When Mexico privatized its railway system in 1995, much of the infrastructure criss-crossing the country was abandoned to cut costs. So when two artists decided to explore those rusted routes, they couldn’t do it in a conventional train. Instead, they built their own.

Ivan Puig Domene and Andrés Padilla Domene spent the better part of four years using an old pickup truck to create the hybrid Sonda de Exploración, or Manned Railway Exploration Probe. It looks like a relic from the early days of NASA, and took them on a remarkable journey that taught them a lot about their country.

The two men, who are brothers, have backgrounds in art and technology. They grew up in Guadalajara, just two blocks from a train line, and as children rode the passenger lines that ultimately were shut down after privatization. "We felt it as a loss," Ivan says.

A Retro Future Look

The project had technological, artistic, and political facets, which is why Ivan thought of the idea in the first place. He and his brother had dealt with the loss of passenger service, and exploring the rails would put them in touch with others who suffered after the trains stopped running. It provided a technical challenge—building a vehicle that could cover all those miles—as well an an artistic one—making that vehicle an aesthetic success and taking photographs along the way.

It was Ivan's idea to explore the tracks using a custom vehicle, and he invited his younger brother along after securing a grant from Mexico's Centro Multimedia in 2006. The rig, nicknamed SEFT-1, was born of a "low budget and a need for a spacecraft" using an old hi-rail pickup rigged to ride the rails as well as drive on roads. Two sets of steel wheels guide it along tracks; conventional tires take over on the road. It is ironic that the truck, 10 years old with 250,000 miles on the odometer, was donated by a private railroad company.

The brothers built a funky aluminum body over the chassis and filled the cabin with a mix of new and old navigation tools. They had a standard compass and paper maps from the 1800s, along with GPS and a touch screen in the dashboard for perusing digital maps. They slept in the back and carried lots of water and gasoline. They explored remote areas, but were never too far from civilization. Because Mexico's highways were built parallel to the old railways lines, they had nearly constant 3G-connectivity and were never far from a gas station.

The retro look was intentional, Andrés says. "The design has to do with the past idea of the future." The project is all about the promise of the future. When the railroads were built in the 19th century, they were a symbol of a technologically progressive age. Now they're abandoned, succumbing to rust in the jungle and desert.

Exploring Mexico

Ivan and Andréas spent much of 2010 and 2011 driving the SEFT-1 throughout Mexico, at a time when the war between the country's government and drug cartels was especially violent. They were apprehensive, Ivan says, but everywhere they went, they found locals kind, hospitable, and open to strangers. Many communities they visited once depended on the railroads and suffered without them. The two artists did interviews, kept a detailed blog, and took photographs.

In 2012, they took a shorter trip through Ecuador, where railroads have also been privatized. Since their travels, the brothers have written a book about the experience and participated in multiple exhibitions.

Their photos are on display at the Furtherfield Gallery in London, along with the SEFT-1 and documents and plans used on the journey. The artists also invited expert model railroaders to build replicas of the abandoned railways as they look now.