Iron Horses. The Forging Of Old And New Paths

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Sinopsis

This little gem of a book is a history of South American railroads, focusing on Chile, and the role they played in bringing a continent to the forefront of the technological age. One day human and animal power were doing the slow work of transportation of minerals and the next iron horses took over. It points to the English, North American, German, Bolivian, Peruvian, and later Chilean ingenuity that went into creating a railroad system that complemented the booming mining industries of the northern Atacama Desert, slightly behind the European industrial revolution. At the same time, this photo-essay is a travelogue, replete with b&w images of historical and/or tourist trains that are still in use today, offering up to the reader the best rides available to the fanatical railroad lover. It is a short book with enough information to get a full picture of the railroad scene of yesterday and today. The images are not typical, although some are from excellent pictorial archives like the British National Railroad Museum’s Science and Society collection. Although there are photos of old locomotives, like one would expect, most images are uniquely personal from the author’s own travel journals. The public needs an English primer on South American railroads, with an updated account of the tourist scene, but in a fun anecdotal fashion, similar to the best of Chatwin and Theroux. A labor of love from a train enthusiast. Iron horses : the forging of old and new paths : (crónicas y memorias) / por Schele, Victoria, 1947- Santiago de Chile : Ceibo, 2012. Materias: Ferrocarriles -- Chile -- Historia 102