly complete system within the country but also has multiple gauges. The Antofagasta-Bolivia RR is a meter gauge operation which has a lot of bulk haulage and also connects Bolivia with the Pacific. The other operations within Chile generally connect with each other but not outside the country.

Argentina and Brazil both have pretty substantial rail networks but also suffer from the problem of multiple gauges. The motive power in both countries has a North American appearance with lots of export designs from the Big Three North American builders plus a few domestic designs in Brazil. Both countries also have isolated segments that don't connect with anything else.

[ironhorseman]

Reader's Digest had a video series called Scenic Railway Journeys of the World that has a couple of South American railroads. It's a 3-tape set, one tape is called New Worlds, Old Worlds. They cover New York then two routes to California: The California Zepher and the Southwest Chief. Next they find their way to Copper Canyon, Mexio, then the Andes mountains in Ecuador, then Machu Picchu in Peru and finish at Lake Titicaca.

The terrain is just too rugged to lay down an extensive railroad in South America.

I find this series of video's boring. The narrator's voice makes me sleepy and they spend too much times on the cities and not the rails. They put trains all over the box but the videos treat the trains like a side item. Interesting facts and all but not exciting.

The other two videos cover select cities of Europe, Africa, extensive coveage of Asia, and the lastly Austraila. Why they put a picture of British Columbia Canada steam engine #2860 on the box and then not even go to Canada I'll never know.