Passa Quatro, Brazil 2012

This is one of two preserved sections of the old metre gauge line which ran northwards from a junction with the broad gauge Rio-Sao Paulo main line into the south of Minas Gerais and which was closed in the mid-1990's.

This line runs southwards from Passa Quatro as far as Coronel Fulgencio, the summit just before a long tunnel under the Serra da Manquiteira, the mountain range which divides Minas Gerais from Sao Paulo state. It's a low-key affair as you'll see compared with the Sao Lourenco line a few miles further north which serves a much more popular tourist district. It only needed one coach to carry the few passengers making the trip.

The loco is Baldwin 58552/1925, a very pretty Pacific I thought. It's been working the line for around 10 years or so and is more or less on its last legs before needing heavy overhaul which it will probably receive next year after the ABPF, who run the line, have completed the overhaul of a replacement loco - possibly the Beyer Peacock Pacific at Sao Lourenco. The line is around 10km long (as are the Campinas and Sao Lourenco ones) and is steeply graded and pretty scenic as you can see though not as much so as the stretch to the south of the tunnel which is the view in the last photo where you can see the course of the line on the hillside in the middle distance. This may be reopened in the next two or three years but will probably be diesel worked, at least initially, as the tunnel suffers from poor ventilation.

The railway was built by a British concern and was known for many years as the Rio and Minas Railway. The original plan was that the junction should be in Resende, in Rio state, rather than at Cruzeiro, hence the choice of name. The railway was one of several of the district which merged in 1931 to become the Rede Mineira de Viação (RMV), hence the lettering on the loco. Another constituent of the RMV was the EF Oeste Minas which ran the 762mm gauge line at Sao Joao del Rei, whose main line was then no less than 606km long, as well as metre gauge railways in the district.

Passa Quatro and the tunnel were the scene of intense fighting in what was essentially a civil war in 1932, soon after the military first seized control in Brazil and Sao Paulo state reacted with an unsuccessful attempted to break away and become independent. The uprising is commemorated with several memorials in Sao Paulo city where it is regarded as one of the state's proud moments. Memories are less enthusiastic in the districts where the fighting occurred and lives were lost. The station at the tunnel used to be called simply Tunel but was renamed Coronel Fulgencio after an officer on the federal side who was killed in the fighting. It's a steep climb to the tunnel from both directions and there's an old turntable pit at the station where banking locos were turned. The shed at Passa Quatro was also provided primarily to house the banking locos.

Passa Quatro is around 40 minutes drive north of the Cruzeiro junction on the Via Dutra, the main Rio-Sao Paulo motorway. The other preserved section of this line is at Sao Lourenco, about another 40 minutes drive further north.