It is very surprising that there are very few photos from Mauritania on Railpictures.net yet, although diesel locomotives from the USA have been in service there for over 40 years. Let's start with a documentation of these operations. The SDL40-2 CC # 114 built by EMD in 1993 pulls the about 2 kilometer long empty ore train of the SNIM (Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière) from Nouadhibou to Zouérat at line kilometer 404 between Ben Amira and Choum, together with the SD70ACS CC # 125 from 2012 and the SDL40-2 CC # 109 from 1988. The train has 7 loaded water tank cars in the consist loaded in Boulenouar on PK 96 of the line, followed by three container transport cars and a flat car loaded with automobiles . The 650-kilometre-long standard-gauge, single-track railroad line through the Mauritanian desert was built between 1960 and 1963 to develop the ore deposits around Zouérate. Later there were built extensions to other mines (M'Haoudat, Storanville) so the railway line is about 750 kilometer long now.
