THE TRAIN TO THE CLOUDS
The Train to the Clouds departs from Salta Railway Station - an excursion that will take you to know one of the most important engineering works of the XXth. century located
4,200 meters above the sea level.
The locomotive will go along the Eastern Andes Range where there are picks being 3,000 and
5,000 meters high reaching the Puna. This is an un-forgettable experience even for “well-travelled”
visitors – it will leave you breathless!
As you depart, you will go along Valle de Lerma which is surrounded by mountain ranges and sub-andes mountains passing through three different types of climates - mountaineous subtropical with little rains, semi-desertic and completely desertic.
You will soon get to the first stop- Campo Quijano which is well known as The Andes Portal since it is located
1,520 meters above the sea level and where the well known Quebrada del Toro is situated. You will realize that vegetation changes getting more and more scattered and interesting.
Campo Quijano is located on a fertile valley due to the fact that there are humid winds from the Northeast region with a mountaineous subtropical climate and some species like laurels, ceibos, walnuts and lapachoes.
T
he train to the Clouds will pass by El Alisal Station located at
1807 meters above the sea level where the first zigzag will gain
54 meters.
The branch you will be going along was built between 1921 and 1948 , currently being the railway which is best kept in the Republic of Argentina.
After that, you will cross Chorrillos, Ingeniero Mauri and Gobernador Solá Stations which are 2,180, 2,300 and
2550 meters long respectively. At this time, everything will just be amazing and surprising because of the view in front of your eyes.
Mountains in shades of red, green, pink, yellow, white and grey will speak about the richess in minerals like iron, copper, dolomites, sulphur, lime and lead. The clouds, spread beneath the train, will let you see a clear and endless sky.
The landscape will change one and again due to the contineous erosion caused by the wind that carves multiple shapes on the mountain range.
The train will go on the intense jolting and, all of a sudden, a giant bend to the left will take it far from the Quebrada del Toro going up from 2675 to
3000 meters above the sea level by means of crossing the first land leveller.
You will enter the "Quebrada de Lagurillos" and you will see different buildings that were used by the people who built the railwaiy C14 branch. Far away, you will see the "nevado de Ankay" and some terraces where corn and peppers are grown.
|
