The Atlantic coast of Santa Cruz province

Río Gallegos
The New Patagonian Meat and Cold Storage Co. Ltd. began work in 1910 on a new frigorifico on the eastern outskirts of Río Gallegos. The site was not directly on the waterfront and the plant's 3' 6" gauge railway line was therefore extended northwards down calle Malaspina to the muelle.

The owners were almost immediately taken over by the Swift Beef Co, and it is as the 'Swift' plant that the frigorifico was known for the rest of its life. It survived until the 1970s, but the derelict buildings remain, as seen below.

The two photos shown here were taken from Argentina Austral magazines of the 1920s. They were taken on the occasion of carcases from estancias Bella Vista and El Condor being loaded for shipment north in the steamer José Menendez. The track of the frigorifico railway can be seen in both illustrations.

Within the abandoned frigorifico track still survives, as seen below.

The plant had one steam locomotive, an Avonside 0-6-0T, no. 1592 of 1910. This also still survives, though in an extremely poor condition.

The drawing was taken from an Avonside catalogue of the 1920s. The loco was of their class NB. This was a small design, weighing only six and a half tons in working order, and available for gauges between 2' and 3' 6". (1).

The photo below shows it in its current resting place, the local museum's outdoor exhibits section near the big roundabout on the southern edge of the town.

A single flat wagon lies near the loco. It seems likely that this came from the Swift plant, despite the chopper coupling. The loco has link and pin couplers, and it is probable that the chopper variety was added mistakenly from one of the ex-FCCC wagons in the RFIRT yard.

Puerto Deseado
Puerto Deseado is a small but important fishing port towards the north of Santa Cruz province. It was also the terminus of the broad-gauge railway to Las Heras, which was originally to have gone further north all the way to Bariloche.

When in Comodoro Rivadavia in 1975 I was told that there had been a narrow-gauge steam-worked line at Puerto Deseado as late as 1972. This may have been for a frigorifico. In 2000 there were no signs of any railway at the CARSA frigorifico north east of the town, but it may have been at one of the other plants in the area. The earliest freezer plant in the town had been built by the Soc. Coop. Frigorifica de Puerto Deseado which was a Braun-Menendez company.

Puerto San Julian
The Argentine branch of the Swift company, the Cia. Swift de la Plata S. A., had a frigorifico here from 1912 onwards. Whilst a recent report suggests that that rail tracks still remain in the derelict plant (3), no further details are known.

Puerto Santa Cruz
The Armour company had a freeezer factory here, but whether it used rail transport is uncertain.

References:
1 Drawing copied by kind permission of David Kent.
2
3 Visit reported in

26-5-08