Arica La Paz/FCB 2-8-2 Locomotives in Bolivia

Class 201 (Locobase 21081)

Data from FC CC de Bolivia 1958 Locomotive Diagrams, supplied in August 2022 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Railroad Data Exchange collection; and Martin Coombs, Bolivian steam locomotive list (October 2020), downloaded from []), p. 32. Works numbers were 2442-2444, 2451 in 1958.

Although Japanese locomotve builders were already switching to diesel power, they still produced up-to-date steam locomotives for export. The dozen metre-gauge engines sold to four Bolivian railways were typical of Hitachi's locomotive output, which formed a small part of the company's overall business as Japan recovered from war losses and damage.

Most notable features were the large firebox (with 1.4 sq m/15.07 sq ft in arch tubes), high superheater percentage of combined heating surface area and very low factor of adhesion.

When Bolivia gathered all the private railways under the banner of Empresa Nacional de los Ferrocarriles del Estado (ENFE) in 1965, this quartet acquired the 600-series numbers.

(Note: While Mikados lingered as the name for 2-8-2s, its historic links stem from very different circumstances. And clearly "MacArthurs" would not do.)