THE LAND THAT ALL BUT FORGOT ITS RAILWAY HERITAGE

For a country that prides itself on eco-tourism, Costa Rica has very few railways, and it is impossible to travel throughout by train.

Railway preservation there is almost nonexistent, with just three historic electric and seven steam locomotives scattered around the country in varying states of decay. Amazingly, one is still in its running shed after the railway closed and was abandoned in 1982.

Costa Rica has no railway museum and appears to have forgotten its railway past. Even the two locomotives sited outside the railway offices in the capital are behind railings and impossible to get close to.

Located in Central America, Costa Rica is bordered by Nicaragua in the north and Panama to the south east. There was never a through railway linking the three countries (but what a journey that would be!). It has two coastlines, the Atlantic/Caribbean on the east and Pacific on the west. San Jose is the capital, located centrally where the lines run in either direction to the coast down the central valley.

Two unconnected north/south lines were built for the transportation of bananas, but the country’s rugged terrain is not conducive to railways, with vast areas of dense jungle, winding hills, huge rivers and large valleys making it difficult to penetrate, let alone build a railway through it, and then there