2-6-2 Steam Locomotives in Argentina

Class 8C (Locobase 20733)

Data from ""Superheater Tank Locomotive, Buenos Ayres Great Southern Ry"", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXV [25] (14 June 1919), p. 86; D S Purdom, British Team on the Pampas (London and New York: Mechanical Engineering Publications, Ltd:, 1977), pp. 44-45. Robert Stephenson & Company produced the first ten in 1913. North British Locomotive followed with 31 more in 1914.

LM's report noted the virtues of the 2-6-2 arrangement as applied to tank engines. Setting three driven axles between a swivelling truck at each end ""gives at once ample adhesion weight and full flexibility"" while being ""decidedly cheaper in first cost"" than a 4-6-2 or a 4-6-4 locomotive as well as being ""economical of weight that is useless for adhesion.""

Purdom wrote that these were the tank version of the class 7D 2-6-0 tender engines. On their arrival, he continued, ""They at once took over the bulk of the Buenos Aires suburban services including the longer runs unsuitable for the class 8A due to the restricted fuel capacity of the latter.""

The class held its place for twenty years, showing ""a remarkable turn of speed and in their heyday were extremely economical to operate and to maintain."" But, Purdom wrote, the ""unmerciful thrashing they received during this period undoubtedly was the cause of troubles with loose cylinders and other structural weaknesses.""

Displaced by the larger 8Es, the 8Cs headed lighter suburban trains from Temperly and La Plata. Drewry railcars replaced them in 1938, where upon a few worked in the Bahia Blanca and Tandil districts. Although all were still in service at the time of the 1948 nationalization of the railways, most of the class was retired with only three on the roster in 1967."|"