Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Through a series of convoluted connections, I can connect Team Fortress 2, the 2007 video game, to the narrow gauge railways of Wales, and I didn't even have to use the game's only British character to do so. Instead, the clue lies with the Patagonia Express, or "La Trochita" as it was more commonly known to locals of the Argentinean Patagonia region.

From Mann Co's gravel pits to the Welsh mountains, today we shall take a look at the 75cm narrow gauge railway through the Patagonian plains which ties them all together.


SOURCES AND CREDIT

Photograph of Dolgoch viaduct - Unknown author - Boyd, James I.C. (1988) The Tal-y-llyn Railway, Wild Swan Publications Ltd, pp. page 50 ISBN 0906867460, Public Domain, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3696680

Photograph of "La Trochita's" opening ceremony - Unknown author - Here, Public Domain, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34618246

Photograph of Talyllyn Railway No.1 at Nant Gwernol - W.R. McConnel (died 1902) - Boyd, James I.C. (1988) The Tal-y-llyn Railway, Wild Swan Publications Ltd, pp. page 58 ISBN 0906867460, Public Domain, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3696794

Picture of a bridge crossing the Rio Chico - rodoluca88 - Flickr: Puente sobre el Río Chico, Río Negro, Argentina, CC BY 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18692925

Picture of Bryn Eglwys quarry - Voice of Clam - Own work, Public Domain, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3734568

Picture of Ingeniero Jacobacci's "La Trochita" station - Claudio Elias - Own work, Public Domain, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3506640

Portrait of Reverend Michael D. Jones - Unknown author - People's Collection Wales, Public Domain, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40013327



Website sources:

https://biography.wales/article/s-JONE-MIC-1787#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&manifest=https%3A%2F%2Fdamsssl.llgc.org.uk%2Fiiif%2F2.0%2F4702785%2Fmanifest.json&xywh=326%2C342%2C3149%2C2541
britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/welsh-language-in-patagonia-and-wales
farrail.net/pages/touren-engl/Argentina-steam-The_Old_Patagonian_Express-for-railway-photographers-2023.php
historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofWales/The-History-of-Patagonia
historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofWales/The-National-Eisteddfod-of-Wales
patagonia-argentina.com/en/the-trochita-a-unique-steam-train-in-the-world
talyllyn.co.uk/about/history
tanfield-railway.blogspot.com/2020/04/la-trochita.html
webuildvalue.com/en/reportage/old-patagonian-express.html
wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Storyline



Video/Film sources:

'Nick Lera's WORLD STEAM CLASSICS - Argentine: Patagonia Express'



LINKS

Hoppkins - twitter.com/JOAModels


Discord server - discord.gg/PtekEPJ


Twitter - twitter.com/TeaWithCaramel1


Outro music: Kevin MacLeod - Fiddles McGinty
(Fiddles McGinty by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1400051

Artist: incompetech.com )



Channel icon by Dean Walker - https://bsky.app/profile/ohlookitstrainart.bsky.social

#teamfortress2 #TF2