Class 5 (Locobase 3575)

Data from Wiener (1930); see also Railroad Gazette (1 June 1900). Works numbers for the two engines were 17684-17685 in April 1900.

Unusual wood-fired compound duplex (twin) locomotive design for the 18-mile Central Californian railroad. Two engines joined back to back with their reversing gear ganged by a parallel link. Designed for very steep railroads, the design was rated at 125 tons up 7%.

A photograph in Westing (1966) shows the oddball result. For one thing, the two locomotives were not quite symmetrical. One had a saddle tank, the other a pannier tank with wood racks outside. On the other hand, both engines had the diamond-shaped spark-arresting stack and ornately curved sand and steam domes, the latter with the safety valve on top. Cylinders rode with the piston valve below and driven by inside valve gear. And each engine had its own bell.

According to a website that documents the McCloud -- http://www.trainweb.org/mccloudrails/LocoRosterDetails.html, accessed 8 December 2005 -- the two engines were soon separated because the tandem "...derailed constantly on the light trackage." As number #5, one of the two was sold in 1919 to Weed Lumber Company, then was scrapped after sale and use by Lystul-Watson Logging Company. #6 first went to Atkinson Construction Co. #6, then to A.D. Schader as their #6, and finally to Permanente Metals Co as #2515. Much longer lived than its twin, this engine was scrapped in 1949.

Class R-1 (Fairlie) 1889 (Locobase 6957)

Data from FCM 1920 locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

The first of three classes of double Fairlies on the Mexican, used to scale some of the most difficult railroad terrain in the world, according to Wiener (1930). He points out that nearly all of the graidents on the 264 miles of railway exceeded 2% and many top 4%. Moreover, it twisted and turned with 320-ft radius curves following one after another. They worked Cordova-Boca del Monte.

The FCM book shows that the first 12 came over a long period from 1889-1901. See Locobase 3634 for the 1902 batch.

Class R-1 (Fairlie) 1902 (Locobase 3634)

Data from FCM 1920 locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

This batch was the second series of the first Fairlie design and began delivery in 1902; see Locobase 6967 for the first batch.

Class R-2 (Fairlie) (Locobase 1362)

An example of Robert Fairlie's design, which had two of everything on a single frame. One firebox heated water for two boilers, each of which rode over its own set of cylinders and wheels. In this instance, the R-2s were the middle batch of three classes of Fairlies bought for the Mexican Railway in the 20th century. See also Locobases 3634 and 1363.

Class R-3 (Fairlie) (Locobase 1363)

Another, larger Fairlie design that ran until the railroad electrified in the 1920s. (See Locobases 3634 and 1362 for the other Mexican Railway Fairlies.)

Boiler and grate data are from Reder (1974) and Wiener (1930) and describe the last batch delivered in 1911. A photograph in Wiener shows a pair of boilers and fireboxes that were encased in water tanks along the sides and top. As with all Fairlies, the cylinders were at the extremes of the bogies.

They were later converted to oil-firing, says Tufnell (1986), but were retired in 1923 when the Orizabo-Esperanza line was electrified.