The Southern Fuegian Railway ( es, Ferrocarril Austral Fueguino (FCAF)) or the Train of the End of the World ( es, El Tren del Fin del Mundo) is a gauge

steam railway This tabulation is for periodicals which do not have their own articles. Magazines ''Australian Railway'' * * Published Trade News Corporation * Feb-Mar 1988 is Vol. 2 No. 1. * Last issue about #23 in approximately Aug 1992. * Size = ~A4 ''A ...

in Tierra del Fuego Province,

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. It was originally built as a freight line to serve the prison of Ushuaia, specifically to transport timber. It now operates as a

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

into the

Tierra del Fuego National Park Tierra del Fuego National Park () is a national park on the Argentine part of the island of Tierra del Fuego, within Tierra del Fuego Province in the ecoregion of Patagonic Forest and Altos Andes, a part of the subantarctic forest. Established ...

and is considered the southernmost functioning railway in the world.

History

Origins

century, Ushuaia on Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego developed as a penal colony, with the first prisoners arriving in 1884. In 1902, work began on a proper set of buildings for the prison by inmates, and a railway on wooden rails was constructed to assist the transport of materials, mainly local rock, sand and timber. Oxen pulled wagons along the narrow gauge of less than . In 1909, the prison governor informed the government of the need to upgrade the line and Decauville tracks at a narrow gauge were laid in 1909 and 1910 for use with a

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

. They connected the prison camp with the forestry camp and passed along the shoreline in front of the growing town of Ushuaia. It was known as the 'Train of the Prisoners' (''Tren de los Presos'') and brought wood for heating and cooking as well as building. The railway was gradually extended further into the forest into more remote areas as wood was exhausted. It followed the valley of the Pipo River into the higher terrain. Constant building allowed expansion of the prison and of the town, with prisoners providing many services and goods. In 1947 the prison was closed and replaced with a naval base. Two years later the

1949 Tierra del Fuego earthquake The 1949 Tierra del Fuego earthquakes occurred slightly more than eight hours apart on 17 December. Their epicenters were located in the east of the Chilean Tierra del Fuego Province, close to the Argentine border on the island of Tierra del Fueg ...

blocked much of the line. Nevertheless, the government made efforts to clear the line and put the train back in service despite the absence of the prisoners. However the service was not viable and closed in 1952.

Rebirth as a tourist railway

In 1994, the railway was rebuilt in

track gauge In rail transport, track gauge (in American English, alternatively track gage) is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many d ...

and began services again, although now in luxury relative to its origin as a prison train, with champagne and dinner services. A new

2-6-2T T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is deri ...

steam locomotive (''Camila'') was brought from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1995 with another made in Argentina and three diesel locomotives also serving on the line. Two garratts, in

Porta Porta can refer to: People * Porta (rapper) (born 1988), stagename of Christian Jiménez Bundo, a Spanish rap singer * Bernardo Porta (1758–1829), Italian composer active in France * Bianca Della Porta (born 1991), Canadian ice hockey and rugby ...

's improved version, have also been procured. Services leave from the 'End of the World' station (about 10 km west of Ushuaia's Airport and immediately west of the Ushuaia Golf Club). The route takes passengers along the Pico Valley in the Toro gorge and to ''Cascada de la Macarena'' station where visitors are able to learn about the Yámana people and climb to a viewpoint at a 15-minute stop. The train then enters the national park and the forest, travelling through the valley below the mountains, reaching ''El Parque'' station where tourists can return by coach or train. There is a plan to extend the line to a new station closer to Ushuaia and connect the station to the city with a

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

In popular culture

The train served as inspiration to singer Michale Graves in the song "Train to the End of the World" of his 2013 album ''

Vagabond Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...

''."Railway Fuegian Southern" on Multescatola.com
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Gallery

Estação do Trem do Fim do Mundo (5466319103).jpg, Fin del Mundo station Cruzada en La Macarena.jpg, Train in Winter scene, 2008 FCAF locomotora 2.jpg, Locomotive, 2010 Garratt L D Porta.jpg, N° 2 locomotive Tren del fin del mundo Estacion Cascada Macarena.jpg, Train at Cascada station Estación Fin del Mundo, Tren del Fin del Mundo.jpg, Train at Fin del Mundo station Southern Fuegian Railway.jpg, Arriving at terminal Vias del Tren del fin del Mundo.jpg, Rail tracks Tren del Fin del Mundo (1).png, Preserved original train FCAF No.2 'Ing L.D.Porta.jpg, Ing. Porta locomotive Museo Marítimo de Ushuaia. Patio interior Vagon y Locomovil.jpg, Train at Ushuaia Museum Punto de partida del ex Ferrocarril Austral Fueguino 01.JPG, Old station terminus

References

External links

* *Map sources for the station at:
El tren del fin del mundo - trip report from 2010
The Work of Shaun McMahon {{Railway Companies in Argentina Heritage railways in Argentina Railway lines in Argentina Railway companies of Argentina Tourist attractions in Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina 500 mm gauge railways in Argentina Ushuaia Transport in Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina