#58 Train Cemetery in the Middle of the Atacama Desert (1) 🚂 茫茫大漠...

In the middle of the arid Atacama Desert in northern Chile, there is a train cemetery at the old Baquedano railway. I visited this abandoned place in my epic Atacama trip, after seeing La Portada near the regional capital of Antofagasta.

At the old Baquedano train station, in the extreme heat and dryness, I walked around the abandoned railway complex with a locomotive arsenal, wagon storage yards, a roundhouse and turntable, warehouses, and other services. The roundhouse here can still accommodate up to 16 locomotives.

Baquedano was a small town founded in 1910 around its railway works, as the converging point of Chile's North-South railway line and the East-West Antofagasta-Bolivia Railway. The railway started in 1866 mainly to carry minerals from inland of Bolivia to the port of Antofagasta.

Until the late 1970s when the steam locomotives was giving way to diesel engines, the station eventually fell into disuse, but it still remains in fairly good condition today.

My head image in this post is an entry for @customnature's cool contest of Abandoned Shit themed Black & White. Check out his page if interested! The camera settings are: Canon Kiss X3, 31mm, f/4.5, 1/1600, ISO200. And I will show you more details and photos of this train cemetery in my next post. Stay tuned! =)

Do you like my shots here? Have you ever seen any cool abandoned shit? Tell me what you think in the comments below! Until next time.

在智利北部茫茫的阿塔卡马大沙漠中，有一个不太知名的火车墓场。先来说下阿塔卡马沙漠，这个地球上自然环境最接近火星的世界“旱极”，有些区域几十年甚至数百年都没下过雨，很多地方寸草不生。终年艳阳高照，天常常是蓝得不含一丝白云。可想而知这里的白天有多热，紫外线有多强。我那个新年假期在这广袤的大沙漠从南到北，又从北到南晃荡了十几天，完全被烤成了黑人。

继续看沙漠中的这个位于Baquedano的火车墓场。Baquedano这个小镇成形于1910年，由于这里是智利南北火车线路和太平洋沿岸到邻国玻利维亚的东西走向列车的交汇点，一切都围绕火车站建设发展起来。铁路始建于1866年，当时主要为了把玻利维亚内陆的矿产运送到智利位于太平洋的港口城市安托法加斯塔。

到了20世纪70年代晚期，蒸汽机车由于高昂的花费逐渐被内燃机引擎所替代，这些火车和站点也日渐废弃。如今，我在这片荒凉干热的土地上四处走动，看着这些年久失修的引擎、车厢、仓库、铁路机车的转台等，想到一百多年前那如火如荼、热火朝天的景象，不禁唏嘘感慨岁月变迁、世事变幻的莫测沧桑......

下一贴会有更多历史背景、原色照片和细节内容，敬请期待！=）你对这些废弃的火车有什么看法？看到过废弃的车辆、住宅、厂房、矿场之类的吗？欢迎留言评论。下次再见！