Does it still exist outside the Copper Canyon Railway/Tour.

Many moons ago when I was in college and had one too many tequila's with a then girlfriend on a trip to the Colorado River. I made an epic adventure from Mexicali to Nogales.

Her family was from Calexico, and while visiting Mexicali and on a "drunken whim" (we've all had too many of those) We found ourselves booking passage on a train to Hermosillo.

We were supposed to get one of the "express trains", but instead we got the infamous "dog train" that stopped in every little piss-ant town through sonora, mx.

We did have a lot of gringos on board though as the train went puerto penasco aka rocky point, and then on to Hermosillo

We continued on to Hermosillo, where we stayed for a night an then we took a train to Nogales ant then a bus to tucson where we flew back to California. I think the train was about $40 apiece.

The only cool thing was we bought a differnet type of tequila at every stop along the way. We ended up with around twenty different tequila bottles of various shapes and sizes. The only trouble was we had to drink them all in Nogales or pay duty on them. We drank them all in one mad tequila fest over two days at the Fray Kino Hotel, and brought the empties across the border.

It was one long and nasty trip from Nogie to Tucson the next day, one best forgotten.

I'm bringing this up as I found a map that looks like follows the exact route we took many years ago. Alas I beleive this is for freight, but I'd like to know if anybody has any info. An internet search brought up very sketchy info.

I think it would be a great mongering adventure.

OG

30 years ago I took the Pullman overnighter from Guadalajara to Mexico City. It was pretty nice with my own room. Later I took another overnighter from Mexico City to Oaxaca. I woke up in the middle of nowhere where we stayed for hours until whatever was wrong was eventually fixed. Trains are a nice idea if your have the time although only the Europeans seem to know how to make them work. 8 years ago I took the Amtrac from Sacramento to Reno and back in the winter which is a popular trip. Amtrac sucked in every way possible.

Alas, the Mexican rail system was privatized, and the new company shut down most passenger service.

I often took the sleeper trains in the old days, from Mexico to Mexicali or Juarez.

The train trip from Los Mochis (beautiful women there) through Copper Canyon (stay at the lodge with your favorite girl) to Creel and then to Chihuahua is worth all the wasted time and bad service you experience on Mexican trains.

I think that the last passenger service that exists in Mexico is the Copper Canyon Line.

There may still be passenger service from Mexico City to Nuevo Laredo and from Guadalajara to Mexico City, but I do not believe so.

In 1989 I took the train from Nogales to Guadalajara and back and had one of the best experiences of my life. That trip really sparked my longtime love affair with Mexico.

The Copper Canyon route still exists, although it is pricey.

There is no passenger service between Mexico City and Nuevo Laredo. It is as Explorer says, the train services were privatized and there is no more public service offered.

The state of Guanajuato is about to build a train from Guanajuato to Leon to Irapuato or something like that. I believe it will be a light-rail passenger train like the San Diego Trolley. Give it a few years.

You can ride "La Bestia" but I wouldn't recommend it It's a freight train that locals jump on to get places....