Peru, as far as the main Cordillera of the Andes, is bisected by the Central Railway, which runs from the seaport of Callao to Oroya, following the course of the Rimac River. The distance is 138 miles. In these later days of mechanical triumphs it is still possible to declare that this railroad is the engineering marvel of the world. It is an often told story, but one that bears re-telling.
The name of Henry Meiggs in the Yankee mind is vaguely identified with something big in South America and with something wrong in the United States. Meiggs was a fugitive financier from California. He had been the treasurer of San Francisco County, had loaned the public funds to his friends, and when they failed to pay up had been forced to flee as a defaulter. He afterwards made good the defalcation. He first went to Chile, but in a few years settled in Peru. He built the Southern Railway from Mollendo to Lake Titicaca, which is itself a marvellous work. But his fame as a captain of industry and his reputation as a benefactor to Peru rest on the Central Railway. Meiggs was not an engineer. He was a financial genius with a bold imagination and daring mind. He had the capacity to get other men of genius, among them the Polish engineer Malinowski, to carry out his ideas on the side of construction. He could win the confidence of the money-bags of London and float South American bonds at good prices, when the countries issuing those bonds could not give them away.
In 1869 Henry Meiggs signed the contract with the Peruvian government to build the Oroya Railway for $29,000,000 in bonds, which he took and floated at 79, thus making the actual price $22,000,000. He carried the railroad construction as far as Chicla, 88 miles, and built the great Galera tunnel ready for the rails, though they were not laid through it till years after his death, when the extension of the road from Chicla was carried to the terminus at Oroya by the Peruvian Corporation. The road climbs to its greatest elevation in a distance of 88 miles without a single down grade. The ascent is from the tropical ocean border to everlasting snow, through the sublimest scenery that the eyes of man ever dwelt on. There are curves, tunnels, bridges, viaducts, switchbacks, almost without number.
Scene on the Oroya Railway, Chicla Station
What the railway is as a marvel of engineering construction can be exhibited in no better way than by a simple table giving the distances and heights above sea-level and the “V’s” and “V V’s,” or switchbacks and double switchbacks.
DISTANCES AND ELEVATION ABOVE SEA-LEVEL OF THE CENTRAL RAILWAY OF PERU
| Name of station | Distance in miles | Elevation in feet |
|---|---|---|
| Callao | 0.0 | 8.7 |
| Lima | 7.7 | 499.9 |
| Santa Clara | 18.3 | 311.7 |
| Chosica | 33.6 | 2,800.6 |
| Cocachacra | 45.0 | 4,622.6 |
| San Bartolomew, station and switchback | 47.1 | 4,959.4 |
| Agua de Verrugas, bridge | 51.9 | 5,839.4 |
| Cuesta Blanca, tunnel | 52.8 | 6,001.1 |
| Surco | 56.5 | 6,660.9 |
| Challapa, bridge | 61.8 | 7,504.1 |
| Matucana | 63.9 | 7,788.8 |
| Quebrada Negra, bridge | 65.5 | 8,054.1 |
| Tambo de Viso, bridge | 68.8 | 8,706.5 |
| Chaupichaca, bridge | 73.0 | 9,472.6 |
| Tamboraque, switchback | 74.9 | 9,826.9 |
| Aruri, switchback | 76.3 | 10,094.5 |
| San Mateo | 78.7 | 10,534.1 |
| Infiernillo, bridge, and tunnels | 80.4 | 10,919.9 |
| Cacray, double switchback | 81.6 | 11,033.1 |
| Anchi, bridge | 83.9 | 11,306.4 |
| Copa, bridge | 84.8 | 11,638.8 |
| Chicla, lower switchback | 88.0 | 12,215.5 |
| Chicla, upper switchback | 90.0 | 12,697.1 |
| Casapalca | 95.5 | 13,606.2 |
| Galera, tunnel | 106.4 | 15,665.0 |
| Yauli | 120.5 | 13,420.8 |
| Oroya | 138.0 | 12,178.7 |
I travelled up the road tourist fashion in the regular passenger train, but that gives only a faint idea of the wonders of the railway or the splendor of the scenery. The down trip is the best for observation. This can be taken on an open flat car which is used for the bags of ore. Sometimes the railway officials transport favored guests part of the way down in hand cars, but while the experience is thrilling enough to satisfy the craving of the most exacting nature, the pace is too swift to give a chance for observation. I repeat, the proper way is on an open freight car.
