Mexico - Mazatlan 1998 and 2000

July 15, 2021

There are few better places to take in a sunset than at the beach in Mazatlan

I visited Mazatlan Mexico on a couple of occasions, both for work and for a beach vacation. Both times I managed to sneak down to the Ferromex shops and get access to the facility. I even got to ride around with the hostler while he switched units around in the facility.

On my 1998 foray to the shops, one of the security guards was quite friendly, chatting with me and telling me what areas to avoid so I wouldn't get robbed. Always good to heed local advice. Another guard hassled me for a tip so he wouldn't arrest me. I gave him 5 pesos to go away; he wasn't pleased that the gringo only had small amounts of cash. Since I had permission from the Ferromex local manager he didn't press me for more.

On my second visit in 2000 myself and a coworker walked into the shops and wandered at our leisure with no questions from the security. The Ferromex workers were quite friendly and let us wander in our "Safety toe" sandals. I don't think you would get away with that anywhere else.

We also had a sad coincidence with our Alaska Airlines Los Angeles to Mazatlan flight. The Alaska Airlines Mazatlan - Los Angeles flight that day had a catastrophic mechanical failure and crashed with the loss of all those on board. It was inbound to LA when we were outbound and the crash occurred while we were still in the air.

We were unaware of the accident when we arrived in Mazatlan. We got to the hotel and called the company office; the first thing the VP Exploration told us to do was call our wives. For about an hour after the crash everyone thought that it had been our flight that had been in the accident. It was quite eerie to say the least.

JP and Luis taking in the view

The "Death Hike". We had to go to the hills in the distance to look at an old mine working. about 5km horizontally and 1km vertically each way in 38+C heat. That was not a fun trip.

The work trip also included wandering the hills of Sinaloa and Nayarit looking at old mines, running into burro trains loaded with marijuana (not an advisable thing to do), and almost dying of thirst during a much longer than expected hike into the hills.

The vast majority of locomotives on both trips were GE, mostly Dash 7 units with a smattering of Super7 units and even the odd U boat. There were a handful of M424 units around as well but none were operational when I visited. My last visit in 2000 had the MLW units being stripped of parts and in a sorry state. I doubt they are around now.

Seeing locomotives with 5 digit road numbers was something new, as was the variety of old freight cars and cabooses in the area. Overall it was a worthwhile side trip. These days I'm not sure I'd wander around a railyard in Mexico.