Up the Devil’s Nose

Riobamba, Ecuador –

What kind of freeloading cheapskate rides on top of the train?

Oh yeah, us.

And we paid for this?

Yup! Paid good money for this.

Unfortunately, it may no longer be an option (riding on top of the train). That’s what health and safety concerns get you.

Well, that may be a good thing. The train runs along some steep cliffs, so if you fell off the side…

And it doesn’t really go up the Devil’s Nose, it goes over, and back, and back again, as you’re going down. Then, once you’ve reached the bottom and are in the valley below, they switch the engines to the other end of the train, and do it again. This time going back up. So technically, you do go up the Devil’s Nose, at least for part of the trip.

So, what’s the big draw? During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as the railway was being built in Ecuador, the engineers were stuck when it came to traversing Nariz del Diablo, the Devil’s Nose. There was no practical way to take the train from the elevation that it was on, on one side, to the elevation it needed to be on the other. At least, not without turning it into a roller coaster. Eventually, someone came up with the idea of having the train run into a couple of dead-ends and reverse direction, zigzagging down the face of the mountain. It’s as close as a train could get to hairpin curves. It was quite the engineering feat in the history of railroading (at least at that time).

So, early in the morning, just as it was starting to get light, we gathered at the train station. Most of the train consisted of empty freight cars, but there were one or two passenger cars at the end. We had a choice to make, ride on top, or inside. We chose on top, so we rented a couple of cushions to sit on, and clambered up the side to claim our spot.

Whether you are allowed to ride on top, or they don’t allow that and you have no choice but to ride inside, you want to try and get a spot on the right side of the train. This is the side that faces over most of the steep cliffs, and has some of the more spectacular views during the ride. So, that’s where we staked our claim.

During the long wait for our departure, there were entertainers strolling along the center catwalk, doing what buskers do: singing songs and accepting money. They were accompanied by some vendors selling fruit and other food items. Soon enough, they were gone and we were on our way.

It was an odd sight to see a couple of conductors on top of the train, but it soon became apparent why they were there. On our way out of town, we passed under several low-hanging wires. If anyone had been foolish enough to be standing, they would have been caught on the wires, and possibly thrown off the train (there was a rumor going around that some had been decapitated, but it’s more likely they had been dragged off by getting tangled in the wire). So, the conductors were there to keep everyone seated.

Once we were on our way, the ride took over three hours. Fortunately, we had dressed in layers, because while it was quite cool when we started, once the sun came out, it got to be quite warm.

All along the ride, we would pass children on the side of the tracks, waving at the passengers. A lot of the passengers had brought along bags of candy, which they would toss to the kids as we passed. Kind of like passing out candy at Halloween, only without the costumes, and the children had to watch where the candy went, so they could scramble to find it. One girl was nailed in the head by a flying candy, and a collective gasp went up from the passengers who saw it.

The train derailed a couple of times, and there was one place where a landslide had covered the rails, so they had to get a small bulldozer to clear the dirt. Also, there were a few rocks that had tumbled onto the tracks that had to be cleared. As a result, there were numerous unplanned stops along the way, adding to the length of the ride. This was on top of the planned stops in the various towns that we passed through, where we would stop at the station for fifteen minutes or so, giving us time to run to the restroom or buy a snack from a vendor along the way. By the time we reached Nariz del Diablo, we were more than ready for the ride to be finished.

So, we finally snaked our way down the face of the Devil’s Nose, and stopped in the valley below, where we could get off the train and stretch our legs for another fifteen minutes or so. Once we got back on the train, we went a short way back to where a series of switches formed a triangle of tracks. It was here that we stopped again and the engines were moved from one end of the train to the other. Once the train had been reconfigured, it was back to the station in Alausi, where we met our driver for the drive back to Quito.

While it was a long, and after awhile, quite uncomfortable ride, the sights were spectacular, and it’s an experience that we’ll look back on and be glad that we had. Beside, it’s not every day you get the opportunity to ride on top of a train, at least not legally, with the train operator’s permission…

For photos from our ride over Nariz del Diablo, click here.