Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacifico

Tequila wrote:
They stopped them several years ago. BTW the second class train is fine and 1/2 the price. Just remember you need 30 min to get from el fuerte to the station.

NO PETS ALLOWED. Not even teacup sized dogs. The daughter of the owner at Buganvillas RV park will look after them for a somewhat exorbitant $25 a day.

We took second class and because we are teachers got an additional 50% off the ticket. Plenty of food to eat as the train stops along the route.

We arrived in El Fuerte in the evening and the taxis were waiting. Like Tequila said, it's at least thirty minutes. We stayed at Hotel La Herradura for 400 pesos, spartan, clean and air conditioned.

They stopped them several years ago. BTW the second class train is fine and 1/2 the price. Just remember you need 30 min to get from el fuerte to the station.

NO PETS ALLOWED. Not even teacup sized dogs. The daughter of the owner at Buganvillas RV park will look after them for a somewhat exorbitant $25 a day.

We had planned on making the trip and when I called to make the resevation I was informed that those trips where cancelled so we will have to go by regular train.

navegator

Super nice, thanks for posting qtla9111

The Copper Canyon was packed this year with tourists. Now that they have the cable car in addition to the glass-floor lookouts, tourism has been booming at the Copper Canyon.

The train is a great trip and we plan on doing it again. We left our rv in San Rafael(where the highway ends) and took the train to El Fuerte. I doubt there is enough rv traffic to warrant moving rigs on flat cars on a daily or weekly basis but I regret not having done it.

These are some pics from 2008, some were reduced and now enlarged so they might be a bit grainy. It was a blast and I recommend it. Chihuahua is a beautiful state, Mexico's breadbasket and home to over 100,000 Mennonites. The highways are excellent, the pine forests and scenery incredible.

Cargo trains run twice a day already. The best way to see the canyon is with fellow travelers in my opinion. Usually you can go out on the connectors between cars where there is a railing and you can observe the scenery from there. It is a marvelous trip and even though we have been to the copper canyon many times we are hosting another trip this October for 16 folks, it is a "bucket list" thing for sure

What if the people ride in regular passenger rail cars and the RV's ride on flat cars at the end of the train?

You could still sleep in the rv at night and see the scenery during the day with out daneger of falling of more or less like the Durango and Silverton, maybe an open observation car?

That might generate some tourismo and dollars for thr region, maybe on the return trip the open flat cars cound take some casrgo to Chihuahua and regular passengers.

Just a thought.

navegator

pomsplus wrote:
We were told that there had been too many accidents (deaths) from people disobeying rules and too many unsafe things happening with handing out things to people at the stations. We were among those that were cancelled and we very sorry to have missed this experience but totally understood the situation.

That's exactly it. Sitting in your RV having a drink watching the scenery go by, then you decide to go outside for a closer look and over the railing you go. El Chepe didn't want or need the liability.

We were told that there had been too many accidents (deaths) from people disobeying rules and too many unsafe things happening with handing out things to people at the stations. We were among those that were cancelled and we very sorry to have missed this experience but totally understood the situation.