Ecuador

July 1976. Crossing the river from Guayaquil to Duran. The railroad headquarters is the group of ramshackle buildings pictured. When I returned in 2003 this was all gone (they would say redeveloped or something).

July 1976, The shops at Duran.

July 1976. G&Q trains seemed to provide a lot of employment.

July 1976. Eastbound from Duran to Bucay. This level stretch of railroad was historically handled by the little inside frame moguls with their bright red livery.

July 1976. I have no idea where this is other than it is somewhere up the hill from Bucay. A brightly painted outside frame mike handles a short freight.

July 1976. I understand the mikes were traditional painted black, but the G&Q seemed to like this bright red.

July 1976. Our chartered railbus has pulled into a siding to meet a train, and our group is watching the train disappear into the distance.

Fast forward to July 2003. Jimmy Perkins and I took a Trains Unlimited tour of the G&Q.

July 2003. The track gives some idea of the sad condition of the G&Q in 2003.

July 2003. Land slides and earthquakes had divided the G&Q into three unconnected sections. This is a "tourist train" we used on the open section from Duran to Bucay. Boxcars were newly converted to passenger cars.

July 2003. We then bussed to Alausi were this former Sibambe Cuenca mike awaited us for a day on the Devils Nose. The Sibambe Cuenca was a connecting line that connected the G&Q at Sibambe (the base of the Devils Nose) with the southern city of Cuenca. The SC has been abandoned but its engines were "adopted" by the G&Q.

July 2003. The lower switchback at Devils Nose.

July 2003. Two levels, two "trains". The G&Q had a lot of rail buses for local and charter service.

July 2003. Two trains on the switchbacks at Devils Nose. SC 17 was in such poor shape it could hardly move itself on the grade.

July 2003. Eastbound from Alausi. This is one of the few big bridges I can remember. For a mountain railroad the G&Q did not have a lot of bridges. Note the crewmen hand sanding from the pilot. In the background is a police academy with the recruits all lined up to see the excitement on the railroad.

July 2003. Somewhere between Alausi and Guamote.

July 2003. The G&Q was in really bad shape. It was scary to see track like this.

July 2003. Interesting way to add a larger open platform.

July 2003. Butcher at the Guamote market.

July 2003. At Riobamba the 53 and 17 get ready for a day of work.

July 2003. Riobamba. The 50-series mikes were built by Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton in 1953, among the last new steam engines built in the U.S. Really ugly domes!

Climbing from Riobamba to the summit at Urbina. Beyond Urbina the line was out of service. This is the valley of volcanoes, but you can only see them on an unusually clear day.

July 2003. How many Ecuadorians does it take to fill a tender?

July 2003. Runby on the way to Urbina.

July 2003. Another run by on the way to Urbina.