While writing an article for Tripbase about the history of rail travel, I came across some photos of a train graveyard in Bolivia.  Ever since I went to Colombia two years ago, I’ve been dying (ha) to visit Bolivia (every backpacker I met who’d traveled through South America listed Bolivia as SA’s most beautiful and visually-fascinating countries).

The Cementerio de Trenes (cemetary of trains) is located in south-western Bolivia (just outside of Uyuni) on the world’s largest and highest salt flats.

The trains were originally imported from Britain back in the early 20th century, when Bolivia had an ambitious plan of making Uyuni a major rail transportation hub.  When that plan failed and after the collapse of the mining industry in the 1940s, the trains were left to rot in the salt field.  Today, thanks to the wind, salt and to looters, all that remains of the trains are their rusted, picked-over skeletons.

They make for some hauntingly beautiful photos though.