Train Cemetery
Bolivia, Uyuni

The graveyard of steam locomotives is located just three kilometers from the completely modern and civilized city of Uyuni, which lies in the mountains at an altitude of more than three thousand seven hundred meters above sea level, in the south-west of Bolivia. This place surprises guests with one of the most bizarre landscapes of our planet. Wide open spaces, deep blue sky and clouds that move faster than wild horses; constantly changing colors and contrasts. And in the very center of this beauty there is an accumulation of rusty locomotives and wagons, many of which are more than a hundred years old. The sight of decaying trains that have not been traveling for a long time, do not emit beeps, but only sadly stand in the middle of the desert and gradually collapse, causing real goosebumps. Therefore, it is not surprising that this place attracts tourists like a magnet. Apparently, the train cemetery perfectly conveys the atmosphere of our helplessness before time, because even such iron "monsters" can not resist the weather and the passage of decades. The history of the train cemetery began rather trite. At the end of the 19th century, the Bolivian government, led by President Aniceto Arco, actively supported the construction of railway networks in the region. Rightly believing that for the economic prosperity of Bolivia, an extensive railway transport system is simply necessary, the authorities provided funding for the project, and soon Uyuni became a real city of railway workers. There was a large junction station through which all the important transport routes of the region passed. According to forecasts, Uyuni was to become a prosperous city, a key transport and trade center of the region. The first problem was sabotage. Local Aymara Indians considered the construction of the railway an invasion of their land and, of course, began to protest. But if this issue was resolved, then from the next blow all the plans of the government collapsed like a house of cards. Uyuni was an important mining center, around which there were a great many mines, bringing huge profits. Therefore, their resources were exploited at full capacity. In the forties of XX, they were exhausted and there was nothing more to transport. The need for railway lines disappeared, and Uyuni gradually fell into decay. Unnecessary steel and locomotives with wagons. In addition, their service was very expensive, but they did not bring income. Therefore, locomotives and wagons began to be valued even less than scrap metal, because too much labor and other costs would be required to disassemble them and take them out of the desert. In the end, the railway equipment that had served their service was simply thrown out in the open air as unnecessary, driving the trains into the far dead end of the railway line. The mining industry of Bolivia in this region collapsed around the 1940s, and trains began to accumulate here. At the cemetery it is possible to see both the remains of individual parts of steam locomotives, as well as whole trains: locomotives with wagons attached to them. Interestingly, most rotting trains are mainly imports from the UK, which controlled the development of the Bolivian railway system. It would seem that these iron "monsters" must have stood here for centuries, especially since Uyuni is in the desert, where very little rainfall occurs. However, it is not. The intense heat and the special climate of the nearby drying salt lakes are constantly doing their job, gradually turning the locomotives, thanks to corrosion, into skeletons. Over time, the railway cemetery has become an amazing local attraction. In addition to foreign tourists, children who live in Uyuni often come here, because you can play great in old trains. And in recent years, the cemetery of steam locomotives has become a place where Bolivians express everything sore. The rusty skeletons of trains are covered in numerous graffiti, some of them commonplace, but others are truly surprising.

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