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76-642: FCO may mean: Buenos Aires Western Railway (Spanish: Ferrocarril Oeste de Buenos Aires ) Club Ferro Carril Oeste , an Argentine football club Farm Cove Observatory , in New Zealand Federal Cartel Office , in Germany Fellow of the College of Organists Financial control officer, one of various names for a management-level position responsible for supervising

152-623: A naval blockade as a result. France invaded Martín García island and deposed the Uruguayan president Manuel Oribe , appointing instead the loyal Fructuoso Rivera , who declared war on Argentina in support of France. Domingo Cullen , from Santa Fe, promoted the secession of all provinces, leaving Buenos Aires alone in the conflict. Berón de Astrada , from Corrientes, opposed Rosas as well, and Juan Lavalle organized an army to take Buenos Aires. The ranchers mutinied in Chascomús and organized

228-542: A Chile , the latter named because of a decree in December 1868 which ordered the line to be extended up to the Andes . However, it never reached Chile . The train initially consisted of four carriages each carrying 30 passengers, with a central entrance on one side. The carriages were wooden and had four axles, lit by oil lamps and very luxurious. There were 12 cargo wagons which could each carry up to 5 tons. Rain prevented

304-586: A conflict that they had expected to be quite short. France finally lifted the blockade with the Mackau-Arana treaty. Lavalle lost French support but sought to continue the conflict anyway. He retreated before reaching Buenos Aires, without starting any battles, and escaped to the North. He was chased by Oribe, now in charge of Argentine armies, and died in unclear circumstances. Despite the French defeat, Uruguay

380-497: A constituent assembly to write a constitution, as laid out in the Federal Pact. Urquiza made a pronunciamiento , resuming the rights of Entre Ríos to commerce and negotiations with other countries, instead of delegating such powers to Buenos Aires. Rosas declared war against him, but Urquiza defeated Rosas at the battle of Caseros , forcing him into exile. Urquiza was not a unitarian, but another federalist like Rosas. Thus,

456-674: A federalist mediator who Maza had sent to a dispute between provinces, increased this belief, so the legislature appointed Rosas governor later in the year, with the sum of public power . Rosas faced a difficult military threat during first years of his second administration. First, the Peru–Bolivian Confederation in the north declared the War of the Confederation against Argentina and Chile. Then, France made diplomatic requests which were denied by Rosas and subsequently imposed

532-604: A line from Merlo to Aires and then to Azul , but the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway (BAGSR) proposed in 1871 to extend its line (it had reached Chascomús in 1865) from that city to Dolores then reaching Azul. The Provincial Legislature approved the project brought by BAGSR in 1872, so the FCO had to drop its own project. In 1871, during the epidemic of yellow fever in Buenos Aires ,

608-596: A low price. They had good reason for this, which was not related to earnings from its operation, but rather to what was said by the British government minister in Buenos Aires, Edward Thorton , in a report to the Foreign Office . This document, referring to the creation of the British line "Gran Sur de Buenos Aires", pointed out that this company "would open up a new market for British manufactured products". In effect, locomotives, bricks, bridges, sanitation tools for

684-551: A new state. In 1828, after Argentine forces returned to Buenos Aires from the war, federalist governor Manuel Dorrego was overthrown and executed by Juan Lavalle , of the Unitarian Party . The latter began a campaign against all federals, supported by José María Paz in Córdoba, who deposed Juan Bautista Bustos and took similar measures. The rancher Juan Manuel de Rosas , who joined parties pragmatically, organized

760-570: A railway line was added to function as a receiver of coffins. This branch left from Bermejo station, located on the south-east corner of the homonymous street (now Jean Jaurés) and Avenida Corrientes , and reached what is now the Parque Los Andes, where there was a cemetery which was later moved to the current La Chacarita Cemetery . It was known as the "train of death", and as well as the mortuary in Bermejo there were two others located on

836-431: A route parallel to present-day Bartolomé Mitre up to the triangle formed by the current streets Medrano, Pelufo and Lezica, where the (also wooden) unmanned station Almagro was located. This area only contained a few scattered farmhouses and ceased to function in 1887. At that time Medrano street was called the "Camino del Límite" (Boundary Road), which indicated the city limits of Buenos Aires, and on crossing this street

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912-573: A serious danger of the secession becoming permanent. The Confederation attacked Buenos Aires in 1856, led by Jerónimo Costa, who was defeated by Bartolomé Mitre . Mitre got 140 prisoners: he executed 125 of them. In 1857, Mitre and other politicians in Buenos Aires considered making the secession a definitive one, renaming the state to the "Republic of the Río de la Plata". The project was resisted by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento , who began his conflicts with Mitre. The project did not find popular support, and

988-589: A temporary absence of Urquiza from the city to stage the Revolution of 11 September and secede Buenos Aires from the confederation. It was now the State of Buenos Aires , and the other Argentine provinces were now the Argentine Confederation. Manuel Guillermo Pinto was appointed governor of Buenos Aires, and removed the delegates from the constituent assembly. The capital of the Confederation

1064-530: A westerly heading to enter the West Market (now Plaza Miserere ) and the wooden Once de Septiembre (later replaced by the current station ), reached by Ecuador to the west and named after 11 September 1852, the date of the rebellion of Buenos Aires Province against the Federal Government. Workshops functioned between Corrientes, Paso, Tucumán and Pueyrredón until 1887. The line then followed

1140-499: Is beautiful. It runs parallel to the main street to Flores, passing estates and fields on both sides, presenting the most beautiful panorama for viewing. We travelled at 20 miles per hour of the 400 "rail" shafts. We had to pass opposite Flores: some miscreant had ripped out one of the hidden crossbars on which the rails rest (...) Just as bad was the removal of poles and wires which surrounded the line in order to keep out horses on Sunday night, which could be seen by their footprints and by

1216-514: Is so expensive" (this method of powering trains had already been used in Europe). The motive behind this request is not clear, but it may have been because most of the population had never seen a locomotive and believed that this would be dangerous for the surrounding buildings because of the resulting vibration, or perhaps the company considered locomotives to be too costly and the expected number of passengers were low. It must be taken into account that

1292-825: The Argentine War of Independence , which it won. The country was renamed the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata . Modern Bolivia and Paraguay were lost during the conflict and became new states. Uruguay was invaded and annexed by Brazil in 1816, until the Thirty-Three Orientals led an insurrection to rejoin the United Provinces. This began the Cisplatine War , which ended with the Treaty of Montevideo that made Uruguay

1368-710: The Unitarian League with the provinces that joined him, and Rosas signed the Federal Pact with the provinces Entre Ríos and Santa Fe . All the unitarian provinces were defeated and joined the Pact, and became the Argentine Confederation. Nevertheless, Rosas declined to continue as governor after victory and his term ended in 1832. After attaining independence, Argentina had attacked and conquered large areas of indigenous land. The indigenous people conducted raids called malones . Rosas left Buenos Aires and waged

1444-587: The Uruguay river , aided by Italian soldiers. A new expedition tried to secure the Paraná river by navigating to Paraguay and returning. The Argentine army resisted the invasion of the river at several points along the Paraná (most notably during the battle of Vuelta de Obligado ), but could not stop them. The damage to the British and French ships, however, were so great that both countries eventually resigned and lifted

1520-592: The battle of Caseros . Urquiza convened the 1853 Constituent Assembly to write a national constitution. Buenos Aires resisted Urquiza and seceded from the Confederation in 1852, becoming the State of Buenos Aires ; the province would return to Argentina in 1861. The territory of modern Argentina was a subset (approx. 1/3) of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata , a colony of Spain which also included present-day Bolivia, Uruguay, part of Chile and Peru and most of Paraguay. The May Revolution in Buenos Aires began

1596-492: The "Freemen of the South" militia. Rosas overcame all these threats. The Peru–Bolivian Confederation was defeated by Chile and ceased to exist. Cullen was defeated and shot, and Astrada was defeated by Justo José de Urquiza . The ranchers were defeated as well. The diplomat Manuel Moreno channeled the protests of the British merchants in Buenos Aires who were impacted by the blockade; this added to French doubts about maintaining

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1672-581: The GCCR went to Argentina; see for instance Richard Francis Burton who mentions in his "Letters From the Battlefields of Paraguay" (1870) that the train he travelled in was pulled by an "asthmatic little engine—which, after serving its time upon the Balaklava line, and being condemned as useless at Buenos Aires, had been shipped off to Paraguay" A carriage pulled by 30 oxen brought the locomotive from

1748-711: The Government of the Province of Buenos Aires, the Western Railway was the line which was most luxurious, least wasteful in its bureaucratic-administrative expenditure and offered the most economical fares and cargo rates. It was a model company which was the pride of the Argentina, in relation to which all the English railway companies established in our country were, without exception, second-rate. In March 1865

1824-561: The Political Organization of the Argentina Republic that "the railway is the means of turning around what the colonizing Spaniards did on this continent". Domingo Faustino Sarmiento and Justo José de Urquiza had also defended the idea. On 17 September 1853 the above-mentioned Railway Society, formed by a group of traders, conscious of the progress in communications which its construction would lead to and

1900-488: The Society. The outward journey presented no difficulties, but on the way back the overenthuiastic passengers persuaded British mechanic, John Allan, to ask for more speed, which led to a derailment adjacent to Almagro station breaking several metres of the track. Some of the passengers suffered light injuries. One of the witnesses commented as follows: The journey was slow and the train reached Floresta with no problems. With

1976-474: The State is the worst administrator". In 1887 the Western Railway has already been condemned to death (...) The unnecessary growth in spending, largely due to the disproportionate increase in employees, the unavoidable increase in capital invested in construction, the resulting decrease in returns and the rise in ticket prices made up a definite intent to sabotage: the Western Railway would quickly be discredited in

2052-405: The blockade. Justo José de Urquiza , governor of Entre Ríos, had supported Rosas so far, but the ranchers of his province had an expanding economy and wanted to have a local customs, able to engage in commerce with other countries directly. The port of Buenos Aires had that exclusive right. Entre Ríos also requested the federalization of the national income generated by exports, and the calling of

2128-814: The city of Buenos Aires on 29 August 1857, was the first railway built in Argentina and the start of the extensive rail network which was developed over the following years. The locomotive La Porteña , built by the British firm EB Wilson & Company in Leeds , was the first train to travel on this line. The BAWR was one of the Big Four broad gauge , 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ) British companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina. The route initially measured 10  km (6.2  mi ), stretching from Del Parque station (now

2204-516: The city was filled with announcements of a trial against "The restorer of laws" (a newspaper, but it was misunderstood as a trial against Rosas himself, who held that title). A large number of gauchos and poor people instigated the Revolution of the Restorers , a demonstration at the gates of the legislature, praising Rosas and demanding the resignation of Governor Juan Ramón Balcarce , a former minister of Rosas. The troops who were organized to fight

2280-613: The country leave a gap which would not have allowed this". Others have been of the same opinion, including Vicente O. Cutolo. The works number shows the locomotive left Leeds in 1856, after the demolition of the Crimea railway had already begun. Its dimensions and characteristics would have been unsuitable for the steep gradients in Balaclava, and technical considerations would have prevented conversion from standard to broad gauge. Contrarily, contemporary reports claim that engines from

2356-538: The demonstration instead mutinied and joined it. The legislature finally gave up the trial, and a month later ousted Balcarce and replaced him with Juan José Viamonte , a former supporter of unitarians. Still, the social unrest led many people to believe that only Rosas could secure order and that Viamonte or Manuel Vicente Maza , who had been appointed governor in 1834 as a compromise, would be unable to do so. The murder in Córdoba in February of 1835 of Facundo Quiroga ,

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2432-399: The demonstration of power it would represent, requested the grant for constructing a railway which would serve both passengers and cargo and whose cars would be pulled by a steam engine. However, in 1854, when work was about to begin, the Society asked to be exempted from using steam engines arguing that it would be more convenient "to use horses, so cheap in this country, instead of coal, which

2508-486: The engineers who worked on the project were Verger (who created the original plans), Mouillard (a French engineer who was concerned with levelling the route) and, later, William Bragge , who had already built the first railway in Rio de Janeiro . 150 workers were also hired. A steam engine named La Porteña arrived on 25 December 1856. Built by the firm E. B. Wilson and Company at The Railway Foundry in Leeds , England, it

2584-430: The extension of the line. On 1 January 1863 it became the sole proprietor of the company on buying stock from the private individuals, and under its administration the railway reached a length of 177 km in 1870. At this point it transported more than 500,000 passengers and 166,551 tons of cargo annually, producing a profit equivalent to a 9.78% return on the invested capital. During the 27 years in which it belonged to

2660-404: The first campaign in the desert in the south, to prevent more such raids. The campaign combined military actions and negotiations and succeeded in preventing malones for several years. Despite being absent, the political influence of Rosas in Buenos Aires was still strong, and his wife Encarnación Ezcurra was in charge of keeping good relations with the people of the city. On October 11, 1833,

2736-415: The location of the starting station. As a result meetings, which took place in the home of antiques dealer Manuel José Guerrico, were kept secret. The place finally chosen for the station was opposite the "Plaza del Parque" (known as Plaza General Lavalle since 1878), so named because since 1822 the park's artillery building was located opposite. The site of the station, named after the park, was approximately

2812-592: The mediation of the Paraguayan Francisco Solano López . Buenos Aires would call a Constituent Assembly, to accept the National Constitution or requesting amendments, and rejoin the Confederation. The Assembly requested several amendments, the most important of which was that Buenos Aires would not be the capital city of Argentina. This would allow the city to keep the exclusive use of the port. With Santiago Derqui as

2888-448: The park station from Defensa, Perú and Piedras streets (between Chile and Mexico streets) and from Plaza Concepción. In the first year of service the route was 10 km long, over a 1,676 m gauge (5' 6"), the same as that used by some colonial English railways. For the safety of pedestrians the beginning of the train's route was surrounded by two tall sets of railings brought over from England. The route left Del Parque station towards

2964-403: The population did not find out, those interested in the business did everything possible to stop the accident from becoming known, and it became clear that it was necessary to make some more adjustments before the inauguration. Another story of a test journey makes it clear that vandalism was another serious problem in carrying out the project. In Los Debates , 7 August 1857, it says: The route

3040-704: The port to the station. The vehicle was a 0-4-0 saddle tank engine , capable of running 25 kilometres per hour (16 miles per hour) and weighing 15.75 metric tons (15.50 long tons; 17.36 short tons). It remained in use until August 1889, after which it was only used for shunting for ten years. It is currently on exhibit in the Provincial Transport Museum which forms part of the Enrique Udaondo Provincial Museographic Complex in Luján , together with one of

3116-400: The public opinion. Fares were increased by 25%, and were still lower than those of the British railways. By 1887 the FCO network reached 1,022 km in length, increasing to 1,210 km two years later. By 1890, a FCO line reached Trenque Lauquen prior to its sale to a British company. Argentine Confederation Rosas was ousted from power in 1852 by Justo José de Urquiza , after

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3192-500: The quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization, also known as a comptroller Foreign and Commonwealth Office , the United Kingdom's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Fort Collins, Colorado , United States Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport , near Rome, Italy Final Certificate of Occupancy Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

3268-520: The quartermaster to demolish the building and build the new Teatro Colón on the same site. The works began in April 1890. The theatre remains in this location today. In its place, in 1890 the building which replaced the wooden station of Once de Septiembre was also built. In 1885 the following lines and branches were exploited by the FCO: The British were pressing to purchase the railway at

3344-429: The railway based on the wealth it brought to the city, its efficiency and its lower fares than those of the British -owned railway companies operating in the country. Pressure from British capital and the debts owed by the state of Argentina led to its sale in 1890 to the British company "Buenos Aires Western Railway". The BAWR network is currently part of Domingo Sarmiento Railway network. In 1854, while Buenos Aires

3420-609: The railway network comprised a total length of 297 km. That same year the net profit was $ 16,788,000. Four years later, the rail network increased to 583 km in length, with a net profit of $ 21,583,000; in 1885 the FCO comprised 892 km of tracks. In June 1884 the offices of the Army's General Staff were installed in the Del Parque station building. On 13 September 1886 the Deliberative Council authorised

3496-737: The railway reached Mercedes , than extending to Chivilcoy one year after, without having any need to ask for financial aid. A Law promulgated in November 1868 obliged the Ferrocarril Oeste de Buenos Aires (FCO) to extend its lines to the Andes with the aim of connecting Atlantic and Pacific oceans routes. While the route to the Andes was being studied, the FCO extended its tracks to other cities such as Chivilcoy , Bragado , 9 de Julio , Pehuajó and Trenque Lauquen . The FCO also projected

3572-433: The rapid urbanisation which had taken place along the route making the train's passage dangerous. The FCO reached Bragado in 1877. On 20 December 1882, the new Once de Septiembre station building was inaugurated. A municipal decree in April 1878 decided to move the terminus to Once de Septiembre but the company delayed its response to the request, despite a concurrent claim from the neighbourhood, until 1 January 1883. By 1879

3648-598: The resistance against Lavalle. He allied with Estanislao López , caudillo and ruler of Santa Fe Province , and they defeated Lavalle at the Battle of Márquez Bridge in April 1829. When Rosas entered the city of Buenos Aires in November of that year, he was hailed both as a victorious military leader and as the head of the Federalists. Lavalle was forced out of government and the Legislature restored. Paz organized

3724-487: The same as the current location of the Teatro Colón , between "Cerrito" (previously "Del Cerrito"), "Tucumán", "Libertad" and "Viamonte" (previously "Temple") streets. The Plaza was merely a gap in the city which, precisely because of the station, began to quickly urbanise and its surroundings' appearance were improved with plants and trees. In 1858 the company offered a horse-drawn bus service to allow people to reach

3800-486: The siege of Sevastopol , during the Crimean war . The diffusion of wide gauge railway lines here (unusual within the world) is due to this fortuitous circumstance." However, some historians deny this, and research in the 1950s showed that this story is untenable; for example, Julio A. Luqui Lagleyze does not believe this could be the case, "since it uses a different gauge, and the dates of its construction and entrance into

3876-465: The site of the Teatro Colón ) to Floresta station, which at that time was located in San José de Flores village, but is now within Buenos Aires city limits. The rails were laid along what are now Lavalle, Enrique S. Discépolo, Avenida Corrientes and Avenida Pueyrredón, and then followed the route of the current Domingo Sarmiento Railway line towards Floresta. Although the construction of this line

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3952-425: The south-east corners of Corrientes and Medrano and of Corrientes and Avenida Raúl Scalabrini Ortiz (then called Camino Ministro Inglés). John Allan, the above-mentioned first driver of La Porteña, drove this gloomy train and fell victim to the epidemic at the age of 36. In 1873 the convenience of raising the tracks between Plaza del Parque terminus and Once de Septiembre station was already under consideration, due to

4028-403: The south-east, bringing it to what is now avenida Corrientes . This S-shaped stretch of the train's route is remembered thanks to artwork by Marino Santa María on the facades of the buildings on the eastern side. From Corrientes it continued straight on to Pueyrredón avenue (previously "Centroamérica"), where it turned sharply and continued onto Cangallo (now Juan Domingo Perón), then returned to

4104-657: The stations, etc. were imported from Great Britain. So were large quantities of a non-manufactured product: the coal for the engines. Three months after Juárez Celman became president of Argentina (1886–1890), the main line of the Ferrocarril Andino was sold to a British company. In 1887 the Central Norte was sold, and soon after so was the Western Railway. In his presidential speech of 1887 he announced: "I am planning to sell all public, reproductive works in order to pay our debts, because I am convinced that

4180-417: The sticks and wires left a short distance away. On 27 August a new and successful test was carried out. On that day the country's first telegraph network was also started up, laid out by the company with the aim of helping the rail service. Finally, on 29 August 1857 (a sunny Saturday) the opening ceremony took place, presided over by the governor of Buenos Aires, Valentín Alsina . On the inaugural journey he

4256-688: The title FCO . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=FCO&oldid=1104064780 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Articles containing Spanish-language text Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Buenos Aires Western Railway The Buenos Aires Western Railway (BAWR) (in Spanish: Ferrocarril Oeste de Buenos Aires ), inaugurated in

4332-423: The train ready to return and the commissioners pleased with the first trial, they ordered Mr Allan to return at a greater speed until, halfway along the line with the train on an embankment, the train shook, then ran for some distance along the sleepers, breaking 60 or 70 metres of the track. The shock was very violent; Mr Van Praet and Mr Gowland bumped heads, the latter ending up with a bleeding head wound. Mr Moreno

4408-504: The train was then in the administrative area of San José de Flores. Two kilometres further west, on reaching what is now the calle Federico García Lorca (then Caballito and later Cucha Cucha) it reached the wood and cardboard station Caballito (named for the pulperia established by Genovese merchant Nicolás Vila in 1804, that had a horse-shaped weather vane on its roof). After crossing Caballito (an area of luxurious estates and houses), and close to Caracas (then called Paz) trains reached

4484-503: The train's inauguration planned for January 1857. However, a successful trial was carried out during that month. On 7 April the train derailed during another test, but at a low speed and with no fatalities. In June another test was carried out, and in August a test journey, with one carriage of packages and another of passengers pulled by La Porteña , carried Bartolomé Mitre , Dalmacio Vélez Sársfield , Valentín Alsina , and some members of

4560-492: The unitarians did not support him, but opposed him as they did Rosas. Urquiza's ambition to reduce the national centralism of Buenos Aires and promote a higher federalization of the country generated conflicts with the unitarians. Urquiza called the San Nicolás Agreement , so that all provinces agreed to convene the 1853 Constituent Assembly . This was resisted in Buenos Aires, and the unitarians took advantage of

4636-460: The west, zigzagging through the square, which provoked serious complaints from neighbours who said that their environment was being invaded, to reach what is now the corner of Talcahuano and Lavalle. It continued straight on along this last street, passing opposite Artillery Park (now the site of the Palace of Justice) up to Callao boulevard (now Avenida Callao ). There it moved in an S shape towards

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4712-429: The western railway had no financial guarantee of minimum earnings, as the soon-established British railways would have (among other benefits). They would only earn what they obtained from their own activities. In any case, steam engines were finally purchased. A law sanctioned by Buenos Aires province's Chamber of Representatives established the donation of public land, free import of supplies and tax exemptions. Among

4788-577: The wooden carriages. The first of the company's mechanics was the Italian Alfonso Covassi, who had one year's experience in the position after having been employed by the company Strada Ferrata Leopoldina, from Tuscany , Italy . The second engine which worked together with La Porteña was called La Argentina . It was transferred to Paraguay in 1869 by Domingo Sarmiento, together with four other locomotives. The engines were given names such as Rauch , Libertad , Indio amigo and Voy

4864-528: The wooden station of San José de Flores, which in 1862 was moved 250m to the west to what is now called Gral. José Gervasio Artigas (then called Sud América) due to a property dispute with the land owners. The village of Flores only contained a temple, a plaza, small houses and a few businesses. Continuing to the west, at 10 km from its starting point, between Joaquín V. González (then "Esperanza") and Bahía Blanca (first an unnamed street and then "De La Capilla") it reached Floresta station (wooden). This station

4940-532: The work was finished. The rails brought from Europe did not reach Flores, so they had to be constructed from wood coated with sheet metal, which jumped every time the train passed over them and the laborers had to run to nail them down again. At one of the tests the convoy derailed, a fact which had to be kept secret in order not to alarm the population. On 30 August the opening was almost suspended, because some drunkards tried to tip La Porteña over, an occurrence prevented by Elordi's opportune intervention. While most of

5016-488: Was accompanied by, among others, Bartolomé Mitre , Domingo F. Sarmiento, Dalmacio Vélez Sárfield, Estanislao del Campo , members of the Railroad Society and special guests such as local political boss José María Yanquetruz, in military dress. That morning a mass was celebrated and the engines La Porteña and La Argentina were blessed. La Porteña and its carriages, driven by Alfonso Corazzi (also acting as stoker),

5092-618: Was an independent state of the Argentine Confederation, governor Pastor Obligado awarded the Buenos Aires Western Railroad Society a grant for constructing a railway, from the city of Buenos Aires towards the west. This grant was fulfilled by a bill presented on 9 January by a financing committee consisting of Dalmacio Vélez Sársfield , Bartolomé Mitre and Mariano Billinghurst. The railway's importance had already been pointed out by Juan Bautista Alberdi , who wrote in his work Basis and starting point for

5168-416: Was apparently soon authorised. A first class ticket was $ 10, and second or open-carriage tickets were $ 5. From the first trip until 31 December, 56,190 passengers and 2,257 tons of cargo were transported. In Buenos Aires the population at the time was approximately 170,000 inhabitants. In 1858 the line transported 185,566 passengers and 6,747 tons of cargo. Real-estate interests came into play when determining

5244-512: Was for some time called "Vélez Sársfield", and in 1862 was replaced by a more modern building. In 1858 it was extended 8 km to Ramos Mejía , in 1859 to Morón and in 1860 to Moreno , with which the route reached 39 km in length. The financial collaboration of the government of Buenos Aires was decisive in the initial organisation of the company, providing more than one million pesos, renouncing in advance any dividends coming from this sum, and providing another six million pesos to secure

5320-462: Was forgotten. The Confederation had a political commotion with the murder of Nazario Benavídez , from San Juan, carried out by supporters of Sarmiento. Urquiza defeated Mitre at the Battle of Cepeda , and laid siege to the city. Most federals thought that Urquiza should occupy Buenos Aires and impose the Constitution on the rebellious province. However, Urquiza just stayed outside, and sought

5396-415: Was launched headfirst into the body of Mr Llavallol, and Mr Miró, who smoked, ended up with his cigarrette down the back of his neck, burning him under his shirt. Raquel Fusoni Elordi, granddaughter of Luis Elordi (the above-mentioned company administrator), in a letter to the readers of the newspaper La Prensa dated 10 October 1957, refers to the pre-opening tests thus: In 1857, after a thousand setbacks,

5472-455: Was now located in Paraná, Entre Ríos . Buenos Aires attempted military actions against the Confederation, to prevent the work of the Assembly, but failed. The Argentine Constitution of 1853 was sanctioned on May 1, 1853, inviting Buenos Aires to return. Buenos Aires wrote its own constitution in 1854. Both countries, the Confederation and the State of Buenos Aires, accepted the status quo, with

5548-584: Was proposed by a group of private individuals known as the "Sociedad del Camino-Ferrocarril al Oeste" (in English : "Western Railway Society"), it was financed by the province of Buenos Aires, which was at that time an independent state of the Argentine Confederation . In 1863 the province became sole owner of the railway line. The Western Railway was one of the greatest triumphs of Buenos Aires state, which justified its 27 years of ownership of

5624-585: Was purchased by the first administrator of the Railroad Company, the engineer Luis Elordi. Its mechanics, the brothers John and Tomas Allan, came with it. A now-discounted popular legend says the locomotive came via Crimea; for example, Raúl Scalabrini Ortiz wrote in Historia de los Ferrocarriles Argentinos (History of the Argentinian railways) (1940), that "it was built for India and used in

5700-556: Was still an open war theater. Manuel Oribe claimed to be the rightful president of Uruguay, and waged the Uruguayan Civil War against Rivera. Rosas supported Oribe in the conflict, as Uruguay was still at war with Argentina. Oribe laid siege to Montevideo. Britain and France joined forces with Rivera, captured the Argentine navy, and began a new naval blockade against Buenos Aires. Giuseppe Garibaldi helped to secure

5776-476: Was waved off from the decorated station by a crowd, and reached San José de Flores village, where a band played the Marcha a Lavalle . Finally it reached the terminal station, La Floresta, where it was welcomed by a crowd and the company gave a refreshment service to the passengers in the local Café Restaurant. From 30 August 1857 a regular public service was offered twice a day in each direction. A new night service

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