Las Palmas factory railway

Factory line from Las Palmas, Chaco

Steam locomotive, around 1898

Aerial view

Route length:

20 km

Gauge :

600 mm ( narrow gauge )

Legend

	0	Las Palmas sugar factory
	20th	Puerto Las Palmas on the Paraguay River

Steam train, 1890

The factory railway from Las Palmas ( Spanish Ferrocarril interno, sistema Decauville de Puerto e Ingenio de Las Palmas ) was a 20 km long field railway with 600 mm gauge from the sugar factory Las Palmas ^{( es )} near La Leonesa to the port of Puerto Las , which was in operation in 1898 Palmas ^{( it )} on the Paraguay River in the province of Chaco in Argentina .

history

The Irish brothers Richard and Charles Hardy (* Ballymena ; † February 17, 1913 in Mar del Plata) founded the 100,000 hectare agricultural and forestry business Las Palmas in 1882 with the support of the provincial administration of Chaco. To sugar cane for the production of aguardiente to grow, the trees were cleared and tannin tannin processed. Other crops such as cotton were later grown as well.

In 1884 the brothers, also known as Don Ricardo and Don Carlos, installed a steam sawmill to provide the wood necessary to build their sugar factory, distillery, workshops, warehouse and houses for the staff. Presumably they transported the boiler using some track panels one on flying track hand-operated Decauville - light railway . Around 1898, they were the first in the province of Chaco to lay a permanent light rail line.

The nation-state took over the management of the industrial complex from 1969, after which the sugar factory went bankrupt in 1971 and the properties were auctioned off in 1971. The provincial administration of Chaco issued Decree No. 1367 on August 16, 2006, with which the main and auxiliary buildings and the facilities of the plant were listed as cultural heritage.