Usina Malvina Dolabella 0-6-0 Locomotives in Brazil

Class unknown (Locobase 15445)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Vol 79, p. 268+. See also at [], last accessed 19 September 2013. Works number was 60693 in December 1928.

Supporting Portella & Company's construction of the rail line between Corinto and Montes Claros, a small saddle-tank like this needed to meet certain standards: "Design to be checked carefully to adapt locomotive for rough service and to ensure free steaming with wood burning stack on a maximum haul of 100 metric tons [110 short tons] on a straight grade of 1 1/2%, one mile [1.6 km] long." The stack was to be of "wood burning type, adopted for Brazil" and the spark arrester "to be efficient and of type approved by government."

The Usina Malvina Dolabella was quite new, having opened only in 1925 near Bocaiuva. It was only the second industry to appear in northern Minas Gerais state. It lay in a fertile area that produced cane sugar of high quality. The Rio Jequitai supplied ample water. As the Usina grew, it induced the establishment of other industries such as flour mills, cotton mills, bottling plants, a tar distillery, and a saw mill. As in many company-owned habitations, workers were paid first with "Bor=", a locally "minted" aluminum coin and later with the CTdula ("ballot"- a form of scrip).