Este 2-10-2 Locomotives in Argentina

Class 500 / 14A (Locobase 14392)

Data from DeGolyer, Volume 78, pp. 285+. See also Martin Coombs's excellent Railways of the Far South site on Patagonia railways; these locomotives may be seen at []; and D S Purdom, British Team on the Pampas (London and New York: Mechanical Engineering Publications, Ltd:, 1977), pp. 86, Works numbers were 59208-59209 in May 1926.

A good indication that often axle loading limits mattered more than gauge width is the relatively modest increase in size in these two Santa Fes from their metre-gauge forerunners described in Locobase 3723. The pair's Patagonian destination doubtless exerted a greater influence than any aspirations for significantly greater power. They hauled mixed trains (and some passenger service) between San Antonio and Bariloche. Purdom wrote that this was a service "for which they were eminently suitable."

A 52% increase in the distance between rails did not prompt the use of a much larger boiler and Belpaire firebox. Only sixteen more tubes of equal length and two more flues occupied the 500's boiler and adhesion weight actually declined. Driver diameter increased by three inches (76 mm); the downward effect on tractive effort was offset by a two-inch (52 mm) increase in stroke. 10" (254 mm) piston valves supplied superheated steam to the cylinders.

The pair had their fireboxes converted to oil-burning in 1945 and were retired in 1953 as Purdom put it "[a]fter a life of hard and efficient service" when diesels were introduced.