The Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway looms more largely in the view of the world than its neighbours, and its history presents so many features of interest that it deserves to be described in somewhat fuller detail. Although its present mileage (2,712) is very nearly as large as that of the Great Southern, it is not an old line. The Company was formed in 1882 to construct a broad-gauge line from Mercedes to Villa Mercedes, and this was soon extended to the City of Buenos Aires, which became the headquarters. This, however, was insufficient scope for the enterprising Company, and in 1904 control was obtained over the Bahia Blanca and North-Western Railway, which now has a length of 665 miles, and thus an immense step in advance was taken by securing a terminus at a town which will probably be the chief grain port in South America. Four years earlier a similar, though less important, step was taken to compete with another rival by taking over the Villa Maria and Rufino Railway. This was a short section from the town of Villa Maria between Cordoba and Rosario to Rufino on its own main line, and thus the Buenos Aires Pacific was in a position to make terms with its northern rivals. But a still more important extension than either of the above was to follow. The Argentine Great Western ran from Villa Mercedes to Mendoza, and had also branches to San Rafael, San Juan, and other small places. Thus it had a monopoly of the wine traffic, which is very valuable in itself and doubly so because it comes on at a season in the year when it does not interfere with other traffic. This line has a mileage of 500 miles, and gross receipts of about a million sterling. For a long time the Argentine Great Western stood out, but was in 1907 induced to give way on somewhat extravagant terms, and thus the enterprising Company was not far from its goal of being a real Pacific Railway. In fact, there was included in this deal an arrangement which practically assured this result, for the Great Western had already taken over the Argentine Transandine, which thus became a part of the Buenos Aires Pacific system. This is a small line of 111 miles of metre gauge, which runs from Mendoza to the Chilian frontier, where it joins the Chilian lines at Las Cuevas. Here a great tunnel has been completed under the Andes, and it will be open for traffic by the time this book is published. The magnificent system is the admiration of the whole world. The Buenos Aires and Pacific is the only line in South America which has established through communication between the Atlantic and Pacific, and up to Mendoza the line is well laid, and it carries passengers speedily and with all possible comfort. But it has had to pay for its footing and the expense of acquiring sections, which are valuable rather as rounding off its own system and preventing encroachments by other companies, has been enormous, and it has been obliged to make repeated applications for capital in the London market.