 Minerva SystemsDr. Cora Angier Sowa |
CORA SOWA'S RIGHT-OF-WAY:RAILROAD HISTORY OF CORA ANGIER SOWAPage 3Rail Travels in Old Mexico, 1950's |
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On the present page you will find:
To go to other pages of "Cora Sowa's Right-of-Way," choose the following sections:
- Click here for the first page:
- On and Around the Southern Pacific ("Malley" cab-forwards and Tehachapi)
- The Alaskan Railroad
- The Southern Pacific Coast Line at Chatsworth and the Ojai Branch
- The Old Los Angeles Subway Tunnel ("Belmont Tunnel") and Toluca Yards
- Union Station, Plaza, and Angels' Flight
- The Train of Tomorrow
- Click here for the second page:
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- Click here for the fourth page:
- Click here for the fifth page:
- The Poughkeepsie Bridge: Trains across the Hudson River
- The Poughkeepsie Bridge reborn as "Walkway Over the Hudson"
- Click here for the sixth page: Engineers in the Family I, Walter Angier, civil engineer
- Click here for the seventh page: Engineers in the Family II, Philip Angier, civil engineer
- Click here for the eighth page: Engineers in the Family III, Alexander Lodyguine, Russian (and American) inventor
Rail Travels in Old Mexico |
Woodburners and narrow gauge in 1950's Mexico
In the 1950's, the main line of the Mexican railway from the U.S. into Mexico was a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific. As my father worked for the SP, he could get family vacation passes for himself and me on Mexican trains (my mother suffered severe motion sickness, and couldn't go along). We went all over Mexico, including not just Mexico City and nearby points but Veracruz, Yucatán, Oaxaca, and Chiapas. We visited the ancient ruins of Teotihuacán, Monte Albán, Mitla, Uxmal, and Chichén Itzá, and since we both spoke Spanish (he better than I), we found our way to some pretty remote villages. Along the way, we got some pictures of the rails we rode. The pictures below are mostly from these travels in the 1950's (plus one of my Dad's pictures of a gasoline-powered car from the 1920's). There is my photo of a wood-burning locomotive used as a yard goat in Mérida, a narrow-gauge trip to Oaxaca, a train of boxcars used as improvised passenger transportation on the route to Amecameca, and many other pictures of a long-gone way of life. There are also some of the picture postcards that we accumulated along the way. Titles supplied by my father, Robert M. Angier, are labeled "R.M.A."
Our trips to Mexico stopped when the Mexican government nationalized the railroads and stopped passenger service. At that point, we started traveling around the United States. Today, there is little passenger rail outside of Mexico City except for the Copper Canyon tourist route. However, in recent years Mexico's freight railroads have again been privatized, Mexico City and environs have developed a good commuter service, and there is talk of high speed rail between major Mexican cities, developed by private enterprise.
Into Tijuana
For more about the San Diego & Arizona in its many incarnations, and the route through Carriso Gorge, see the Web site for the Railway Historical Society of San Diego. For more about the history of Motor Car #43, see the simulation at http://www.silogic.com/SDA/consists.htm.
Below is an old postcard of the Rock Island "Golden State Limited" in Carriso Gorge.
Travels in Northern Mexico
Mexico City
Mexico City Environs
Trip to Oaxaca, Mitla, and Monte Albán
Trip to Amecameca
Veracruz and Yucatán; Uxmal and Chichén Itzá |
