The train approaches, we can see it’s two storeys high, one that is considered a rideable type by the migrants.
We’ve been waiting by the tracks, sleeping in our van, for nearly two days. This could be our chance to finally jump onboard.
But this is no ordinary train. Some call it “The Beast”, for others it’s “The Train of Death”. It’s a network of freight trains that migrants have for years used to head north to the United States, jumping on board, riding on the roof or inside open topped railway cars.
Suddenly we get word that the train has stopped a couple of miles outside of town, so the migrants, followed by us, speed off to catch it.
We glimpse the stationary train, and my fear of heights starts to get into my head – this train is big, it’s high, it’s intimidating, and its metal ladders attached to its cars full of cargo, are boiling hot to touch.
But this is our chance, and we take it. We climb the ladders and sit down in the centre of its roof.
Beside me, the migrants clamber on board, amongst them a woman who is eight months pregnant. They too take their places and settle in for their journey northwards.
This was to be a 12-hour journey through the night, a journey terrifying, exhilarating, beautiful – and freezing cold.
It’s early evening as we start rolling forward, leaving the Mexican city of Torreon, travelling 300 miles north to the city of Chihuahua. The train’s engine fires up, and we head into the desert.
Rattling and shaking, banging and screeching, the freight train begins to speed up as darkness falls. Then the temperature plummets, and the train starts travelling so fast we lie down, our only way to to communicate is by shouting and gesturing with our hands.
In the distance we can see a lightning storm over faraway mountains. Above us, in the clear skies, constellations of stars and the Milky Way.
At times the train slows down as we pass through small towns along the way, from where people occasionally wave at the migrants, and they wave back.
It ends up being a long cold night. As dawn breaks, we can see the city of Chihuahua in the distance. The migrants begin to wake and dismount as the train stops.
Private security guards shout up to us as they walk along the tracks telling everyone it’s time to get off.
This is one part of the month-long journey my team and I took to document the incredible journey migrants take from the very south of Mexico, on the border with Guatemala, to the border with the States in the north — at first on foot, and then by train.
This journey has become part of the global phenomenon of northbound migration, be it to North America or into Europe. But what we discovered is that it’s not just people from Latin America, but people from all over the world attempting it – Chinese, Jordanian, Sudanese, Egyptian, Moroccan, even Kazakhs, were amongst the many nationalities we met while filming.
As we saw in the US elections, migration was regularly polled as one of the most important topics for voters. And Donald Trump has put migration at the centre of his agenda when he takes over the presidency in January.
Indeed, it’s reported he intends to oversee the largest deportation of illegal migrants in the country’s history, and he says that he will begin on day one of his presidency. It’s also believed he will further extend his long-promised border wall between Mexico and the US and may well insist that legal applications to enter America are processed in Mexico.
There are tens of thousands of migrants inside Mexico right now, all waiting for appointments with US immigration officers that will allow them entry into the United States.
What happens to these people, or the many more who will follow, is anyone’s guess. But we do know that historically when border entry is severely restricted, the cartel gangs operating in Mexico move in, and increase their people smuggling business –which is worth a fortune to them.
Stuart Ramsay is chief correspondent at Sky News. ‘The Beast’ is available to watch from 9pm on Sky News on 22 November and on Sky Documentaries/YouTube
Liz Truss needs to take her own advice, and cease and desist