FC Central Argentino 4-8-0 Locomotives in Argentina

Class C56A (Locobase 20758)

Data from "Two-Cylinder Compound SuperheaterLocomotive, Central Argentine Ry.", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXVI [26] , whole No 336 (14 August 1920), pp. 165-166. See also Rodger P Bradley, "Compound Steam on the Pampas", p. 10, archived on the Railway Matters website at [], last accessed 23 July 2020. Works numbers were 22288-22317 in 1918.

Clearly based on the 1915 C56 simple-expansion Twelve-wheeler design (Locobase 3692), this oil-burning cross-compound engine explored the virtues of using steam twice at time when most such locomotives had been converted to two-cylinder simples. LM's report reasoned that adopting two-cylinder compounds "must be advantageous to employ ...whenever possible, as for example where the restrictions of space commonly encountered n Europe do not apply.

The CA's "liberal" loading gauge could accept the 30" LP cylinder mounted on the left side above the line of the leading bogie. A tall boiler with Belpaire firebox showed more bulk than its actual size would suggest and offered a generous amount of direct heating surface area. The design's superheater and boiler pressure were both relatively modest.

Class CS6 (Locobase 3692)

Data provided by Carlos Alberto Fern+ndez Priotti in Bryan Attewell ([] Steam Locomotive simulator program (April 2000); and "4-8-0 Locomotive, Central Argentine Ry.", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXII [22] (15 July 1916), p.

Built 1915-1916. Another batch of two-cylinder cross-compounds was built later, according to Fernandez.

A sturdy design for the broad gauge, its firebox was designed as the increasingly popular Belpaire square-shoulder type. Its cylinders had semi-external steam pipes feeding its piston valves, a feature that gave "a very direct passage to the cylinders." The cross-head design combined "lightness with very ample wearing surfaces; and the excellent proportion and arrangement of the mechanism."

Included in the mechanism layout was a connecting (in North America, the main) rod met the crank on the second axle. Its "considerable length", which promoted "easy running" by reducing guide bar reactions. The report clamied that very careful balancing allowed relatively high speed without high speed.

Class CS7 (Locobase 3693)

Data provided by Carlos Alberto Fernandez Priotti in Bryan Attewell ([] Steam Locomotive simulator program (April 2000) and D Rock Carling, 4-8-0 Tender Locomotives (New York: Drake Publishers Inc, 1972), p. and serial #193 in table pp. 106-107.

Based on the C.S.6 class of 1920, these oil-burning Twelve-wheelers were added 30 years later (1945-1949) with slight differences in the boiler, simple-expansion cylinders, and a higher boiler pressure.

The first 20 came from Glasgow's NBLC in 1945. Follow-up orders from Stephenson & Hawthorns arrived three years later. Their Belpaire fireboxes bulked large in the profile. The design carried the cylinders and piston valves relatively high on the smokebox. Inclined downward toward the rear, they drove on the lead coupled axle.