The end of the world train

The area around nowadays Ushuaia was colonized during late 19th century, in order to assure Argentinian sovereignty over the newly acquired land. At the beginning it was just a small penal colony, that grew together with the town. From the beginning there was some rail transporting systems implemented that allowed prisoners to bring wood from the nearby forest to be used for construction and heating.

After the penitentiary was decommissioned, in 1947, the 25km long railway was left to rust. Around 1990, when authorities, in response to the growing number of tourists, decided to restore the system, not much was left (one loco and one passenger car were preserved and are now on display at the local museum). So they decided to build the End of the World Train (El tren del fin del mundo) that is today moving tourists along the last 7km of the original railway. The ride lasts for about 45 minutes each way. The views are terrific: only the landscape from Disneyland is anywhere close to the one we saw during the ride, the ponds, creeks, wild horses and snow covered mountains competing to create such an impression!

Tags: train