Chihuahua Pacific Railway

The Chihuahua Pacific is one of the most scenic lines in Mexico. Part of the route is through the Copper Canyon, which is larger and deeper than the Grand Canyon (though not as steeply sided).

Click image to download an 2.7-MB PDF of this brochure.

Originally built as a part of the American-owned Kansas City, Mexico, and Orient, it was purchased in 1928 by the Santa Fe, which spun off the Mexican portion into a separate railroad, the Chihuahua Pacific. It was taken over by the Mexican government, probably in around 1938, but then was privatized in 1998. It is now part of Ferromex, which still offers passenger service on this route.

At the time this brochure was issued, probably in the 1960s, the railway offered two passenger trains a day, one–which this brochure calls “the Pullman train”–using former US equipment and one using Italian railcars made by Fiat. The English-language brochure is well-written but repeatedly misspells “with” as “whit.”

Since this is likely the only Chihuahua Pacific brochure I’ll post here, I’m listing it under NdeM, the National Railways of Mexico. Though unnamed in the brochure, NdeM was probably the operator of this route when the brochure was issued.


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