El Salvador

March 1971. IRCA mixed train at Texis Junction, El Salvador.

January 1968. Santa Lucia station on the IRCA, which was their station for Santa Ana. Both the IRCA and FES served Santa Ana, but there was not physical connection. Santa Ana was a big coffee shipping point.

The FES operated with a mixture of knuckle and link and pin couplings. The tenders on the original FES engines had been equipped with knuckles, but the pilot beams still had these ancient long links for link and pin operation. January 1968.

November 1975. The Sonsonate shops was a rather ramshackle affair.

January 1968. Turning the 14 at Sonsonate.

The FES was headquartered at Sonsonnate, and the machinery in their backshop was still operated by belts and overhead pulleys.

January 1968. FES 36 is an ex-Oahu engine that was sold to the FES after World War Two when the Oahu line abandoned mainline operations. It was on the dead line the next time we visited.

January 1968.

The original FES freight cars still had link and pin draft gear (although they were equipped with air brakes).

The FES acquired more modern equipment from the Oahu Railway and the FIdeCA, but in most cases it was adapted for link and pin operations as shown.

January 1968. The 112 leads a freight from Sonsonate to the new port at Acajutla.

January 1968. FES 8, a 1896 product of Baldwin and still retaining its link and pin front coupling, contrasts with the modern port of Acajutla, which was the major reason for the FES' existence. The new port replaced a much more modest facility a mile north. Freight included inbound manufactured goods and petroleum products, and outbound coffee and sugar. Meanwhile, a young entrepreneur waits for customers at his snack stand.

January 1968. Who needs a cupola? Hey its a tropical country where the fresh air feels good.....not so sure about the rain. Some of the "cabooses" on the FES had an old coach seat bolted to roof so that the brakeman had a place to sit. Or on our charters, a perfect railfan seat.

This bridge is just south of Sonsonnate. The construction appears to be rail welded together,

January 1968. Afternoon mixed from Sonsonate to Sitio del Nino. The 8 is an 1896 product of Baldwin.

November 1972.

January 1968.

The lady doing her washing pays scant attention to the passing of the regular FES afternoon mixed to Sitio del Nino. At Sitio three steam powered link and pin mixed trains will meet to swap passengers and freight in a (then) twice daily routine. January 1968.

January 1968. The afternoon mixed from Sonsonate to Sitio and on to San Salvador crosses one of the many bridges built from welding rail into trusses.

This transverse flatcar arrangement was used at Sitio del Nino to transfer freight and baggage between trains .

The FES had these home-built motor cars that, with apologies to the RGS, we dubbed "Galloping Bananas". The real name for the cars was "Bala de Plata"....Silver Bullet. I am told they had Mercury V-8 engines. Most of them were in a passenger configuration, but this was an "express freight" version. November 1975.

This picture probably demonstrates the danger of link and pin railroad about as well as any. Looks like a good way a lose a few fingers. Usually a brake club or just a stick was used to hold the link up. The F.C.S.A on the journal box lid stands for Ferrocarril Santa Ana, an FES predecessor, the date cast on to the lid is 1885. The FES was a working museum. November 1970.

Another ex-IRCA engine acquired by the FES. The 101 survives in the railway museum located in San Salvador.

November 1975. Note the fake stack on 117 and it has been relettered for the FENADESAL (Ferrocarril National de El Salvador) which included both the previously nationalized FES and the more recently nationalized IRCA/FIdeCA.