Getting the coal to the coast Background
That there were coal deposits to be mined in the far south, was known back in the 19th century. On the Chilean side of the border there were small mines near Punta Arenas as is described on the Mina Loreto page. Other deposits have been listed on the Overview page, together with a number of schemes for railways to aid in their exploitation. Whilst there were deposits on the Argentinian side of the border they suffered from the difficulty of not being able to get the product out easily without crossing Chilean territory. This had also been a difficulty in the development of agriculture further north, in for example the Río Baker area. I suspect this was the reason why it was not until the 1940s that exploitation started in the Río Turbio district of Santa Cruz province. Coal from Río Turbio
It seems likely that it was the war-time shortage of coal that prompted the new excavations. Argentina had relied heavily on Welsh coal that rapidly became unavailable as the U-boat war developed. The country experienced a serious fuel crisis, despite increased oil production and the use of wood and other 'biomass' fuels for locomotives up in the north. At any rate Río Turbio was producing coal by 1943.  Sentinel steam wagons
The next difficulty was to get the coal out to an Argentinean port from whence it could be shipped north. In 1949 retired Admiral Juan A. Martin of the Argentinean Navy was quoted as saying that 'Under no circumstances would Rio Turbio coal be shipped out via Puerto Natales' (1). For the first few years petrol lorries were used, consuming incidentally more energy than they actually carried and often being abandoned on the road for lack of parts to repair them!, but in 1950 they received a fleet of 'S' type undertype (ie with cylinders below the frame) steam lorries from Sentinel of Shrewsbury, England. These were the last steam lorries to be built for commercial use anywhere in the world. Under the technical supervision of a Mr. McKay from the Falklands they operated in convoys of 10-15 taking 12 hours for the journey to Rio Gallegos (7). They were relatively modern in design but still used a large proportion of their load during the 320 mile round trip and it became obvious that only a railway would do the job properly. One of the Sentinels is preserved at Río Turbio, and another lies at Lujan zoo near Buenos Aires. They were known colloquially as 'los chufi'. A recent report suggests that some of them remained in use until 1959 (6).
 The surviving Sentinel lorry is shown below, as it is now at the Rio Turbio mining museum. The small photos on the left show the Sentinel name cast into the undertype engine housing and the wheel hubs respectively. News in late 2004 is that this machine is to be restored to working order under the supervision of Shaun McMahon late of the FCAF in Ushuaia.
Proposed routes
The first proposals had been to build a line via El Zurdo across to Santa Cruz. This idea was postponed when estimates of the coal reserves were reduced. However, in 1946 revised estimates of 100,000,000 tons provoked further thought. A new route was surveyed using the río Turbio and río Gallegos valleys. This was only two-thirds the length of the Santa Cruz line but a new port would be needed at Río Gallegos. The new course would also be less steep and would suffer less from blizzards (2) (6). A 1949 report suggests that the final change of plan was only made at a very late stage. Land for sidings had been bought at Santa Cruz and in 1949 there were engineers there awaiting the 'go-ahead' on the original route (1). The mine owners, Argentina's national coal company (Yacimientos Carboniferos Fiscales or YCF) cast around for an easy way to build the line. The solution was to use some of the 75cm. gauge equipment and stock that was still lying at Puerto Madryn, unused since the abandonment of the ambitious 1922 plans. 300km of 17.36 kg/m rail were available there, with another 90 km of similar material at Rio Grande for the Ministry of Marine's abortive Tolhuin railway. Construction work
Given the Patagonian climate, all work had to be completed during the months of October to April. However, unloading of equipment onto the beach at Río Gallegos began in May 1950. 50,000 tons of equipment arrived in this way for Río Gallegos still had no port as yet (2). Ing. Atilio Cappa was the engineer, an employee of the Ministry of Public Works. By May 1951 all but two miles were complete, with the finishing touches made in September, after the worst of the winter. 
These two black and white photos are of the first days of the line. The one above is supposed to be of the very first train to run right through - hauled by a Henschel 2-8-2 and made up mostly of four-wheeled wagons. The picture below was taken on the opening day, when the Minister of industry and commerce, Don José Constantino Barra, cut the tape to allow the first official train through.  The opening
One report suggests that coal carrying had already started in May of that year, but at any rate the formal opening was on 25th November 1951 (3). The railway was initially known as the Ramal Ferro Industrial Eva Peron (RFIEP or Eva Peron industrial railway line) which appropriately carried coal from the 'Yacimientos (mines) Juan Peron'. However, after the military coup in 1955 President Peron and his wife were not quite the flavour of the month and the railway was renamed the RFIRT, or Río Turbio industrial railway line.
 A few wagon axlebox covers survive showing the original initials of the RFIEP. Observant readers will have noticed that this one was actually fastened on upside-down, as evidenced by the oil build up at the top as well as the dandelion top right!
The new line was laid with 17kg./m. rail from the stocks at Puerto Madryn (later replaced with 24 and 32 kg./m.), and ten locomotives and a large number of wagons and cars were also shipped south from Puerto Madryn to operate the new link. The next pages describe the stock in detail. 
The route in detail
A detailed description of the features to be seen along the line can be found in Appendix 1. In summary, the route is 262km. long with ruling grades of 1 in 330 (0.3%) eastbound (loaded) and 1 in 160 (0.6%) westbound (empty). There were initially stations with passing loops every 15km. or so, but over the years many of these have become unmanned or even abandoned altogether. There are few big earthworks but there are three major river crossings. It must be emphasised that despite its narrow gauge, this was serious railway construction for heavy trains over a long distance. 
More recent changes
For many years the railway ran without any attention from the outside world. The original locomotives were replaced in 1956 by 2-10-2s from Mitsubishi, and in 1964 by another batch with modifications by the line's manager, Ing. L. D. Porta who later became well-known for his steam loco development work. Coal was obviously the main traffic, but there were also passenger coaches and diesel railcars for mine staff. A description of the line's operating procedures is given on a separate page. By the 1970s, however, the idea of a 75cm. railway running trains of 1000 tons plus attracted increasing numbers of enthusiasts. However, Argentina, in common with many other countries, was increasingly turning to oil and gas for its energy. By the mid 1990s there were fewer trains; the mines were about to be privatised; and the engines were to be replaced by second-hand diesels. The only good news was the construction of a new larger coal jetty, at Punta Loyola south east of Río Gallegos, necessitating the building of a new branch line. The new bridge here, over the río Chico, utilises a span rescued from the closed broad gauge line out of Comodoro Rivadavia. Punta Loyola is also notable for its wreck of an iron sailing ship, the Marjory Glen , illustrated in an appendix page. 
This photo shows the wagon tippler at Punta Loyola (5). On the extreme left is the tractor which pulls short rakes of wagons onto the tippler. As the railway does not use rotating couplers each wagon must be uncoupled before tipping. The privatised operation, known as YCRT (Yacimiento Carboníferos Río Turbio SA) did not find life easy. In 2002 the government rescinded the concession and took back the operation of the mine and railway. Restored steam?
Proposals to run steam trains out of Rio Gallegos to Punta Loyola having come to nothing so far, attention has shifted to the Rio Turbio end of the line. The more complete steam locos stored at Rio Turbio have been transferred to the ownership of the municipality and under the supervision of Shaun McMahon there are proposals for their renovation. Linked to this are suggestions for the extension of the line across the border and down the hill to Puerto Bories, or even northwards to Calafate. References:
1 Report dated 1949 by a Mr. Vaughan-Russell preserved in the National Archives/Public Record Office, Kew, London. Folder no. FO371/74320.
2 Fernando Carnero's webpages on the RFIRT were the source of many of the facts on this page.
3 Argentina Austral magazine, issue no. ???
4 The loco photo above is by courtesy of Andy Kirkham, 1995.
5 The Punta Loyola tippler photo is by David Sinclair, 1996.
6 An anonymous report in a website about the RFIRT, possibly written with the aid of Señor Alexis Boichetta.
7 A Report by Hector Perez Morando in el diario Rio Negro 10 April 2004. 26-5-08 | 