The Decauville railway Vigía Chico-Santa Cruz (
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
Ferroaril Decauville de Vigía Chico) was a nearly long gauge railway line, which was built during the
Caste War of Yucatán
The Caste War of Yucatán or ''ba'atabil kichkelem Yúum'' (1847–1915) began with the revolt of Indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous Maya peoples, Maya people of the Yucatán Peninsula against Hispanic populations, called ''Yucatecos''. Th ...
at
Santa Cruz (now
Felipe Carrillo Puerto
Felipe Santiago Carrillo Puerto (8 November 1874 – 3 January 1924) was a Mexican journalist, politician and revolutionary who served as the governor of Yucatán from 1922 until his assassination in 1924. He became known for his efforts at rec ...
) in
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
and operated from 1905 to 1932.
History
On 13 December 1901, the material for the railway was ordered in
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
. On 16 April 1902, a shipload of 250 tons of narrow-gauge railway material was delivered to the General Vega Camp at the port of
Vigía Chico. The track was officially opened on 4 September 1905.
Between 1905 and 1912, the Mayas carried out continuous harassment and attacks on the military railway. When General Ignacio A. Bravo (1837–1918) was expelled from Santa Cruz, the Mayas began to destroy the railway. In 1913, the governor of the territory, General Arturo Gracilazo Juárez, ordered its reconstruction.
In 1918, General
Venustiano Carranza
José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza (; 29 December 1859 – 21 May 1920), known as Venustiano Carranza, was a Mexican land owner and politician who served as President of Mexico from 1917 until his assassination in 1920, during the Mexican Re ...
granted the Mayan leader Francisco May a license to use the narrow-gauge railway to transport
natural rubber
Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds.
Types of polyisoprene ...
. On 1 February 1927, the President of the Republic
Plutarco Elías Calles
Plutarco Elías Calles (born Francisco Plutarco Elías Campuzano; 25 September 1877 – 19 October 1945) was a Mexican politician and military officer who served as the 47th President of Mexico from 1924 to 1928. After the assassination of Ál ...
gave the order to rebuild the former military track. On 7 August 1929, General Francisco May again applied for the concession of the former military railway, which was approved by the government under revocation of the concession he had received from Calles. In 1932, when the production of natural rubber reached its low point, the railroad became meaningless.
[Carlos Chable Mendoza]
''El ferrocaril militar de Santa Cruz.''
[Jennifer P. Mathews]
''Chicle: The Chewing Gum of the Americas, from the Ancient Maya to William Wrigley.''
University of Arizona Press, 2009.
Locomotives
There were initially three
Decauville
Decauville () was a manufacturing company which was founded by Paul Decauville (1846–1922), a French pioneer in industrial railways. Decauville's major innovation was the use of ready-made sections of light, narrow-gauge track fastened to st ...
steam locomotives with each, ten wagons each with 6 tons each, 14 flat wagons with 3 tons each. The total cost of the equipment was $ 239,967.59. In addition, there were $ 8,622 for tools, the construction of the platforms and the leveling of the route.
References
Sources
*Benjamin Arredondo
''Más sobre los ferrocarriles en Quintana Roo.''*Benjamin Arredondo
*Juana María Rangel Vargas: [http://132.248.9.195/ptd2005/01042/0345643/Index.html ''Un ferrocarril militar en la selva quintanarroense: la vía Decauville de Vigía Chico a Santa Cruz de Bravo, 1901-1939, tesis de maestría, México, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2005'']
{{coord, 19.773398, -87.58679, region:MX_type:landmark, display=title
Railway lines in Mexico
Railway lines opened in 1905
1905 establishments in Mexico
Decauville