XXI Pan-American Railway Congress

I had seen the advertisement for this exhibition, the XXI Pan-American Railway Congress, from a bus. It wasn't far away, it was free, and it was about railways—which I didn't know if it would be interesting or not, but curiosity called me, so I decided to visit the place. It was something I don't regret because it turned out to be really great.

Although I went with little time, I walked through the whole thing. I imagined there would be a few scale models, propaganda stands, and some museum-style exhibits with small station items, but I was surprised that they had opened a courtyard where they displayed several new and old train cars.

Flyer of the XXI Pan-American Railway Congress. This is the one they were handing out, which seemed to be the main one, made of two pages that open like a book, measuring 20 x 28 cm, making it quite large. The cover features an invitation indicating free admission in blue, and on the left side, you can see those yellow signals so characteristic of railways, at least from railways of a few years back. On the back, it includes a map of the area of La Rural where the exhibition was held.

The exhibition was very good. Among the train cars outside that you could visit and even board, they had mounted them on tracks on the ground, specifically created for them, with stairs leading into them.

In the case of two cars, which I didn't board, there were very long lines, easily no less than 10 to 15 meters, because of the number of people who wanted to visit them and see their interior.

Something interesting and novel was seeing a double-decker train car manufactured in Argentina. Apparently, it is meant to be used on the subway; I can't imagine people crammed into it, but it looked very comfortable. I don't know if it has already been authorized to circulate, or if it is already circulating, which I doubt. These cars have the capacity to transport 100 more people than a standard one. Actually, they didn't use them on the subways, but on the Sarmiento line (updated as of 2014). Although they have now revamped the train sets again, I don't know if they will continue to be used or not; I would think so.

There were a couple of stands from foreign companies. I remember a fairly large one, I don't know if it was the largest of all, belonging to China. There were also stands from other countries, which I don't recall with exact precision now, but they were European. I don't want to get it wrong, but if I remember correctly, they belonged to Nordic countries, Germany, Italy, France—it was one of those, but I forgot which. They had scale models of locomotives and many photographs.

Unfortunately, the railway system in Argentina was dismantled across its entire extent. The few lines still operating carry freight or run in the vicinity of large urban centers. Currently, as of 2014, it seems there is a push to revive it, but I see it as far off—more talk than anything else.

In the indoor hall was the locomotive La Porteña. It is famous and widely mentioned, although I had no idea what it was about; it seems it was the first locomotive to enter the country.

The first railway was inaugurated in 1857, and the route covered 10 km.

The locomotive reached a speed of 25 km per hour.

Here are a few links detailing its history: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrocarril_Oeste_de_Buenos_Aires http://www.lanacion.com.ar/935258-el-regreso-de-la-primera-locomotora-la-portena http://www.suteba.org.ar/29-de-agosto-de-1857-ndash-la-locomotora-la-portea-hace-su-viaje-inaugural-7147.html

All the stands, or rather, a large portion of them, had brochures for people to take, so I grabbed a few. The truth is that when I read some of them, all the statistics and bar graphs showed that freight rail transport has been steadily increasing practically year after year, even during the crisis periods the country went through. I was always convinced it was the opposite, but it makes sense due to economic activity: if it grows, the transport related to that activity consequently grows. Regarding passenger rail, there wasn't a single mention; in that case, it was indeed disastrous for the country—it practically disappeared, isolated many towns, and people even stole the ties supporting the rails as well as the rails themselves, abandoned stations, and so on.

There were some tourist railways. And in the courtyard where the train cars were located, there was an interesting one—old, very robust, yet somehow not very friendly or cheerful—that could be visited. Although I didn't get on, it was an attraction due to the long line of people waiting to board; given how interesting the car was, it surely brought nostalgia to more than one person, especially older folks.

Then, on display, there were objects commonly found in museums—small items related to railways. One I remember was a seat from an old train, located in a section with three other objects, surrounded by a ribbon. As always happens, irresponsible people jumped over the ribbon and sat down to rest. I don't know if it's nerve, necessity, idiocy, disrespect, irresponsibility, or what, but there was no lack of seating; there were even areas to get a drink—two areas to sit down. They should have stayed home or looked for a place meant for that purpose, but what is on display is precisely there to be observed and to learn how things were in the past. People like that make you wonder if they are provocateurs, if they feel superior, or if they are just mindless.

Something I knew by the name of zorra was the vehicle track workers use to travel along the tracks to reach wherever they need to go for whatever reason. In fact, I've seen several operating over time; the most common ones I've seen are powered by a kind of lever operated by two people. Newer ones are powered by a motor.

Here, two old models were exhibited. The correct name for these vehicles is Draisienne (or Draisine), and they are locally known as track inspection cars or rail handcars.

One of them was among the oldest, early pedal-powered models, and another was also old, three-wheeled, more robust, and painted in a very striking orange color.

It was not a huge exhibition, but a very good one that was well worth visiting. It lasted for a short time, just a few days—I think only a week or less.

(Originally Published on 09-01-2007)