Portable Paradise, Chile 2026
Chris Grimes reports on what I assume was a 'family holiday' in Chile that seems to have got sidetracked. I have known for a long time about the 'open air' museum at Carahue in the south of the country but despite a longstanding open invitation to readers to send details and a set of pictures, nothing has yet transpired.
The situation reminds me of that for steam rollers and other road engines in Thailand. That page which started with a short list and had mainly my own pictures has expanded to the stage where 100 engines are recorded and there are more than a dozen contributors, one of which is Chris Grimes...
Despite it not being as 'fashionable' It would be great to repeat the process in Chile, I am sure there will be all sorts of pictures on social media, but like their Thailand counterparts the posts will most likely be short on details. Undoubtedly it needs someone with plenty of spare time and some Spanish to use a combination of Google searches and Streetview.
There is a separate page on this site for the steam locomotives recorded during the visit.
Chris writes:
The following were chance sightings as we drove from South to North through the Chilean Lake District (Zona Sur), between the 17th and 25th of January 2026. The final location was in the grounds of our hotel near Santiago.
Puella
Route 225 links Chile with Argentina, however it requires the use of ferries in both countries to access the isolated cross-border section of road. In Chile you must cross the Lago Todos los Santos (All Saints Lake) from Petrohue to Puerto Puella. Just up the road is the Hotel Natura Patagonia, which has 2 Marshall (Gainsborough) portable engines in its gardens. One still has its builder’s (No. 57840) and agent’s (Williamson Balfour & Ca.) plates. The other has no identification, but appears to be piston valve, and still has most of its backhead fittings.
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Puerto Montt
Noted in passing; an incomplete portable (missing crank & chimney) stands in an open area on the west side of the Av. Salvador Allende, just south of where Crucero passes underneath. Easy to spot using Google Streetview, it’s mainly painted blue. See: https://maps.app.goo.gl/fqobNV2eTJhHc5Wo7
Porto Varas, Pettra Hotel
In the garden in front of the hotel is a portable engine, I was unable to find any identification on it.
Panguipulli
A stop to break up a long drive yielded two portables, one a Marshall, on the waterfront where Av. Constanera Arturo Prat meets Martinez de Rozas. Another Marshall may be found in a triangular park where the 203 (Bernardo O’Higgins) meets the T-39 (Juan Pablo II).
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Villarica
Another chance spotting from the car, on the S-95-T on the edge of Villarica, outside the Cabañas Alto Villarica. Google link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/gaer3e3S3AQSpmsA7
Freire
While driving west on the 199, two derelict portables were noted on the north side of the 199 about 1km before the junction with Route 5. I didn’t stop to investigate; having found them on Google Street view I now wish I had! One is a twin cylinder twin flywheel machine, the other is single cylinder but with a less common bullhead (marine) firebox.
The following link should take you to them: https://maps.app.goo.gl/QXGB6WYV12589FAq8
Freire is very close to Temuco airport if anyone was picking up/dropping off a hire car. You never know!
Museo Andino/Andean Museum, Viña Santa Rita, Alto Jahuel, Santiago
The museum itself is devoted to pre-Columbian art and artefacts and is situated on the Viña Santa Rita estate. It may not therefore be accessible to casual visitors. Nevertheless, a derelict portable stands opposite the museum entrance. It is missing its cylinder and motion, and I couldn’t find any identifying marks.
Frutilla
Finally, this is one for the internal combustion engine fans. We also called in at the German Colonial Museum, a petrol-engined Farmall tractor was found towards the back of the site.
