END OF THE WORLD TRAIN

The "End-of-the-World Station", where the "Fueguian South Railway" arrives is in the outskirts of the city of Ushuaia, 8 km west, in a valley between Susana Mt and Le Martial Range, along the banks of the Pipo River.

Also known as "End-of-the-World Train", its magnetism is due not only to its elegance and style, but also to its historical background.

On this train, the inmates of the "Ushuaia Prison" -a penitentiary which is intimately related to the development of this attractive and picturesque city- were transferred to their forced labor camps. The narrow-gauge railway is propelled by steam engines and currently has elegantly ornate wagons.

Nowadays, a visit to the "End-of-the-World Train", will show the tourist the history of Tierra del Fuego, Ushuaia, its prison and what once used to be the prison train.

Dazzling landscapes with snow-coped mountains, rivers, lakes, cascades and virgin woods in the Andes Cordillera, are all to be found in this unique trip, which lasts barely over two hours.

Starting from the Plaza Cívica in Ushuaia, where the Tourist Pier stands, a short bus trip along National Route Nº 3 will take you to the "End-of-the-World Station", 8 km west of the city.

Once in the Central Station, there is a model of the "Prisoners' Little Train" and you may take one of the old paths used by the prisoners decades ago to provide wood to the community.

Besides travelling through centennial forests, rivers, valleys and peat mosses of great beauty, the journey includes a stop at La Macarena Fall, from where you may either go to an Indian camp of one of the four aborigine communities that inhabited Tierra del Fuego since times immemorial, or climb up to the source where the cascade originates in Le Martial range.

Traveling along the meandering Pipo River the train crosses areas which still show the trace left by the prisoners on their daily slave work of cutting down trees for almost half a century of uninterrupted work.

On certain days of the high season, after going round the edge of the peat moss, typical of Tierra del Fuego, over which grows a moss called Sphagnum, the train arrives at the "Park Station", where you can enjoy a meal or a drink at the "bar wagon" and use the restrooms available in especially furnished wagons.

The whole journey is done in the company of a bilingual guide (English-Spanish) who will explain in detail the history of the "Prisoners' Train".