"Broad and Narrow Meet at Cruzeiro" Cruzeiro by glabah

"Gauge" is the distance between the rails, from inside edge of running surface to inside edge of running surface.

Curzeiro used to be a place where the broad gauge (5 feet, 3 inches or 1.6 meters) railway network joined one of the meter gauge railways. However, over the years the meter gauge railway through the city fell into disuse. However, Brazil has only 1,500 miles of 5 ft 3 in lines, and some 19,000 miles of meter gauge lines. Therefore, the most useful of the two guages no longer serves this area. There is some talk of some companies wanting railway service again over the meter guage, but restoring service is going to be quite a task.

The two gauge crossing here is one of the few remnants of the once large meter gauge railway that served this region.

MRS train at Cruzeiro station

The broad gauge line through Cruzeiro is an important part of the railway system, however. It is the main line between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Passenger trains were operated between these two cities up until 1998.

Here is an iron ore train operated by MRS Logistica passing through the station at Cruzeiro.

Restored steam locomotive & one-car train,Cruzeiro

The main line through the city isn't that busy (unfortunately this should be obvious why: with only 1,500 miles of track in that gauge MRS Logistica can only reach a few places in Brasil).

The primary goal of the visit to Cruzeiro was to ride on the short distance of meter gauge railway that has been restored here by the local railway preservation group.

For more photos of this line, please see my Travelogue about this railway.

Two other interesting railway attractions are nearby: the EFCJ between Pindamonhangaba and Campos de Jorão, and the Trem das Aguas at São Lourenço in Minas Gerais.