Inside each one, the air is heated by a cast iron wood-burning stove that was also used for light cooking and is now fed by travelers themselves. The wagons are made of wood, Spartan but warm. Regional governments of the territories concerned decided to support the train exclusively with public funds, making sure it keeps running today. But the decision was met with national and international protests. In 1992, it was decided to stop the trains once and for all. But it slowly started a new life as an international tourist attraction thanks also in part to Paul Theroux’s book “The Old Patagonian Express.”ĭespite the general interest and the arrival of mass tourism in the region, the line was not profitable enough to keep running. When roads started to be built in the 1970s, the Old Patagonian Express saw its role as a strategic infrastructure for trade start to wane. The bridge and tunnel were necessary for the design, which, for the first time in history, connected regions otherwise isolated from the rest of the country. The construction site is complex, not least because the project required building a 105-metre-long (344-foot) bridge over the Chuco River and a 110-metre-long (360-foot) tunnel. Over a thousand workers - most of them coming from the most remote areas of the world – built the line, and many of them settled down in Patagonia when construction finished.

In reality, after World War I and its damage to the country’s economy, the project was put aside while work continued on the construction of the line connecting Esquel with Ingeniero Jacobacci – the Old Patagonian Express. In 1908 the Argentine government wanted a railway line that crossed the entire territory of Patagonia, passing from the Andes to the ports on the south coast and arriving in Buenos Aires.

In fact, initially the route connecting the provinces of Rio Negro and Chubut was planned to be much bigger.

Six trains ran along its tracks every day, passing through about one hundred towns. The trains date back to 1922, although the tracks were not completed until 1945.

Foodstuffs, but also skins, animals and wool from Patagonia ran along a 402-kilometre (249-mile) route from the city of Esquel to the terminus of Ingeniero Jacobacci. The Trochita is owned by the Argentine Southern Land Company, and was initially created as a freight transport infrastructu re.

The old patagonian express