MEXICO’S COPPER CANYON TRAIN - All Aboard: The Complete North American Train Travel Guide - page 243

ing that period, and by 1914 Juárez on the Texas border was
linked to Chihuahua. From Chihuahua the line had also been
extended to the little logging town of Creel.

The Copper Canyon Route Is Completed

In 1940 the Mexican gov-
ernment took over several
of the small railway com-
panies and formed the Chi-
huahua al Pacifico, nick-
named El Chepe by the
locals, which remains to
this day as a private com-
pany owned by Ferrocarril
Mexicano, the largest of
Mexico's freight railroads.
Most of the construc-
tion undertaken before
then had been relatively
easy. The really difficult
terrain—some 160 miles
across the Sierra Occiden-
tal range—had yet to be
tackled. That work began
in the early 1950s. By the
time it was completed, the
cost had run into many billions of pesos. And no wonder: the
route goes through some of the most rugged country anywhere
in North America.
The entire line was finally finished in 1961 and is truly an
engineering marvel. In the 357 miles between Creel and Los
Mochis, there are 88 tunnels. The longest is almost 6,000 feet,

It took almost 100 years to complete the
rail line through the Copper Canyon. This
photo, taken at least 50 years ago, shows
Mexican workers constructing one of
the 220 bridges along the route. Photo
courtesy of Chihuahua al Pacifico Railroad