Noroeste 2-8-0 Locomotives in Brazil

Class 154 (Locobase 15108)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 66, p.211. Works numbers were 52399-52401 in September 1919.

Ordered on the same day as the three Moguls shown in Locobase 15107, these wood-burning Consolidations used the same cylinder volume and boiler pressure to turn slightly smaller drivers. A larger boiler meant a little more steam in reserve and it was admitted through slightly larger 9" (279 mm) piston valves.

The order for later Consolidations (Locobase 15110) contains specific remarks about the unsatisfactory build quality of this threesome and the Moguls produced at about the same time (Locobase 15107). A 27 April 1920 letter of complaint from C H Crawford led to the chilly command issued from Eddystone: "See that there is no cause for similar complaints on new locomotives now being built."

Class 161 (Locobase 15110)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 66, p.211. Works numbers were 53702, 53722-53724, 53771-53774 in September 1920 and 53826-53827 in October 1920.

Gene Connelly's Baldwin production list shows this class as having 17" x 24" cylinders, but Locobase goes with the original specification, which includes a tractive effort calculated on 17 x 22 cylinders.

These might have been duplicates of the 155s that arrived a year earlier. They had the same power dimensions and very nearly the same boiler. But the firebox was 12" shorter and had commensurately smaller grate and firebox heating surface areas. Delivered as wood burners, these engines were convertible to coal firing. One possible reason for the smaller firebox was an attempt to reduce weight and indeed these engines weighed about 3 1/2 short tons less.

A curt reminder accompanying this specifications notes a 27 April 1920 letter from C H Crawford regarding the three 1919 Consolidations and the earlier Moguls. The instrcution reads: "See that there is no cause for similar complaints on new locomotives now being built."

Class 41 (Locobase 13486)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 32, p . See Locobase 12379 for a history of this ambitious Brazilian railway. Works numbers were 32958-32960 in September 1908.

Compared to the other Baldwins that went to work on the Noroeste in the first two decades of the 20th Century, these three Consolidations were the biggest and most powerful. That only goes to show how lightly built was the railroad as there were many narrow-gauge 2-8-0s that outstripped them.

Each of the trio was rated at 240 metric tons (264 short tons) of trailing load up a straight 2% grade.

Class 44 (Locobase 13289)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 32, p . See Locobase 12379 for a history of this ambitious Brazilian railway. Works numbers were 33068-33069 in December 1908 and 33202 in February 1909.