Ferrocarriles Patagónicos was an Argentine State-owned railway company that built and operated several rail lines in

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and g ...

region. FP were part of the

Argentine State Railway Argentine State Railway (in Spanish: Ferrocarriles del Estado) was a State-owned railway company of Argentina, established by Law N° 6.757 in October 1909, when José Figueroa Alcorta was the President of Argentina. The company built and oper ...

created in 1909 during the presidency of

José Figueroa Alcorta José María Cornelio Figueroa Alcorta (November 20, 1860 – December 27, 1931) was an Argentine lawyer and politician, who managed to be the only person to head the three powers of the State: Vice President of the Nation (President of the ...

History

In 1900 two British-owned companies were operating railways in Patagonia; the Central Chubut metre gauge, , line between

Puerto Madryn Puerto Madryn (; cy, Porth Madryn), also known as ''Madryn'', is a city in the province of Chubut in Argentine Patagonia. It is the capital of the Viedma Department, and has about 93,995 inhabitants according to the last census in 2010. Puer ...

and

Trelew Trelew (, from cy, tref "town" and the name of the founder, Lewis Jones) is a city in the eastern part of the Chubut Province of Argentina. Located in Patagonia, the city is the largest and most populous in the low valley of the Chubut River, wi ...

and the Buenos Aires Great Southern broad gauge line between Bahía Blanca and

Neuquén Neuquén (; arn, Nehuenken) is the capital city of the Argentine province of Neuquén and of the Confluencia Department, located in the east of the province. It occupies a strip of land west of the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén river ...

. During the presidency of

, the Argentine government devised a plan in 1908 to populate

by constructing two additional broad gauge, , railway lines in that part of the country. The first line one was to run from

San Antonio Oeste San Antonio Oeste is a port city in the Argentine province of Río Negro, and head of the department of San Antonio. The town is bordered by its sister communities of San Antonio Este, to the east, and Las Grutas, to the southwest. Discovere ...

, in Rio Negro Territory (later to become

Rio Negro Province Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

), via Valcheta to

Nahuel Huapi Lake Nahuel Huapi Lake ( es, Lago Nahuel Huapí) is a lake in the lake region of northern Patagonia between the provinces of Río Negro and Neuquén, in Argentina. The tourist center of Bariloche is on the southern shore of the lake. The June 2 ...

, and the second from

Puerto Deseado Puerto Deseado, originally called Port Desire, is a city of about 15,000 inhabitants and a fishing port in Patagonia in Santa Cruz Province of Argentina, on the estuary of the Deseado River. It was named ''Port Desire'' by the privateer Thomas ...

via Colonia San Martín to a junction with the first line. The second line was to have branches to Comodoro Rivadavia, via

Sarmiento Sarmiento may refer to: Places Argentina *Sarmiento Department, San Juan, a subdivision of the San Juan Province *Sarmiento Department, Santiago del Estero, a subdivision of the Santiago del Estero Province *Sarmiento Department, Chubut, a subdivi ...

, to Colonia 16 de Octubre and to Buenos Aires Lake. The line from Puerto Deseado, started in 1909, was built only as far as Las Heras, a distance of , and a line from Comodoro Rivadavia to Sarmiento was completed. These lines came under the administration of

in 1914. Meanwhile, the line from San Antonio Oeste, started at the end of 1908, reached Km 217 in 1911 and Maquinchao two years later. In 1916 this line also came under the administration of Ferrocarriles del Estado, was extended to

Ingeniero Jacobacci Ingeniero Jacobacci is a city in Río Negro Province, Argentina. It has a population of 12,000 inhabitants and was named in honor of Guido Jacobacci (es), the director of the railway opened in 1916 between San Antonio Oeste, on the Atlantic Oc ...

in 1917 and to

Bariloche San Carlos de Bariloche, usually known as Bariloche (), is a city in the province of Río Negro, Argentina, situated in the foothills of the Andes on the southern shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake. It is located within the Nahuel Huapi National Park ...

in 1934.

When at mid 1930s the road transport became a serious competitor of rail transport, the EFEA acquired some

railcar A railcar (not to be confused with a railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach (carriage, car), with a dri ...

s for the Patagonian railways (apart from other lines) to Hungarian company

Ganz Works The Ganz Works or Ganz ( or , ''Ganz companies'', formerly ''Ganz and Partner Iron Mill and Machine Factory'') was a group of companies operating between 1845 and 1949 in Budapest, Hungary. It was named after Ábrahám Ganz, the founder and the ...

. The units were sent to serve the Carmen de Patagones–Bariloche line. The rolling stock arrived in Argentina in 1938, being operative since December that year. In 1946 a long

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

, , branch line was opened from Ingeniero Jacobacci to

Esquel Esquel is a town in the northwest of Chubut Province in Argentine Patagonia. It is located in Futaleufú Department, of which it is the government seat. The town's name derives from one of two Tehuelche words: one meaning "marsh" and the other ...

Chubut Province Chubut ( es, Provincia del Chubut, ; cy, Talaith Chubut) is a province in southern Argentina, situated between the 42nd parallel south (the border with Río Negro Province), the 46th parallel south (bordering Santa Cruz Province), the Andes rang ...

and became known affectionately as ''

La Trochita La Trochita (official name: ''Viejo Expreso Patagónico''), in English known as the Old Patagonian Express, is a narrow gauge railway in Patagonia, Argentina using steam locomotives. The nickname ''La Trochita'' means literally "The little gauge ...

''."Breve historia del Ferrocarril en Patagonia"
(Archive), 26 Jul 2011 With the railway nationalisation carried out by Juan Perón's administration in 1948, Ferrocarriles Patagónicos network became part of

Ferrocarril General Roca The General Roca Railway (FCGR) (native name: Ferrocarril General Roca) is a broad gauge railway in Argentina which runs from Constitución station in Buenos Aires to the south of the country through the provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, ...

Railway network

Ferrocarriles Patagónicos network as of 1936:Ferrocarriles del Estado on CEPAL Library
/ref>

Bibliography

''British Steam on the Pampas'' by D.S. Purdom - Mechanical Engineering Publications Ltd, London (1977)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrocarriles Patagonicos P P P P 1908 establishments in Argentina Transport in Río Negro Province Transport in Chubut Province Transport in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina

History

Railway network

See also

Bibliography

References