February 8, 2001
Hello Again
A correction, that's 3,200 hp on those
locomotives, not 32,000 hp. And
a clarification. There will be 10 articulated cars per train load.
Each train would be about a half mile long and would take about two
minutes to get through a RR crossing. There will be 12 runs per day at
the start. I think I heard Mr. Emerick say each car can hold three
containers. I'm guessing if they're double stacked, that means six. So,
if my math is correct, service will start by moving 720 containers a
day. If they increase the transits per day and make 24 per day, they
could reach 1440 containers a day.
So, as the rehabilitation of the railway
takes place, some may ask what became of providing train service to the
west bank. There was mention that the new bridge over the canal would
have a track under it to open up the west side of Panama. Well,
according to Robert Emerick, from the Panama Canal Railway Company (PCRC),
to get the train over the bridge, it would have to start building up
speed out by Tocumen. Though it will have two 3,200 hp engines, or
locomotives, at each end of the group, they are not made to take the
kind of grade that Panama was going to have on the bridge if there was a
track switch in the area on the east bank. Same problem with the Bridge
of the Americans by La Boca. There was talk of opening up Howard and
Farfan for container service and the trains would just go back and forth
to Balboa. Not over that bridge. The Canal Authority was not in favor of
using the Miraflores Swing Bridge or at the construction of a separate
swing bridge across the canal. There would be too much interference with
transiting ships.
So what happened to the old
equipment. Well, it was stripped. I guess since the equipment could only
be used in a couple of location, it was better to just scarp it. Kind of
like going, going, gone. After the treaties when the railroad system was
turned over to the Panama Government, a lot of the equipment was scraped
as excess. Basically, nobody was using box cars anymore. It made
for all those wonderful shots in front of Section I, especially when the
homeless started living in them. Then there was the fiasco with the
contractors that was suppose to remove all that old stuff for scrap, he
didn't, a court appearance, he had to do it and still didn't complete
it. Panama tried to keep the system alive with a passenger service that
would go from Balboa to Summit Gardens on the weekends. That was OK for
a while but then there was less interest. Then what was left of the
Panama Railroad failed. All kinds of blaming to go around but it was
mainly from lack of maintenance and funding.
Anyway, here are a few
closing shots of what is left and will be no more, except as a memory
and in any photographs, paintings, or videos of our era.
There
is a shot of a 600 Series locomotive that is sitting on what is left of
a track behind the Faslich Ballpark in Balboa. This photo was taken some
time ago. When I passed by there recently, I think someone is living in
the cab because there is a curtain hanging off the window.
Over at the PAD area in
Curundu, it became the final resting place for what was left of the
railroad equipment when Kansas City Southern, or Panama, moved it out
of Balboa. Another is a shot of the Engine 662 followed by what was
left. Then there's Engine 901 and what is left.
If you go by the PAD area
now, there isn't much left, smaller scraps and such. In fact, they are
starting to rip up what remained of the rails and ties that were in
the dirt. I guess the rail embedded in concrete will stay there.
Well, later
Art
|