Ferrocarril Verapaz y Agencia del Norte Limitada
Ferrocarril Verapaz & Agencia del Norte Limitada was a railway company founded by German immigrants in Guatemala at the end of the 19th century . It built and operated the Panzós - Tucurú railway in the south of Alta Verapaz .
history
On January 15, 1894, a contract to build the narrow-gauge railway was signed by the government of Guatemala under José María Reina Barrios and Walter Dauch, the representative of Ferrocarril Verapaz & Agencia del Norte Limitada . In 1895 they built the 30-mile Cape Gauge route in the valley of the Río Polochic between the inland port near Panzós in the east and the town of Pancajché near Tucurú in the west. The company's most important task was to bring coffee from the fincas of German immigrants in Alta Verapaz through the Polochic Valley to Panzós. The Polochic is navigable from Panzós . About 40 kilometers further east, the river flows into Lake Izabal , which is connected to the Caribbean via the Río Dulce . In return, this traffic route was used to import goods from Germany.
On Wednesdays, a ship with a shallow draft docked in Panzós from the Caribbean port of Livingston . Panzós station was at the landing stage. According to the timetable, the train ran from Panzós to Pancajché on Mondays and Thursdays. The intermediate stops were Santa Rosita (Telemán), Tuxilá and Papalhá. The steam locomotive pulled twelve wagons, including passenger cars. The stoker, José Knight, fired the locomotive with firewood.
The connection was of particular importance for the fincas of Actelá: Los Alpes , Samilhá and Westfalia (La Jinayá de Virgilio Rodríguez Macal). In addition to coffee and wood, indigo barrels were also transported. The dieseldorffs from the village of Tuxilá produced the indigo dye from Indigofera .
The railway line was nationalized in 1943 under pressure from the USA and the company also went to the Guatemalan government, which renamed it Ferrocarril Verapaz y Servicios Anexos in 1956 . On September 3, 1965, the railway was stopped.
literature
- Julieta Sandoval: Germany en la Verapaz. In: Prensa Libre, June 24, 2005, D18-21
Web links
- Nationalization, 1943 (span.)
- Ferrocarril Verapaz y Servicios Anexos, 1956 (span.)