Train Lover Alert

Fascinating article....Posner sounds like determined fellow.

The railroad seems like something that could benefit the country in the long term, if it ever gets the chance.

Wow! I, too, found the story to be fascinating. A wonderful glimsp of life in Guatemala.

We had heard from time to time that the train was to be reinstated....and a few years back heard about an excursion trip bring planned from Guate to Pto. Barrios then when heard nothing about the train except rare referrals to freight service...now it all makes sense. THe whole article reads like life in Guatemala in general....a close read will show how tough each bit of progress is in GUatemala. Using the right of way for all sorts of purposes: dumping garbage, setting up informal markets,the "patrimony" of the motherland is a nice touch ...just the whole lot, is a slice of life in GUatemala.

thanks for the post. good information and valuable for understanding the problems faced by guatemala/guatemalans.

nice! So rare to find ANY articles about Central American rails.

My grandfather hailed from Sanarate. I still remember how, as a small boy, we took the train from Guatemala City to go to water and tend his fruit trees in his house in Sanarate. Back in those days, there were no druglords, no municipal dump and the train still made regular stops there.

Mauricio, how nice to hear about your trips on the train with your grandfather. It must have been wonderful. I have a dear 90+year old Guatemalan girlfriend who tells me stories of taking the trains in Guatemala and the WHite Star Line from Pto. Barrios to Hamburg, Germany. Another firned almost that age tells of the trains around Xela being "the best in the country", nostaglia, perhaps but I would like to have experienced them. Those were the days of travel. I would love to get on a train from Antigua or even GUate and go to Pto Barrios and take a ship to Europe without having the hassle of flying to Miami, going through all the hoopla that air travel now entails.....alot has been lost......

So famous was the train to Xela that one of the classics of Guatemalan marimba is titled FERROCARRIL DE LOS ALTOS. LOS ALTOS was, of course, the name of the ephemeral statelet proclaimed in the late-19th century in Quetzaltenango...On the way back from Sanarate, we didn't get off at the train station on 18th calle, but rather we got off "al pedalazo" in Gerona and simply walked home to our place on la 12 avenida.

a fascinating, if rather pessimistic tale, thanks for sharing it with us. Anyone with an interest in Guatemalan railways should head to the Museo del Ferrocarril in Guatemala City on 10 Avenida located in the old train station. I went a couple of years ago and it's very well displayed with old engines, railway memorabilia, classic cars

some pics here