Central do Brasil 2-6-6-2 Locomotives in Brazil

Class 300 (Locobase 13974)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 44, p. 139 and Volume 66, pp. 219+. Works number was 39831 in May 1913 and 51407 in February 1919.

The Federaux d l'est Bresilien ordered this superheated Mallet, but apparently decided it wasn't needed before Baldwin could deliver it. So the builder sold the engine to the Central and delivered it with the RSM (Rede Sul Minera) acronym on the tank. The Central relettered the locomotive and gave it its road number. Although the Bresilien ordered this engine as a wood burner, Baldwin accepted a change order that specified a set of grates and a set of smoke box netting for burning coal before delivery.

The 300 went into service on the Belem-Governador Portela da Linha Auxiliar. It was rated to haul 225 metric tons around 80 metre (262 ft) radius curves combined with an uncompensated 3% grade.

The 303 was a duplicate ordered six years later that differed only in minor details (e.g., its superheater area was calculated as 330 sq ft/30.65 sq m.) As noted in Locobase 13457, the Central incorporated the Victoria a Minas articulateds in 1915 and once the 303 arrived in 1919, the four locomotives were for years the most powerful freight engines on the C do B's metric-gauge lines.

Rendered redundant by the introduction of faster superheated steam in 1925, the class were reassigned to other segments that required pulling power more than speed. They operated well into the 1950s.