Hornos Railroad (Ferrocarril de Hornos) was a
narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
railway owned by Hacienda de Hornos in
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. Hacienda de Hornos was a large grain and cattle ranch in southwestern
Coahuila near
Torreón
Torreón () is a city and seat of Torreón Municipality in the Mexican state of Coahuila. As of 2021, the city's population was 735,340. The metropolitan population as of 2015 was 1,497,734, making it the ninth-biggest metropolitan area in ...
.
The line extended from an interchange with the
Mexican International Railway at Hornos through Hacienda de Hornos to Alamito with a branch to interchange with the Ferrocarril Coahuila y Pacifico at
Viesca
Viesca () is a town and seat of the surrounding municipality of the same name, located in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. Named after the third governor of Coahuila and Texas, José María Viesca, Viesca had a population of 19,328 ...
.
Construction began at Hornos in 1902, and the line began common-carrier freight and passenger service in 1904 with two daily trains in each direction between Hornos and Viesca. Twenty-ton
locomotive #4 was the only narrow gauge
2-8-2 ever built for
North American service.
[Best (1968), p.69]
The railroad was damaged by the
Mexican Revolution in 1914; and the last public timetable was published in 1930 for a single daily
mixed train
A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons. Although common in the early days of railways, by the 20th century they were largely confined to branch lines with little traffic. Typically, service ...
with no service to Alamito.
The line disappeared from government records after 1945.
Locomotives
References
*
{{reflist
Defunct railway companies of Mexico
2 ft gauge railways in Mexico
History of Coahuila
Transportation in Coahuila
Railway companies established in 1902
1902 establishments in Mexico
Railway lines opened in 1904