La Trochita
Rail · Viejo Expreso Patagónico / Province of Chubut
1 line · 4 stations
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Lines
Service information checked . Check the operator before travel because schedules can change at short notice.
Quick facts
- Current Chubut routes
- Excursions run from Esquel to Nahuel Pan and from El Maitén to Ingeniero Bruno Thomae.
- Tickets
- Buy a dated ticket online. Departure days change through the year, especially at El Maitén.
- Equipment
- The 750 mm railway uses preserved Baldwin and Henschel steam locomotives with early twentieth-century coaches.
- Heritage status
- The railway between Ingeniero Jacobacci and Esquel is a National Historic Monument under Decree 349/1999.
- Río Negro section
- Tren Patagónico lists a separate Jacobacci excursion, but its 2026 departures and fares are not yet published.
- Accessibility
- The Chubut service has a coach with a wheelchair ramp and provides information in Braille. Notify the ticket office when booking.
Mike’s notes
La Trochita, formally the Viejo Expreso Patagónico, is the surviving tourist operation on the 750 mm railway between Ingeniero Jacobacci and Esquel. The complete 402 km line no longer carries through passengers. Current scheduled Chubut trips use short sections from Esquel and El Maitén.
Construction began in 1922 after the government approved the Jacobacci to Esquel link. The railway was intended to connect settlements and move wool and timber out of Patagonia. Track reached El Maitén in 1941, and the inaugural train arrived in Esquel on May 25, 1945. Regular passenger service began in 1950.
The national government closed the branch in 1993, and Chubut and Río Negro took responsibility for their sections. Decree 349/1999 later declared the full railway between Ingeniero Jacobacci and Esquel a National Historic Monument. The designation covers the track, rolling stock, and six original stations as one railway property.
The railway still uses Baldwin and Henschel steam locomotives ordered in 1922, along with Belgian coaches from the same period. El Maitén remains the main workshop. Staff manufacture replacement parts for equipment that has been out of production for decades.
Tickets are sold for a specific departure. Esquel usually has the fuller calendar, while El Maitén schedules vary by season. The Río Negro operation from Ingeniero Jacobacci has an official page, but its 2026 calendar and fares remain unpublished, so it is not mapped as a current route.
The Chubut operator has a ramp-equipped coach and Braille material. Contact the departure station when buying so staff can reserve the accessible coach and organize boarding.