2-8-0 Steam Locomotives in Brazil

Class 118/180 (Locobase 10988)

Data from Record of Recent Construction #54 (Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1905), p. 30-31; and DeGolyer, Volume 25, p. 33.. Works number was 21115 in October 1902.

Locobase suspects this lone two-cylinder Consolidation compound was a trial horse that didn't make the jumps. Its specification was to haul 240 metric tons up a 2% grade while negotiating curves of 120 metres radius.

A Baldwin rep signaled that the builder was on probation with this note: "Special attention is to be given to material for flues and fireboxes. Company complains of that supplied to previous engines." Underscoring the admonition, he adds: "Too much attention cannot be paid to this." (Meaning "don't give it less than your full attention."

Baldwin's brutally honest record-keeping included a two-page letter describing the trial run of this cross-compound. It led with "From the commencement [of the trial] the engine from various indications did not seem to be working freely." Yet it conceded that although the right side trailing coupling rods outbound and big end on the same side upon return heated up, "all running parts were satisfactory."

The problem came after putting the 180 to work on a 15 load train. The details describe a compounding system that simply didn't work right. But perhaps it was the crack reducing valve or the high pressure valve's having to deal with bits and pieces left behind during moulding that caused the issue.

In any event, that this was the only locomotive produced to these specs suggests that it didn't satisfy that requirement and small Mallets were chosen instead.

Locobase has documented quality issues in several Baldwin entries. He doesn't believe that we can compare these problems with those presented by other builders because it is only Baldwin's records that allow such insights.

Class 509 (Locobase 20968)

Data from Lionel Wiener, Les chemins de fer du Bresil (Paris: H. Dunod et E Pinat, Editeurs, 1912), p. 131. (Thanks to Teemu Koivumaki whose 2023 email included a comprehensive spreadsheet of Brazilian steam locomotive builders, works numbers, and owners.) Teemu's spreadsheet shows this pair as having come from the Campista shops in 1910. It's likely to have been the pair to which Lionel Wiener (see below) referred.

Wiener, a long-term observer of Brazilian railroading, disagreed with Mogiana Shops' construction of some of their locomotives, including this quintet. It represented an "economic error" in that Brazil didn't produce its own coal. He argued that the railways shouldn't spend its resources on acquiring an indigenous locomotive industry. Mogyana's attempt, he argued, would always lead to dependence on government subsidies.

NB: Tube heating surface shown in Lionel Wiener's table resulted from calculations using tube inside diameters ("fire side"); it was given as 64.4 sq m (693 sq ft). the table shows the external diameter, from which both the tube and evaporative heating surfaces in Locobase are derived.