The Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway (BAGS) () was one of the Big Four broad gauge, , British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina. The company was founded by Edward Lumb in 1862 and the first general manager was Edward Banfield after whom the Buenos Aires suburban station of Banfield was named, when it opened in 1873. After president Juan Perón nationalised the Argentine railway network in 1948, it became part of the state-owned company Ferrocarril General Roca.
History
Preliminary studies The market of Plaza Constitución in Buenos Aires was served by carts coming from the South of the province that crossed the Riachuelo through the "Puente de Gálvez". This transport was too costly besides being slow, thus the products could not be carried on very long distances. In 1860, 7,416 carts with wool and leather had arrived to Constitución (each vehicle had a capacity of 25 100 kg packages).
The state of passenger transport was similar. The carriages made three trips per month to Lobos, Cañuelas, 25 de Mayo, Saladillo and Dolores, two trips per month to Tandil and Lobería and just one to Bahía Blanca. The carriages were accompanied by "cuarteadores" that helped them to cross rivers and streams. There also were intermediate stops such as "La Botica", a grocery store (pulpería) in Lomas de Zamora of Greater Buenos Aires.
This form of transport had several disadvantages. The roads were not in good condition and the rivers forced passengers to stray dozens of kilometers from the path. The carriages covered an average of 80 km per day.
Because of this, Plaza Constitución was the first option to build a terminus station of a great railway that connected the city of Buenos Aires with the south of the province.
First steps of the railway
In August 1861, Edward Lumb, a British entrepreneur, requested the concession of a railway line that would run from Constitución to the city of Chascomús, 120 km from Buenos Aires. Lumb offered $ 1,000,000 as guarantee to the Government of Buenos Aires. Lumb's initiative was debated in the Chamber of Deputies, where it was concluded that the railroad was necessary for the development of the Argentinian nation. Juan B. Alberdi stated "The railroad will join the Argentine Republic better than all the congresses... without the 'iron road' that connects their extremes, the country will be always divisible and divided against all the Legislative decrees".
Finally, on May 27, 1862, the Buenos Aires Legislature promulgated the Law that authorized President of Argentina, Bartolomé Mitre, to enter into a contract with Edward Lumb. The Government demanded an interest rate of 7% on the costs of construction over 40 years. On the other hand, the company was exempt from paying contributions, taxes and custom fees. The railway company had also to carry the post for free. The Government could expropriate the railway and its assets if the company did not offer an additional 20% of the construction costs as compensation. The rail gauge should be the same as that of the Buenos Aires Western Railway and the company was able to build a tram line to Monserrat and other strategic points in the city of Buenos Aires. The contract was officialized by the Government of Argentina on June 12, 1862.
On November 12 the railroad route was approved, according to the maps proposed by the concession. The Government wanted the railway to cross San Vicente but the landscape was unsuitable. Consequently, the line's route was moved to La Paz (current Lomas de Zamora), where the field was more solid to extend the tracks. The route would extend from La Paz to Samborombón.
Lumb tried to get money in Buenos Aires to finance the construction of the railroad, but his attempts were not successful. As a result, he traveled to London, where bankers Baring and David Robertson agreed to give the company credit to finance the construction of the railroad. The limited liability company Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway was established, whose statutes were approved in 1863. The company requested Samuel Petro & E. Ladd to take over the construction of the whole railroad, including lands, stations, workshops and rolling stock at a cost of GBP 651,000. For GBP 14,000 the company hired the engineer Thomas Rumball to supervise the works.
When the works were about to begin, William Wheelwright (owner of Central Argentine Railway) tried to boycott the works of BAGSR and refused to cooperate with the other British companies that built competitive railways. He also stated that the BAGSR had obtained more benefits than his own company (CAR) to build the line. The Governor of Buenos Aires refused to sign a contract until the issue was solved. Finally Robertson paid a bribe of GBP 22,000. The terms of the new contract determined that the line would be extended to Dolores and Azul.
Construction
On March 7, 1864, works began where the Constitución railway station is placed nowadays. Previously, a big celebration had been held, with a ceremony attended by President of Argentina Bartolomé Mitre and Governor of Buenos Aires Province, Mariano Saavedra.
The first section of the railroad (77 km from Buenos Aires to Jeppener) was inaugurated on August 14, 1865. By December it had been extended to Chascomús (113 km). A total of 11 estaciones were built on this path: Plaza Constitución, Barracas al Sud (current Avellaneda), Lomas de Zamora, Glew, San Vicente (current Alejandro Korn), Domselaar, Ferrari (then Coronel Brandsen), Jeppener, Facio (then Altamirano), Gándara and Chascomús.
The rolling stock was composed by 8 locomotives (manufactured by Robert Stephenson and Company), 38 first and second class wagons, by Brown, Marshalls and Co. Ltd. and 184 wagons for freight transport.
The line was single track with the exception of the path between Constitución and Barracas, where a double track was built to facilitate the transit of the trains due to the workshops and rolling stock depots operated in Barracas.
As time passed, some station were added, such as Barracas al Norte (current Hipólito Yrigoyen, 1866), Burzaco (1867) and Lanús (1868). The Great Southern Railway did not extend their tracks until 1870 but the profits increased year after year. In 1870 the line carried 516,993 passenger and 54,116 tonnes of freight.
Year Km Passengers Tonnes of freight 1866 114 193.608 14.439 1867 114 363.705 23.636 1868 114 423.834 32.376 1869 114 521.991 47.184
The bridge over the Riachuelo
The first serious obstacle that the engineers found was the Riachuelo, a stream that defines the southern boundary of the Buenos Aires federal district. It was necessary to build a double bridge (because of the double track that ran between Constitución to Barracas) to cross the stream. For that purpose, three iron cylinders were placed in both sides of the stream, filling them with concrete. The bridges were placed on those cylinders.
The first bridge built by the BAGSR over the Riachuelo lasted 44 years, so in 1909 it was replaced by a moveable bridge that operated until 1982, when the line was electrified and a new bridge (built in concrete) replaced the old iron structure.
Expansion to Dolores and Azul By 1880 the GSR line reached 562 km built. The contract of concession ruled that the line should be extended to Dolores or any city determined by the National Government. The company built a branch from Altamirano to Río Salado (current General Belgrano Partido) in 1871. One year later the line extended to Las Flores and finally reached the city of Azul in 1876.
Some of the stations built were Ranchos, Villanueva, Bonnement, Salado, Chas, San Pedro (then Newton), Rosas, Las Flores, Colorado (then Dr. D. Harosteguy), Pardo, Cacharí, Parish, Pinedo and Azul.
The branch to Chascomús was extended to Dolores (opening this new section in 1874). The new stations built were Monasterio, Lezama, Guerrero, Taillade (current Castelli), Sevigné and Dolores (km 203).
The urban section of Buenos Aires
The original Lomas de Zamora station building was demolished at the beginning of the 1870s to make way for a more modern structure. The new stations built were: Temperley (1871), Adrogué (1872) and Banfield (1873). Temperley was then a small town with small farms extending from Lanús to Burzaco. The nearest station was Lomas de Zamora where some houses stood alongside the main road (today Pavón Avenue).
Jorge Temperley, who owned many plots of land in the area, expressed his interest in building a train stop for which he donated the field where the station would be built. Therefore, in 1871 the primitive Temperley station was inaugurated. The station would be moved some years later to its current location.
In 1877 the BAGSR built new warehouses for the freight trains in Constitución station and acquired land to build a freight station (Solá, in Buenos Aires). The company also increased the capacity of the Barracas al Sud station's warehouses. In the same year all the tracks were replaced and the double track was extended from Barracas to Altamirano.
The train reaches Tandil In 1871 the company began to expand their net, through two main branches. The first extended from Altamirano to Azul (connecting cities as Ranchos and Las Flores) and the other branch from Chascomús to Dolores and Ayacucho (inaugurated in 1880).
Some rumours referred to a possible expropriation of the company by the Government of Buenos Aires. Because of that, the company directory sent Frank Parish and C.O. Barker (President and Secretary of the company, respectively) to Buenos Aires with the purpose to deal with the Government to avoid cancellation of the concession. The parties finally make an agreement that established BAGSR compromise to build two extensions of the line: one from Azul to Bahía Blanca and the second from Ayacucho to Tandil. The contract signed in October 1881 ruled that the train would reach the city of Tandil within the three subsequent years.
The prolongation of the line from Ayacucho began in 1882. The station was built on a land that had belonged to Mari Blas Dhers, acquired by the company for $200,000.
On May 6, 1883, the first train arrived to Tandil. On September 1 the definitive opening of the line was promulgated.
Branches to Bahía Blanca
By 1884, many towns had been founded in Buenos Aires Province. Some of them were Azul (established 1832), Esperanza (now General Alvear, 1854), Las Flores and 25 de Mayo (both 1856), Tapalqué (1863), Saladillo (1864), Arenales (then Ayacucho, 1866), Olavarría (1867) and Benito Juárez (1874).
Moving among those cities was a real odyssey. In most of cases the vehicle used was the "galera", a big carriage with capacity for many passengers. Those vehicles transport guns to repel malones and assaults, and could cover 80 km in a day.
In 1866 the Government of Argentina and the shipping company Aguirre y Murga signed a deal to establish a passenger and freight service between Buenos Aires, Bahía Blanca and Carmen de Patagones. The contract ruled that the company should make a monthly trip, being granted for its services.
The BAGSR extended the line to Olavarría, opening the service in March 1883. The tracks continued their expansion, reaching General Lamadrid in October. Finally the line reached the city of Bahía Blanca in April 1884, opening the service to passengers on July 7. The travel from Buenos Aires to Bahía Blanca took 24 hours. By 1884 the BAGSR was the largest railroad of Argentina, with 1,025 km operating.
At the same time the line to Bahía Blanca was being built, the company made the arrangements to build a port in that city. The dock was made of steel and finished in 1885. It has 8 cranes, 5 tracks, a length of 300 meters and 200 meters width.