RAILFANNING IN MEXICO

[chad thomas]

Is it a good idea or a bad idea.
I would like to know others experiences. Please share.
(note I only know a little spanish)

[egmurphy]

Depends in part on what you're looking for. There's quite a bit of freight activity. FNdeM was split up and privatized a few years back and the new owners have done a lot to upgrade the infrastructure, purchase new engines and rolling stock, improve service and recapture business. See the Nov 2003 Trains Magazine for a great overview of the current state of railroading in Mexico, including a map of the principal routes.

Passenger service is another story. There is, of course, the famous Copper Canyon route. This is supposedly a great ride, from Chihuahua down to Los Mochis on the coast. We're hoping to go this summer. There is a small tourist train in the Yucatan. Outside of that there's virtually no regular passenger service left.

If you don't get much feedback here, the best site I've found for info on Mexican railroading is MexList, and you might try asking over there. The address is:
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/MEXLIST/



Best regards

Ed

[chad thomas]

Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out.

[jsoderq]

Given the current state of the world and having worked accross the border in the 90's I would not recommend it. I remember street cops (Federales) carrying automatic weapons on the streets doing traffic control. I am sure they are very sensative to the terrorist threat. Without being able to speak the language and having a local guide with some authority I think it would be foolhardy.

[egmurphy]

I think you'll find that if you take the border zone and Mexico City out of the equation, the rest of Mexico is pretty safe. And even there it's not all that difficult to keep yourself out of trouble. There may be some national officials concerned with terrorism, but it doesn't seem to have filtered down to the local citizenry or the local police yet.

I suspect your average Mexican on the street either never thinks about terrorism, or if he thinks about it at all, he assumes it will never happen down here. Life here still has that pre- 9/11 quality to it. Now airport security here is tight, maybe even tighter than in the U.S.

One thing that has happened is that with the considerable U.S. ownership of the major rail lines in the north and central part of the country (UP has a major share in FerroMex and KCS owns practically all of TFM) they have imposed their security regs on the local lines. You won't find it possible to wander into a freight yard to take pix any more than you would be able to north of the border. But general picture taking of train traffic doesn't seem to attract any attention down here.

And while there are a lot of police with automatic weapons, they probably weren't "Federales". Neither the Policia Federal de Caminos (sort of like the national highway patrol) nor the Policia Federal Preventiva (kind of a crime investigation branch) does traffic control. Local transit cops are usually either under city or, in some cases, state control. They usually don't carry automatic weapons. Now the bank police do carry both automatic weapons and big-*** shotguns. The army also has occasional road checkpoints where they are looking for either drugs or weapons, and the soldiers are also armed, but almost invariably polite.


Regards

Ed

[Anonymous]

If your standing trackside, just keep an eye out for people jumping on and off the trains.

It's a popular way to immigrate into the states.

[chad thomas]

Thanks for to info guys. I would like to explore the SD&AE line to Tecate. I have friends in Tijuana that speek fluent spanish. They have no interest in trains, but I'm shure I can bribe them into playing tour guide for a day (buy the lunch,gas and beer). I think that's the safest bet.

[egmurphy]

Speaking of the SD&AE, there are a series of posts on MexList from the past couple of days talking about this line. Here's a link to the first post in the group. The replies show at the bottom:

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/MEXLIST/message/9293


Regards

Ed

[rixflix]

TFM's website is very cool. A railfan was at work here, i suspect, because the videos show enthusiasm at work!!!
www.tfm.com.mx
Dig it.
Rix