Cobos – Furbero narrow-gauge railway

Cobos-Furbero
Bagnall steam locomotive imported from England
Route
Route length:	82 km
Gauge :	610 mm ( 2 foot track )
Legend Port of Tuxpan 0 Cobos 8th Paises Bajos 12 La Esperanza 15th Aire Libre 18th Practice Guerro 19th La Reforma de Herrera 25th Manlio Fabio Altamirano 27 Naranjos de Afuera 31 La Unión Río Cazones La Curva 35 tunnel 40 El Palmar 42 Kilómetro 42 44 El Palmito 47 La Victoria 52 Poza Rica (Poza de Cuero) 65 Kilómetro 65 77 Kilómetro 77 82 Furbero

The narrow-gauge railway Cobos – Furbero ( Spanish Ferrocarril Decauville Cobos – Furbero , colloquially La Maquinita ) was an 82 km long narrow-gauge railway with 610 mm gauge near Poza Rica de Hidalgo in the state of Veracruz in Mexico .

history

The narrow-gauge railway from Cobos to Furbero was built between 1902 and 1908 by the Oil Fields of Mexico Company as the only connection between Cobos, a town near the port of Tuxpan , and the jungle area where the company produced oil. At that time there were neither roads nor bridges, but only a few dirt roads to the settlements and small towns. African American and Chinese construction workers from the United States and Tampico were involved in the construction.

Steel bridge over the Río Cazones, 1934

The line was completed in 1905 to line kilometer 31, where a metal bridge was built over the Cazones River, which was inaugurated in 1908. Then the line was opened on September 16, 1908. A telephone line with 9 telephones was installed along the route.

business

The steam locomotives imported from England initially needed 10 to 12 hours for the 82 kilometer route. The journey was interrupted several times for loading and unloading maneuvers and for the supply of the locomotive, especially at the route kilometers 0, 8, 12, 18, 25, 31, 44, 52 (today Poza Rica, formerly Poza de Cuero), 65, 77 and 82, some of which are still marked on modern maps today. From the 1940s onwards, diesel locomotives were used to move 6 to 8 bogie cars back and forth on which pipes, drilling equipment, spare parts and supplies for the construction and operation of the oil production systems were transported. The one-way trip took about four hours at a top speed of 14 km / h, although the locomotives were designed for 20 to 30 km / h.

Passenger transportation was free, the only thing that was charged was the transportation of corn at three pesos a bushel. Passengers rode on wagons, as the five Kalamazoo - Motor Handcars was reserved exclusively for foreign managers.

The mandatory stop, the steam engines had to make at kilometer 52, led to the development of a settlement with simple clay and wooden houses, which today houses the Colonia Manuel Ávila Camacho is that its name in 1946 at the end of the reign of President Manuel Ávila Camacho received Has. It has been known since 1926 because it was the hub for travelers from Tuxpan or Papantla who preferred to travel on the maquinita rather than the unpaved roads. This created a trading center in the place where Chapultepec Street is today.

In 1959 the last section of the road to Cobos was built. The narrow-gauge railway was then shut down. In 1963, a diesel locomotive was installed in a roundabout on Boulevard Adolfo Ruiz Cortínez and Avenida de Palmas in her memory . The community administration strove 2000-2003 to put them back in a functional condition. With the support of the Pitsa company , it already has a new engine and a new pipe, and should be put back into operation as a free community during the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of Poza Rica.

Rail vehicles

Locomotives

• 3 Bagnall steam locomotives, 5 tons
• 2 Davenport steam locomotives, 10 tons
• 4 Plymouth , internal combustion engine locomotive for gasoline with 21 ° Baumé

Motor trolleys

• 3 Ford motorized trolleys for passengers
• 5 Kalamazoo motorized trolley ^(s) for passengers

dare

• 10 flat cars, iron frame and deck, 5 ton payload
• 6 flat cars, iron frames and wooden deck, 10 tons payload
• 13 flat cars, iron frame and deck, 10 ton payload
• 1 box van, iron frame and wooden box, 10 tons payload

literature

• Sinesio Capitanachi Luna: Furbero, Palma Sola y Poza Rica: historia del petróleo y memorias de un trabajador jubilado en la industria petrolera. Gobierno de Veracruz, 1983
• Karina Flores Cruz: La construcción y evolución urbana de una ciudad media mexicana vinculada a la Industria del petróleo. El caso de Poza Rica de Hidalgo, Veracruz. Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Unidad Iztapalapa, 2016
• Jonathan C. Brown: Oil and Revolution in Mexico. University of California Press, 1993.

Web links

• Diesel locomotive on the roundabout in Poza Rica (Google Streetview)
• Jose Luis Rodriguez Badillo: Maquinita Cobos Furbero, por la senda del recuerdo (YouTube video)
• Raul Alberto Peniche Mendoza: Photos of Antigua (SlideShare, photos no.22 , 42, 58, 64, 66, 69 and 77)
• Eddy Morales: Historia de Poza Rica, Documenta (YouTube video, from 1:45 min)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Luis Navarro Arteaga: La Maquinita. March 12, 2011.
2. ^ ^{A b c d} William Rodney Long: Railways of Mexico. US Government Printing Office, 1925.
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Rodrigo Vidal: La Maquinita.

Coordinates: 20 ° 41 ′ 34.9 "  N , 97 ° 20 ′ 26.2"  W.