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| "The last wood burning locomotive of the world" |
Although their state now would please Steven Joyce. They were inaugurated in 1861 during the era of Carlos Antonio López. Privatised and renationalised several times, the railways were finally nationalised in the centennial year of 1961. As of 1988, the 367-km rail system was outdated, wood-fuel powered, slow and relatively expensive even with government subsidies. The volume of cargo carried on the railways declined in the 1970s and 1980s as the alternative roads and waterways became comparatively better, although some agricultural goods moved by train. In Encarnacion, the Paraguayan system connected via ferry with the Argentine city of Posadas, which is connected by the Ferrocarril General Urquiza to Buenos Aires and the Uruguayan and Brazilian rail systems. There also was a small "soybean railroad" near the Brazilian border.
The system now is basically in a state of "suspension" except for weekly tourist steam trains between Jardin Botanico de Asuncion (Asuncion Botanical Gardens) and the city of Aregua (23 km) plus an additional 15 km section to the village of Ypacaraí under renovation and cross-border freight trains between Posadas in Argentina and Encarnacion. As of 2007 steam 2-6-0s built between 1910 and 1914 still performed shunting duties. The main station in Asuncion (see previous post) has been converted into a railway museum.
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