My job with TRW Automotive Commercial Steering Systems in Lafayette involves being the technical liaison between several TRW manufacturing locations and over 200 different component suppliers. While most of these suppliers are in the Midwest region of the United States, occasionally I get to travel outside the states to foreign locations. In the last days of January 2012, this Gringo headed south to our manufacturing facility in Queretaro, Mexico facility to work on a new product launch.
Please understand that on trips like this, the most important thing is not railfanning. However, if you drop enough hints and ask around, occasionally you’ll get treated to at least a small glimpse of railroading in such faraway places. In preparing for this trip, I did a fair amount of research on the internet, including the popular and most helpful MEXLIST yahoo group. After a couple hours of browsing, I had enough information on the local area to be able to know about a great railfan spot close to where I stayed – and that place was the main train station in Queretaro.
Although my trip to Queretaro was delayed a few hours due to rain in Houston, I made the most of the delay by hanging out with a couple of old TRW friends from my days in Jasper, Indiana, when I supplied ABS modules to TRW’s braking division. It was good to catch up with the guys, break bread together, and relive the “good old days”. The older I get, the more the words of wisdom from Stubblefield and Carnal ring true – enjoy life and make friends with everyone you meet – you’ll never know when you’ll see them again. Thanks Ron and Dennis!!!
Queretaro is located about two hours northwest of Mexico City and the location of a major intermodal and automotive loading terminal serving the large industrial areas around the city. A small regional airport makes travel from Houston quite easy. Kansas City Southern de Mexico’s former NdeM main north-south line is the major player in town, with Ferrosur’s former Ferromex line coming into town from the west. Train activity is quite heavy with a nice mix of intermodal, automotive, chemical, general manifest, and grain both inbound and outbound to the U.S. In addition, Queretaro is far from any of the civil unrest and drug wars, with a safety rating better than most major U.S. metropolitan areas. My co-workers from the plant were most helpful with all phases of the trip.
My other hobby, amateur radio, also was enjoyed tremendously. For this trip, I decided to pack up the GRE PSR-500 scanner and take it along to enjoy some railroad related radio monitoring as well. Now the thought of taking a scanner across the border may make several people cringe, but with a copy of my amateur radio license and the necessary regulatory paperwork there was no issue at all. Just like the United States, the country of Mexico has their own railroad frequencies – although a bit less in the number of channels. My Spanish was just good enough to understand some communications, and dispatcher tone-ups sound the same whether in Queretaro or in Mortons Gap.
Mexico Railroad Frequencies
Channel Frequency Use
01 171.4750 Road / Dispatcher Channel
02 171.9500 Road / Dispatcher Channel
03 172.4500 Road / Dispatcher Channel
04 172.8750 Road / Dispatcher Channel
05 173.6000 Road / Dispatcher Channel
06 173.2250 Yard Channel
07 173.3250 Yard Channel
08 173.6000 PBX Channel
09 172.7250 PBX Channel
10 172.7250 PBX Channel
11 171.9250 Road / Dispatcher Channel
12 172.1250 Road / Dispatcher Channel
Overall, it was a great trip and the work efforts are paying off with major cost savings with a new supplier. Food was excellent, I drank the water (albeit bottled), and I enjoyed a little ferroequinology de Mexico in the process. So the next time you travel, railfan the gringo way – you won’t be disappointed. Saludos!!!