Because of the limitations imposed by metre gauge traction motors most of EFVM's modern power is carried on 8 axles. This is an EMD four axle truck developed for the DDM45 built by EMD in 1970...

...GE's answer to the problem are these articulated span bolster trucks, here under a BB40-9WM. Above the frames both the DDM45s and BB40-9WM are almost indistinguishable from their US cousins.

Fazenao station on the Fabrica branch. A brace of GE's including one of the ex-Conrail Dash 7s bought from Norfolk Southern or CSX awaiting their next duty...

...BB40-9WM is sitting on the wye.

Costa Lacerda is the junction between the Fabrica branch and the mainline to Belo Horizonte. Here is Dash-9 1202 in the yard...

...the engineer is awaiting 1202s next duty.

Dash-9 1221 and DDM45 868 setting off en-route to Vitoria with a mixed train of box wagons (possibly containing wheat or soya) and stone carrying hoppers.

The height difference between the box cars, built to a composite loading gauge, and the DDM45 of US dimensions, is very noticeable.

The Costa Lacerda yard. The trio on the left are a pair of 40 year old G16s sandwiching a Ferrovias Centro-Atlantica GM GT26 built in Brazil by Villares.

A DDM45, still sporting it's original CVRD eagle emblem livery at Dois Irmãos, on the new line from Belo Horizonte to Costa Lacerda...

...which replaced an old Central of Brazil (EFCB) line which EFVM inherited.

The new line opened in 1998, requiring some spectacular viaducts.

The DDM45 and Dash-9 are on a train of 80 soy bean or wheat hoppers bound for Vitoria for export, probably originating on the FCA and delivered to the EFVM at Horto Forestal yard in B Horizonte.

Another Dash 9 on the 100km Fabrica branch (built in the early 1970s) with coking coal bound for the Acominas steel mill at Ouro Branco.

The Fabrica line traverses some spectacular scenery. Here a p.w. trolley heads westward towards Timbopeba

Steel slab, bloom and coils are also moved by the railway. Here a train from Acominas at Ouro Branco is leaving Fazenao...

...and approaching the MG-129 over bridge east of Cartas Altas...

...7489 is an ex-B36-7 bought secondhand from the US and re-bogied with the span bolster trucks

The sound of a pair of EMD 20 cylinder 645E3 is pretty unforgettable. These two DDM45s were struggling with 2500 tonnes of coking coal bound for Acominas. 860 is in the second style of livery with CVRD in bold on the nose, whilst 849 still sports the eagle scheme.

And yet another train bound for Fabrica or Ouro Branco. DDM45 837 leads Dash-9 1118 and another DDM45...

...on a train of finished steel products from Usiminas near Intendente Câmara. Presumably bound for interchange with the FCA or MRS Logistica.

Today the yard trio (G16/GT26/G16) were busy on a train of wood from the loading facility west of Costa Lacerda village on the former EFCB line to B Horizonte.

A close up of the work stained G16 631, an EMD product from 1966

740 has an interesting history. Built by Villares for the EFVM, specifically for the EFCB line through to B Horizonte over which the full size DDM45s and Dash-8s and 9s were barred. It was transferred to fellow CVRD controlled FCA but appears to be back on home territory at the moment.