Table of contents
Markus Biebricher
9 pictures
Markus Biebricher
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It goes on. 134 km to Calama.
Markus Biebricher
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This 80-ton steel monster used to have to pull saltpetre trains of well over 1000 tons.
Markus Biebricher
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Turntable for steam locomotives weighing tons in Baquedano, Northern Chile. Not challenged by the weight of the 650 Dakar.
Markus Biebricher
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The railway museum in the desert nest Baquedano is surreal and remote from the world. Entry, supervision? no thanks!
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Museo Ferroviario in Baquedano, Chile.
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You are even allowed in this roundhouse…
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… drive around with the motorcycle.
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The old engine shed was the location for a James Bond film.
Markus Biebricher
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Even today, freight trains still come through here.
to travel
Motorcycle tour Railway Museum Chile
Railway Museum in Chile
Motorcycles among themselves
What do a steam locomotive and a BMW F 650 GS Dakar have in common? Both have a lot of pressure on the kettle. Story of a strange encounter in the middle of the desert.
Markus Biebricher
02/29/2016
Ruta 5, 140 kilometers to Calama. A hurricane-like wind blows brutally on the BMW F 650 GS Dakar, apparently coming straight from a hot oven. The machine can only be kept on course with great difficulty. Suddenly a little hamlet grows out of the merciless nothingness of the Atacama desert: Baquedano. Flanked by dust tornadoes that lick 50 meters into the blue sky. Now just drink, rest, escape the wind.
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Motorcycles among themselves
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Avenida Salvador Allende is the name of the only street. On the left a few cheap restaurants, bars, kiosks and the tiny tourist office. Right hand the Wild West. An old train station, behind it a huge roundhouse, the Museo Ferroviario. Everything is allowed here. Even drive around on a motorcycle. 16 fat steam locomotives were once positioned on the mighty turntable. Now there are six dusty monsters from the early 20th century. On rails with a track width of 760 millimeters. American and English racing cars, but also a locomotive from the brilliant designer and manufacturer August Borsig from Berlin.
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Filming location for Bond strips
The 80-ton steel monster had to pull saltpeter trains of well over 1000 tons. It needed 100 times more power than the 50 hp Rotax single-cylinder, which only carries 420 kilos of total load through Chile and is therefore fully utilized. But the BMW is at least allowed to drive, the Borsig has to sleep forever. Why are the steam pods standing here and seemingly envious of the mobile enduro? Because Baquedano is at the intersection of the most important saltpetre railway lines between Argentina, the Chilean coast and Bolivia. Freight trains still come through here today. Long, pulled by sooty Japanese and American diesel locomotives. Saltpetre, also known as nitrate, used to be an elementary component of gunpowder and is found in gigantic quantities in the mineral-rich soil of the Atacama. Reason enough for Chile to break the so-called Saltpeter War off the fence in 1878 and to rob its neighbor Bolivia of its only access to the sea in addition to a lot of land rich in natural resources.
Around 1920 the saltpeter hype subsided and the steam locomotives stood still. Lower maintenance diesel machines took over the transport of goods. In 2008, scenes for “Quantum of Solace” were filmed in Baquedano. Today the storm is shaking unleashed on the corrugated iron of the locomotive shed, at some point parts of the roof will thunder on tourists’ heads. That is how long the Museo will remain an enchanting industrial and historical place. Now studded tires leave steel wheels, the wind takes hold of the BMW F 650 GS Dakar. Another 134 kilometers to Calama.
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