Antigua estación del ferrocarril de Cuautla

The railway reached Cuautla in 1881, when the Morelos Railway from Mexico City reached the town; the station opened with a first public run that summer (one guide gives 18 June, an article in INAH's Tamoanchan journal says 8 July). It was built into the old San Diego convent and its former orchard, which is why some rail enthusiasts call it one of the oldest station buildings in the world. The line later became part of the narrow-gauge Interoceanic Railway, which ran from the capital to Puebla around the south side of Popocatépetl, with a branch from Cuautla to Puente de Ixtla.

At this station in 1911 Francisco I. Madero embraced Emiliano Zapata, and the station was a hub of Zapatista activity. When most of the network was converted to standard gauge in 1947, the Cuautla lines stayed narrow until the branches closed in 1973. What survived is locomotive 279, a 2-8-0 built by Baldwin in 1921 for the National Railways and kept in working order; a British railway society visiting in 2019 called it possibly the only operational steam locomotive in Mexico.

The complex now houses the Museo Vivencia Ferrocarril 279, with old photographs, station fittings, an exhibit on the locomotive repair shop and vintage carriages in the yard. The Club Amigos del Ferrocarril once ran the 279 out to Cuautlixco and Yecapixtla, but only about 800 metres of track remain west of the station and runs are occasional: one guide says the engine is fired up on the second Saturday of each month, and steamings have been cancelled more than once for lack of funds. Check before you go if you want to see it moving.