11th October 1979 was hot and mostly overcast in the north of Ecuador. Our group of 12 British photographers had completed three days of chasing steam on the “Devil’s Nose” section of the Ecuador state railways. It was our last day in Ecuador, and we decided to take some final pictures of 2-6-0 No.14, Baldwin of 1901, with its train of clerestory coaches on the 12.15 Bucay – Duran. Trains on this flat coastal stretch travel remarkably fast for 3 ft. 6 in. gauge and we only got one good shot before Milagro. Here the trains ran right down the middle of the dusty main street, in a scene straight
