The Tren Militar de Quintana Roo 1905-1912, the Decauville train of the then new territory 🇲🇽

SORRY! Had to re-edit the video due to volume issues and the background music

History:

The 600mm gauge line was built by the Mexican Government as an effort to provide the army with quick transportation inland from the mangroves of Vigía Chico on the Bahia de la Ascension to the interior, where there had been frequent uprisings by the indigenous Cruzoob Maya tribes against Mexico’s colonization attempts since the mid-19th century “Guerra de Castas” (The Caste War). A first attempt to reach Chan Santa Cruz, then the capital of the rebel territory, was the 19th May 1897 concession by the Porfirio Díaz government for a 145 km railway from the ‘Unidos de Yucatan’ railhead at Peto to the ‘Compañia Ferrocarriles Sud Oriental de Yucatán’, a line which was never built.

The final attempt at pacification was led by Ignacio Bravo, a general close to Porfirio Diaz, who had been assigned to the area in October 1899. After the capture of the Chan Santa Cruz on 3rd May 1901, studies conducted by Colonel Alejandro Ordorica, head of the department of engineers of the Secretary of War and Navy started on 3rd June to build a military railway. Thus on 13th December 1901 a total of 60 km of track (in five-meter sections with 6 metal ties), eight points, three locomotives and 24 wagons were purchased in New Orleans for the total sum of US$ 239,967.59. In addition US$ 8,622 were spent on tools and construction costs. 250 tonnes of Decauville equipment was landed on 16th April 1902. Construction was completed at the end of 1904, but the official inauguration only took place on 4th September 1905. A telegraph line ran along the railway.

The line, known as both ‘F.C. Militar de Quintana Roo’ and ‘F.C. del Norte de Quintana Roo’, covered a distance of 57 km, with five intermediate stations:
Km 0 Vigía Chico
Km 2 Estacíon A
Km 10 Estacíon B
Km 18 Estacíon C
Km 34.5 La Central (workshops and barracks)
Km 50 Lagunas
Km 56.75 Felipe Carrillo Puerto

The military also operated a short line between Xkalak and La Aguada, which had been built by the Secretary of War and Navy.

F.C. Militar de Q.R. locos and rolling stock consisted of:
2 Decauville locos;
1 O&K or Krauss 40hp loco;
10 O&K 6-tonnes ‘furgones’ (covered vans);
14 O&K 3-tonnes ‘plataformas’ (flat cars).

Photos of the ‘furgones’ have appeared in O&K promotional material at the time.

As the Mayan rebels carried out constant attacks between 1905 and 1912, operation of the railway is said to have been short-lived. In 1915, the revolutionary government decided to return Santa Cruz to the Mayan leaders and General Bravo and his troops were recalled. In 1915, the Mayans decided to destroy anything which reminded them of their oppression, so the locos and water tanks were destroyed and the rolling stock burned down.

In 1918, a peace agreement was signed between President Venustiano Carranza and rebel leader Francisco May Pech. May was granted 20,000 hectares of jungle to be exploited by his people and the right to use the what remained of the railway for the transportation of chicle gum, which saw a boom for the production of chewing gum. On February 1, 1927, the government granted a 50-year concession to Miguel Angel Ramoneda to rebuild and operate the former military railway. On August 7, 1929 this concession was cancelled on the request of General Francisco May. The need for chicle gum declined and reached its lowest point in 1932, and the line is said to have been abandoned by 1939. The track was illegally sold by a local politician named Ramirez and lifted between 1950 and 1955. The Vigía Chico stone pier and what remained of the Central workshops were destroyed by Hurricane Janet in 1955.

Some researchers, including Gerald Best in his 1968 book, have stated the ‘F.C. Militar de Q.R. was turned over to the Laguna Company in 1908 and used as a forestry line known as the ‘F.C. Forestal de Q.R.’ from 1908, but in view of historical evidence this is very unlikely that this was the case. The F.C. Forestal is rather known to have operated from 1908 as a separate two-foot gauge line in the southern part of the state, between Chetumal and Bacalar along the border with British Honduras (present-day Belize).

Best has published the following roster for the Laguna Co.:
No. 1 0-4-4T Davenport 521 of 5/1908 24-8x12
No. 2 2T Shay 2084 of 4/1908 22-6x10
No. 3 2T Shay 2085 of 4/1908 22-6x10
No. 4 2T Shay 2042 of 2/1908 22-6x10
No. 5 2T Shay 2102 of 7/1909 22-6x10
No. 6 Heisler 1336 of 1916

Later gasoline locos were also used. The railway was reported as still in operation at least until 1967.