Author

Title

Date

Publisher

Remarks

COLVILL-JONES, Lorraine

Your Ever Loving Son

2008

Grupo Abierto Libros

The story of the author’s great uncle, Thomas Colville-Jones, who had started work for the Central Argentine Railway but left to become a fighter pilot in France during WW1, where he became the first Argentine “Flying Ace”, but was eventually shot down and later died of his wounds. This story also appears in P.E. Waters & J.J. Rainbow (Editors), see below.

DAMUS, Sylvester

Critique of Paul B. Goodwin’s “The Central Argentine Railway and the Economic Development of Argentina 1854-1881”

1978

Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol 58, No. 3

DAMUS, Sylvester

The Central Argentine Railway – from inception to maturity

2016

Early Main Line Railways Conference paper, pp264-276 (Peter Cross-Rudkin, Editor)

DEL SOLAR, Josefina

Retiro – Apuntes sobre la Historia de Buenos Aires

1999

La Gaceta del Retiro, Buenos Aires

The history of the oldest neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, including a chapter on the early (1862) station of the Northern Railway to San Fernando, and a chapter on the Central Argentine Railway station inaugurated in 1915.

FERNANDEZ PRIOTTI, Carlos Alberto

El Ferrocarril Oeste Santafesino – Carlos Casado y la colonización de la Pampa Volume 1

2006

Published by the author

First part of the history of the broad-gauge FCOS lines extending west from Rosario in the Province of Santa Fe.

FERNANDEZ PRIOTTI, Carlos Alberto

Historia del Ferrocarril Central Argentino (1854-1901)

2017

Self-published, with support from the D.I.A. Agency, Inc. (Ottawa, Canada), the Bolsa de Comercio de Rosario (Argentina) and The British Overseas Railways Historical Trust, London

The first part of two; the second part will continue the history up to the nationalisation of the railway in 1947/8, and beyond.

FERRER, Ángel & FERNANDEZ PRIOTTI, Carlos Alberto

Ferrocarriles en Rosario

2001, reprinted 2003

Asociación Rosarina Amigos del Riel

History and development of the various railways in the area around Rosario, in the Province of Santa Fe.

GOODWIN, P.B.

The Central Argentine Railway and the Economic Development of Argentina

1977

Paper in Hispanic American Historical Review, Duke University, USA, Vol 54, No.4

IANNUZZI,Norberto

El Ferrocarril Central Argentino y su acción colonizadora

1996

Paper in “Todo es Historia”, No. 350

Briefly describes the history of the Central Argentine and its activities in support of the agricultural colonisation of the lands adjacent to its lines.

INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS

Minutes of Proceedings and Selected Papers

1921

Contains papers by John Henderson Taylor on “The Application of Electric Traction to the Suburban Lines of the Central Argentine Railway”, and by Ernest Henry Stanley on “Winter Working, Argentine Transandine Railway”.

PARKER, C.R.

Some Notes on Experiences with Railcar Oil Engines in the Argentine

November, 1942

Journal of the Institute of Locomotive Engineers

Describes the maintenance and repair of the Ganz railcars of the Central Argentine Railway.

POOLE, John

The Locomotives of the Central Argentine Railway

c. 1949

Unpublished notes and photographs

There is also an article by Poole in the Bulletin of the Permanent International Railways Association.

SHERE, Rolando & TARTARINI, Jorge

La terminal de Retiro y su historia

June 1995

In Revista de la Sociedad Central de Arquitectos, No. 175

An article describing the Retiro Terminus and its history.

WATERS, P.E. & RAINBOW, J.J. (Editors)

British Military Railways Overseas in the Great War

2018

Mainline and Maritime

Chapter 1 includes the story of Thomas Colville-Jones, see Lorraine Colville-Jones above.

Author

Title

Date

Publisher

Remarks

A B C SUD-OESTE

Horario de Verano desde 15 de diciembre de 1936

1936

Southern and Western Railways summer timetable (operated jointly), in alphabetical order of village or town station name. Details include the number of inhabitants in each place, and the cost of tickets to Plaza Constitutión (Southern) or Plaza Once (Western) in Buenos Aires.

BAGSR

Reports of the Directors to the Proprietors, June 1904 and June 1921; and Proceedings at the Ordinary General Meeting of the Proprietors

26th October 1921

River Plate House, London

BAGSR

AGM of the South American Centre

1943

Institution of Locomotive Engineers

Reports and Accounts presented at the Remedios de Escalada Workshops; printed in the ILE Journal, Vol XXXV, No.186, July-August 1945.

BAGSR/BAWR/FCS/FCO

Report on Developments and Improvements in Locomotives, Rolling Stock and Workshops

1939

Text, tables and many photographs of locomotives, diesel railcars, passenger coaches, goods wagons and workshops, etc, signed off by the joint Chief Mechanical Engineer of both Companies.

COLEMAN, Arturo H.

Mi Vida de Ferroviario Inglés en la Argentina,1887-1948

1949

Privately published

Written in Spanish by the Welsh author, describing his life in Argentina working for the Southern Railway (BAGSR), where he rose to become the senior manager in the Bahia Blanca sector of the Railway

FERNÁNDEZ, Graciela

Contra las altas tarifas del Ferrocarril del Sud

December 2009

Article in the Magazine “Todo es Historia”, No. 509

An account of a group of Argentine university teachers who complained about high ticket prices, cleanliness and comfort of trains on the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway. Magazine located with Mario Justo Lopez (La llegada del tren…) in the first section of this list.

MACINTYRE, H.M.

Diesel Electric Locomotive (Running and Maintenance on the B.A.G.S.R.)

1944

Journal of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers, Paper 455, pp 396-528

Paper presented at the Remedios de Escalada Workshops of the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway on 2/6/1944.

POWELL, Brian

History of the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway – The first forty years

2012

Privately published

This is the author’s translation into English of the first twenty or so articles in the book by William Rögind, see below. In the late 1860s and 70s. Brian Powell’s grandfather and three great uncles left Britain to work for the Southern Railway as contractors, firemen and drivers (see below) which is what motivated him to translate the early part of Rögind’s book.

POWELL, Brian & STEAD, Susan

Four Brothers on Track for the Argentine – to help build and run a Railway

2016

Privately published

The four brothers mentioned above.

PURDOM Douglas S.

British Steam on the Pampas – The Locomotives of the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway

1977

Mechanical Engineering Publications Ltd

A description of all the locomotive classes, both steam and diesel-electric, designed, developed and operated by BAGS, together with the history and development of the railway itself.

PURDOM, Douglas S.

Argentine Railway Workshops in Wartime

Sept-Oct 1941

Paper 429, Journal of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers, Vol XXXI, No. 163, pp 344-458

Paper presented on 25th April 1941 at the Remedios de Escalada Workshops.

RÖGIND William

Historia del Ferrocarril Sud

1937

Establecimiento Gráfico Argentino S.A., Buenos Aires

A large collection of articles written for the Southern Railway Magazine “Revista del Ferrocarril Sud”, from the 1860s until the 1890s, mainly about the Southern Railway, but also about other railway matters in Argentina and aspects of the history of the country.

TOPHAM, W.L.

The Application of Oil as a Fuel for the Modern Locomotive

Nov-Dec, 1935

Paper 345, Journal of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers, Vol XXV, No. 128

Paper presented on 28th June 1935 at the BAGSR Workshops, Bahía Blanca.

TORRES CANO, Manuel (Editor)

Historias Ferroviarias al Sur del Salado

2008

EUDEM, University of Mar del Plata

A book of articles by researchers at the National University of Mar del Plata, Faculty of Architecture, Urbanisation and Design, relating to various aspects of the Southern Railway south of the River Salado in the Province of Buenos Aires, several featuring the Mar del Plata area.

Author

Title

Date

Publisher

Remarks

A B C SUD-OESTE

Horario de Verano desde 15 de diciembre de 1936

1936

Southern and Western Railways summer timetable (operated jointly), in alphabetical order of village or town station name. Details include the number of inhabitants in each place, and the cost of tickets to Plaza Constitutión (Southern) or Plaza Once (Western) in Buenos Aires.

BARRY, V.

The 1860 project for dividing and colonising the lands through which the Western Railway would pass to the town of Chivilcoy:Proposals and Debates

2000

Fundación Museo Ferroviario, Buenos Aires

In Spanish

BAWR

Reports of the Directors to the Proprietors, June 1896 and June 1938; and Proceedings at the Thirty-Second Ordinary General Meeting of the Company

25th October, 1921

River Plate House, London

BELL, Jennifer Anne

Short Straw – The Journey of a Younger Son

2013

Larks Press

This is the biography of Francis de Witt Bell, who spent several years in the 1920s and 1930s in charge of the BAWR experimental farm at Ingeniero Foster in the far west of the Province of Buenos Aires. The idea of the farm was to provide guidance and help towards the establishment of a farming community in the area, which would then provide traffic for the railway.

GABB, C.R.

Locomotive Repair Shop Organisation

1941

Journal of the Institute of Locomotive Engineers, Paper No. 103

Paper given at the FCO Liniers Workshops, Argentina.

SCHVARZER, Jorge & GÓMEZ, Teresita

La Primera Gran Empresa de los Argentinos

2006

Fondo de Cultura Económica de Argentina, S.A., Buenos Aires

A history of the first railway to be constructed in Argentina, opened in 1857, which ran towards the west into the Province of the same name from a terminus in Buenos Aires. It started as a private company, but by 1860 had been sold to the State. The book covers the period from 1854 to 1862, and shows how successful the railway was in its early years.

Author

Title

Date

Publisher

Remarks

BAP

Nuestras Estaciones

c. 2000

Buenos Aires al Pacífico San Martin, S.A.

A compilation in Spanish of all the railway stations on the FC San Martín at that time: their locations, names, the origin of the names, and many other details, including a map.

BAP

Itinerario de los Trenes

1945

Staff working timetable for passenger and freight trains.

BAP

Across the Andes

1905

A brochure advertising the newly opened route from Buenos Aires in Argentina to Santiago and Valparaiso in Chile, as well as the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. services from London to Buenos Aires. It is pointed out that the Summit Tunnel on the Argentina-Chile border of the Transandine section of the route had not yet been completed, necessitating a coach or mule trip over the summit. There are many photographs and a fold-out map of the route.

BECKWITH, H. G.

Locomotive Boiler Repairs on the Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway

1930

Journal of the Institute of Locomotive Engineers, pp 934-1062

Paper presented at a meeting of the South American Centre of the Institute, on 11th July, 1930, at the Junin Workshops of the BAPR.

BLACK, A.H.

A Review of Tool Room Practice on an Argentine Railway-Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Sept-Oct 1935

Journal of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers, Vol XXV, No. 127, pp 611-671

The railway concerned was the BAPR, and the paper was presented on 29th March, 1935 at the Company’s Junin Workshops.

Author

Title

Date

Publisher

Remarks

DAMUS, Sylvester

The Amalgamation of the East Argentine and Argentine North-Eastern Railways in 1906

Spring 2023

Paper in The British Overseas Railways Journal

LOPEZ, Mario Justo

Trenes Ingleses en Argentina – Monopolio y Control Estatal (1897-1916)

2020

Lenguage Claro

British railways in Argentina – Monopoly and State Control. In Chapter 13 there is a significant section on the railways in the Mesopotamian (north-eastern) region of Argentina.

WEBSTER, J. A.

Intercommunication Telegraph Working

8th May, 1929

Paper presented at the Institution of Electrical Engineers in London

Description and operation of the telegraph communication system used by the Entre Ríos, East Argentine and Buenos Aires Central Railways.

WILSON, E. J.

Railcars on the Entre Ríos andArgentine North Eastern Railways

23rd September, 1938

Paper presented before the Institution of Locomotive Engineers in Paraná

Describes the many types of railcars used on the two railways, together with the operation and maintenance of the diesel-mechanical railcars they owned.

Author

Title

Date

Publisher

Remarks

COCHRANE, Robert C.

Some Remarks and Observations Regarding the Introduction of Diesel Traction on the Buenos Aires Midland Railway

30th September, 1939

Paper presented to the Institution of Locomotive Engineers at the Libertad Workshops

A description of the diesel railcars, which were replacing Sentinel locomotives, and their operation and maintenance.

FAWCETT, Brian

Railways of the Andes

1963

Allen & Unwin

This book describes all the railways which crossed the Andes range, as well as various other crossings which were never constructed. Those linking Argentina with Chile are the Transandine and the Northern Transandine (Train to the Clouds).

HAINE, Edgar A.

Seven Railroads

1979

A.S. Barnes and Co., Inc.

Contains a chapter on the Transandine Railway.

HAINE, Edgar A.

Railways Across the Andes

1981

Pruett Publishing Company

Describes and illustrates (in black and white) the railways which cross the Andes in Peru, Northern Chile, Arica to La Paz (Bolivia), and Antofagasta to Salta (Argentina), Bolivia, and Ecuador.

HAND, Victor & EDMONSON, Harold

Trains – Steam and Diesel Locomotives Around the World

1974, reprinted 1988

Octopus Books Limited, reprinted by Galley Press

Contains a chapter entitled “Andean Spectacular” about the Belgrano Railway in Northern Argentina, and another entitled “Coal for the Mills of Volta Redonda” about the Estrada de Ferro Dona Teresa Cristina in Brazil.

HENDERSON, Brodie Haldane

The Transandine Railway

9th December, 1913

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Paper No. 4068

History, construction and operation of the railway between Mendoza, Argentina, and Los Andes, Chile.

INSTITUTION OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS

Visit of the South American Centre to the Tafi Viejo Works of the Argentine State Railways

c. 1924

Journal of the ICE

Tafi Viejo is probably the most important metre-gauge workshop in Argentina, located some miles north of the City of Tucuman in the province of that name.

KIRBUS, Federico B.

El Fascinante Tren a las Nubes, y otros ferrocarrriles de montaña

1993

Editorial El Ateneo

Mainly covers, in Spanish, the various railways crossing the Andes from Argentina to Chile, but also describes mountain railways in Bolivia, Chile and Peru. The Fascinating Train to the Clouds is also covered in More Great Railway Journeys, a collection of pieces published by BBC Books in 1996 and Penguin Books in 1997.

MORAGA FELIÚ, Pablo

El Ferrocarril Trasandino – La conquista de la Cordillera de los Andes

2011, Second Edition 2015

RicaVentura

This book describes, in Spanish, all aspects of the Transandine cross-border railway which conquered the Andes Mountains between Los Andes in Chile and Mendoza in Argentina, with many photos, diagrams and maps.

TAYLORSON, Keith (Compiler)

The Transandine Railway in 1931

2006

Narrow Gauge Railway Society Quarterly Magazine, No.196

The Transandine metre-gauge railway was a crucial line, the first to cross the Andes Range, in a route linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by connecting the ports of Buenos Aires in Argentina and Valparaiso in Chile. This facsimile Reprint booklet, first printed in 1931, describes the construction and operation of the line up to that date.

TESTANI, Martín Ceferino

El Tren de las Sierras de Córdoba

2004

Editorial El Copista, Córdoba

A compilation in Spanish of historical, railway engineering and anecdotal information about the Córdoba & North Western Railway, known by its popular tourist name “Tren de la Sierra” (The Train to the Hills). This metre-gauge line ran through a difficult terrain in a beautiful mountain area, much visited by people on holiday.

Author

Title

Date

Publisher

Remarks

HOLDSWORTH, Malcolm

Fading Steam

2010

CADECO

This book covers steam railways from all over the world, but the photographs of two 750mm (2’6”) gauge lines in Argentine Patagonia are especially fine. They are the Esquel (La Trochita) and the Rio Turbio railways.

HUMM, Robert

The Narrow Gauge 2-8-2s of Patagonia

Winter 2013/4

Narrow Gauge Railway Society, Issue 227

A comprehensive history of the 75 locomotives which operated at one time or another on the 750mm (2’6”) narrow-gauge lines in the Argentine Patagonian region, including the Chubut Central, the Old Patagonian Express (La Trochita), and the Rio Turbio.

HUMM, Robert

Notes of a Rail Tour in Argentina

28/10 – 13/11/2004

 .

Visits to the Ferroclub Argentino standard- gauge depot at Lynch (ex-Buenos Aires Central Railway), the Caballito Tramway Museum in Bs As, and the Ferroclub broad gauge depot at Remedios de Escalada (ex- BAGS Railway). Rail journeys from Plaza Constitucion Station (ex-BAGS) to Altamirano and back (half-day), from Constitución to Bariloche in northern Patagonia and back (three days each way), and several runs on the Ingeniero Jacobacci to Esquel 750mm (2’6”) gauge line (“La Trochita").

KINGSFORD-SMITH, Robert

Esquel

1993

Famous Last Lines, compiled by Malcolm Holdsworth

An article and many photographs of the Ing. Jacobacci to Esquel 750mm (2’6”) gauge line “La Trochita”, which was at that time part of the Roca network of Ferrocarriles Argentinos.

KINGSFORD-SMITH, Robert

Patagonian Light

2001

Famous Last Lines 3, compiled by George Bambery, CADECO

This is an article about the Rio Turbio Railway in the far south of Argentine Patagonia (750mm, 2’6”), with many outstanding photographs of its locomotives, infrastructure and landscape. The locomotive improvements carried out by the Argentine Engineer L.D. Porta are discussed.

McCALL, Iain & CATCHPOLE, Paul (Editors)

Locomotives International @ 100

2016

Includes “End of Steam at Rio Turbio” (Koch); “Rio Turbio Resurrection” (McMahon); “Ecuador 1991 – Up and Down the Devil’s Nose” (Andrews).

PARROTT, Chris

Argentine Adventure – A Railway at the End of the World

20044

Cheona Publications

Describes the history and operation of the Ferrocarril Austral Fueguino, a short 500mm gauge tourist railway near the town of Ushuaia on Tierra del Fuego. This line follows part of the route of an abandoned convict logging line.

PEZZIMENTI,Héctor Luis, PRIAMO, Luis & WADDELL, Jorge

La Forestal – Imágenes de un Gran Pais

2016

A privately published collection of photographs and postcards about the history, activities and railways of a major logging and tannin manufacturing enterprise. The railways formed a network of about 600km in total, with gauges ranging from 500mm up to one metre.

ROWE, D. Trevor

Two Feet Between the Tracks

1990

Plateway Press

Photographs and descriptive captions for railways worldwide of about 600mm gauge, including in South American countries. In Argentina, it covers lines in: the Falkland Islands, Ushuaia (the End of the World line), the Chaco and Corrientes logging line (see “La Forestal” above). Warning: there are several errors in this book.

SCOTNEY, David

30 inch Railways Worldwide

2013

Stenvalls

A comprehensive and detailed encyclopedia of 750mm, 760mm and 2ft6in public railways in the whole world. The section on Argentina includes the Patagonian lines and the “La Forestal” railways (see Pezzimenti, et al, above).

SEPIURKA, Sergio & MIGLIOLI, Jorge

La Trochita

2001

Grupo Abierto Comunicaciones (GAC), Bilingual Edition

The English subtitle of this book is “A Journey through Time and Distance on the Old Patagonian Express”. This substantial coffee-table tome covers the construction, operation and history of the line, as well as its current state and plans for the future. Chapters on the Spirit of the South (literature and oral tradition) and on a Touch of Local Colour are also included. The many photographs have bilingual captions.

SKINNER, Kenneth

Railway in the Desert

1984

Beechen Green Books

An author with lifelong connections with the Welsh colony in Chubut. A visit there in 1973/4 enabled the completion of his history of the Chubut Central Railway in Patagonia, and that of its constructor, Edward Jones Williams.

TAYLORSON, Keith

Narrow-Gauge Rails to Esquel

1999

Published by the author in association with Plateway Press

This describes the 750mm (2’6”) narrow-gauge line in Patagonia running north from Ing. Jacobacci, a junction on the broad-gauge Southern line, to its terminus at Esquel in foothills of the Andes. Dubbed the Old Patagonian Express in Paul Theroux’s book of the same name, it is known in Argentina as “La Trochita” ( which means a narrow-gauge branch line). This 250 mile steam railway started with 80 Baldwin and Henschel locomotives in 1922, and still uses the remaining few to this day.

Author

Title

Date

Publisher

Remarks

Compañía de Tranvías Anglo-Argentina Limitada (Anglo-Argentine Tramways Ltd) – 50 years of Progress 1876-1926

1926

Buenos Aires

A booklet in Spanish with many photos, diagrams and charts of the Buenos Aires tramways.

Asociación Amigos del Tranvía

1976-1987

An illustrated journal published by the Association of Friends of the Tram, an enthusiast group. The articles include histories, maps, photographs and other data for most of the street railways of Argentina.

GARBUTT, Paul

World Metro Systems

1989, reprinted 1991, Second Edition, 1997

Capital Transport Publishing

Has a short chapter on South American Metros, including the Buenos Aires Underground system.

HAVERS, H.C.P.

Underground Railways of the World

1966

Temple Press Books

Has a short chapter on the Buenos Aires Underground, including a map.

MORRISON, Allen

Latin America by Streetcar – A Pictorial Survey of Urban Rail Transport South of of the U.S.A.

1996

Bond Press, New York, for the Author

Covers Mexico, the rest of Central America, and then South America (over half the book). There is a short history of the tramways of Latin America. The section on Argentina is about one third of the book, with illustrations not just of the tramlines in Buenos Aires but also in all the other cities which had them. Early tram-lines are featured, including some horse and steam trams, and all the captions are fully detailed. There is also an extensive bibliography.