Discovering Cartagena

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Discovering The Lost Train 

For several years I had heard tales of the lost train of Portman and recently I managed to track it down. 

Portman is a bay on the Mediterranean in the Sierra Minera hills which run to the north of Cartagena. These hills have been worked for more than 2,000 years with the Phoenicians extracting silver and lead centuries before the birth of Christ. Some scholars speculate that this might have been the location of the bible’s fabulous mines of Tarsus. 

In the 19^th century, mineral exploitation became a vast industry and it seems that almost every square inch of the hills was covered in residue, washing plants, pit heads, winding gear and other machinery and buildings of the mines.  Finally, in the 1950s enormous quantities of residues were spilled into the bay from a washing facility.  By the time this stopped in March 1990 some 50 millions tonnes of waste had pushed the coastline hundreds of yards out to the edge of the bay.  Plans are now being finalized for restoration. 

One of the longest of the mining tunnels was the Jose Maestre tunnel, which bears the date in Roman numerals MCMLVII (1952?).  It was here, I had heard, that a train had been abandoned when the mine closed down. 

Calling in at a local bar I talked to a group of women enjoying a morning coffee and a chat.  Immediately there was pay dirt.  They all knew where the tunnel entrance was and one of them said:  “Don’t forget to have a look at the train.”  Her father had driven it for several years, she said, until the mine closed in the early 1990s. 

Armed with directions I headed into the hills and drove along some very bumpy tracks in my four-wheel drive vehicle. Finally, I came to a dead end, surrounded by fantastically coloured rocks that littered the bed of a dried-up river.  I retreated and headed back into the streets again.  I asked for more directions from locals and returned to the hills.  Having parked the car two women pointed upwards.  It was only a short scramble and I was up at the line of the railway embankment. 

Right in front of me was the abandoned train, or trains.  It looked as if they had simply been driven up to the mine tunnel entrance and then abandoned.  There were two engine units, one with a cab at each end, lines of wagons and iron pit props scattered around.  The rails and sleepers are still there, as is a building that must have been used for maintenance.  The small engines bear the makers mark “Deutz”, of Germany. 

Not being a technical type, I can’t give much further detailed information but maybe the pictures with this article will allow others to provide some comments. Send any information to 8@discoveringcartagena.com 

I tried to have a look at the mine entrance, but there had been rain recently and the ground in front was a swamp of brightly coloured yellow water, amidst which huge pampas grass plants flourished.  Vandals have topped the decorative elements of the entrance but the lettering is undamaged. 

Plans are being made to protect and display the industrial heritage of the Sierra Minera hills. For now, the lost train continues to rest peacefully on its tracks.

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