I was sorting through some old boxes of stuff I've saved over the years and came across this.

Here's the itinerary of a High Iron Travel special chartered train I rode with several other hard-core railfans / mileage collectors. We basically did a tour of the KCSdeM system, which, in 2000, was known as TFM.

Special thanks to Clark Johnson and Nona Hill, who worked out the complicated logistics of making a trip like this a reality. You could do something like this twenty years ago. Good luck trying to pull it off today.

Even back in 2000, we had to pay a bribe to corrupt Mexican border officials for our train to enter Mexico and begin the adventure.

It was a spectacular trip with some incredible scenery and equally incredible engineering feats in Mexican railroad building. The line to Lazaro Cardenas and the line between Tampico and San Luis Potosi still invoke vivid memories.

[i.ibb.co]

[i.ibb.co]