Back in 1978 Morrison-Knudsen rebuilt four GE U25B's with Sulzer prime movers. They gave it a nice flashy daylight type paint scheme never to be repeated. The horsepower was uprated to 2800 and th... (more)

All the Bells and Whistles. The bell and... well, ok, not the whistle, but rather the headlight of Boston & Maine 3713 are seen on a work bench inside the back shops at the Steamtown Na... (more)

The loaded and empty ore trains between the town of Nouadhibou on the Atlantic and the area of the mines in the Zouérate region have always been used by the locals, like her on the train M4, as t... (more)

Behind the Scenes. Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) locomotive 164 and another MP15AC are seen hauling a ballast train thorugh the yard at the Hillside Support Facility, while an eastbound ... (more)

The ore trains in Mauritania also transport other goods, in addition to water, diesel oil, containers in open high-sided wagons, dromedaries on flat wagons, and cars on flat wagons. Here, for exam... (more)

The "train du Désert" arrived early in the morning, still in dark, the station of Ben Amira, after a 259 kilometer night journey for the swiss SERVRAIL group from Zouérat. Now it is slowly getti... (more)

Northeast of Africa's largest monolith Ben Amira, there are several minor mountains in the Mauritania desert, about 9 kilometer north of the railway track. The about 2 kilometer long empty ore tra... (more)

Some kilometers north of Choum on the 704 kilometer long ore railway in Mauretania, the ties are beeing changed, from wooden to new concrete ties, fabricated in the SNIM work in Nouadhibou. A road... (more)

The "Train du Désert" stopped in the middle of nowhere of the Mauritanian desert, on the today about 6 hours journey from Ben Amira (PK 393) to Boulenouar (PK 96). From the kitchen in t... (more)

In front of the SNIM workshop in Nouadhibou we can see american built diesel power from left to right: GPL-15T BB # 203, BB # 201, SD70ACS CC # 124, GPL-15T BB # 207, SDL40-2 CC # 110.

SDL40-2 locomotive CC # 119 of the SNIM in the workshop of Nouadhibou.

In front of the large SNIM workshop in Nouadhibou are the SDL40-2 CC # 114, # 110 and # 101. # 101 was the first american locomotive in Mauritania in 1981, before there were used locomotives of th... (more)

In Mauritania, all locomotives in use are equipped with hydraulically operated, lowerable sand plows, which are attached to the bogie and are located behind the permanently mounted normal plows. H... (more)

Driver of the "Train du Désert" on the GPL-15T BB # 207 of the SNIM on the journey from Choum to Zouérate. The inscriptions on the driver's desk are in French. The velocity is mostly a... (more)

SNIM's central workshop in Nouadhibou for the maintenance, overhaul and repair of locomotives and freight and passenger cars. On the more than 700-kilometre route through the Mauritanian desert, i... (more)