Nowadays, with its original character largely unchanged, it operates as a heritage railway and was made internationally famous by the 1978 Paul Theroux book The Old Patagonian Express, which described it as the railway almost at the end of the world. The Trochita railway is 402 km in length and runs through the foothills of the Andes between Esquel and El Maitén in Chubut Province and Ingeniero Jacobacci in Río Negro Province, originally it was part of Ferrocarriles Patagónicos, a network of railways in southern Argentina. The nickname La Trochita means literally 'The little gauge' though it is sometimes translated as 'The Little Narrow Gauge' in Spanish while 'trocha estrecha', 'trocha angosta' in Argentina, is often used for a generic description of 'narrow gauge.' The whistle echoes around the hills and people throng to the station to wave off the train.įor more information on current timetable/services and how “La Trochita” might fit into your itinerary, please contact an Oasis travel consultant.La Trochita (official name: Viejo Expreso Patagónico), in English known as the Old Patagonian Express, is a 750 mm ( 2 ft 5 + 1⁄ 2 in) narrow gauge railway in Patagonia, Argentina using steam locomotives. The train, however, retains its traditional character with jet black steam locomotives accompanied by elegant, wooden carriages and still attracts the commotion of bygone years.

Today, the service is patchy with sections operating sporadically between Esquel and Nahuel Pan and between El Maiten and Desvío Thomae. Henschel steam engines were shipped over from Germany, Baldwin Locomotives from the US, both complemented with Belgian coaches and freight wagons that arrived in 1922.

Immortalised in Paul Theroux’s classic travelogue “The Old Patagonian Express”, the railway was constructed in the 1920’s for the transportation of livestock and at one point was vital link in the service that connected Buenos Aires all the way through to the picturesque foothills of the southern Andes. In Southern Argentina at the heart of the picturesque Lake District, “La Trochita” is a narrow gauge steam train that has been lovingly restored and which originally ran between the pretty town of Esquel to Ingeniero Jacobacci via El Maiten, along some 402 km of track.

The old patagonian express