Ecuador Steam 2003 Part 2 Alausi to Sibambe plus Bucay Shed

A RTC charter on the Guayaquil & Quito Railway to travel all operable parts of the line in September 2003
After many decades of service the railway was severely damaged by heavy rainfall during the El Niño in 1997 and 1998 but in 2008 the president Rafael Correa named the railroad a "national cultural patrimony" and indicated that it would be restored. The government of Ecuador started to rehabilitate the railway and service was restored between Guayaquil and Quito by 2013. However in 2020, after a change of president, all railway services ceased and by presidential decree the liquidation of the railway company commenced.
Part 2 shot on 6 & 7-09-2003 visits the shed and workshops at Bucay which was on the non operable part of the line from Yaguachi to Sibambe. Then we take a trip downhill from Alausi to Sibambe (12 km 7.5 miles) incuding the Devils Nose switchbacks. As there were no facilties to turn steam engines at Sibambe the trains reverse down with a few runpasts on the way.
Featured are
Locos in the shed at Bucay, onboard and runpast footage of the charter trains.
Locos and Railcars seen are
Baldwin 0-4-0 2 'Dolores (1922) from Ingenio Valdez Sugar Mill in Milagro
Baldwin 2-8-0's 44 (1944), 46 (1944), 58 (1953),
Alco Euskalduna DM535B Co-Co 167 (1968 Spain)
Autoferro 73
GEC Alsthom Bo-Bo-Bo 2406 (1992)
Baldwin 2-8-0 53 (1953)
Baldwin 2-8-0 17 (1935)
Autoferro 98
Autoferro 61
GEC Alsthom Bo-Bo-Bo 2404 (1992)

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This series of videos is amazing! I was just in Ecuador for the first time a few months ago and kept encountering the rails many times during our tour which centered on the areas of Quito to Riobamba. What an experience it must have been to travel these rails through towns, cities, back yards (front yards) and the vast country side up and down the mountains on what appears sometimes to be almost 7% grades. Yikes! I love the Cumbres and Toltec but nothing compares to this. It all feels like the whole operation was held together by a shoe string albeit with experienced workers doing their best to make it all work. There certainly are a lot of steam locomotives around the world in museums and tourist lines that come from downtown Philadelphia.