Inspetoria Federal de Obras Contra as Secas 4-6-0 Locomotives in Brazil


Class Details by Steve Llanso of Sweat House Media

Class 101 (Locobase 21129)

Data from Alco class 460-74 164 Order C-672 builder's card supplied in February 2023 by Teemu Koivumaki. See Erwin De Nys, Nathan Engel and Antonio Rocha Magalhaes, Drought in Brazil: Proactive Management and Policy (CRC Press: 5 August 2016), p. 11; and Eve Elzabeth Buckley, University of Delaware. Department of History. Newark, Delaware, USA , "Drought in the sertpo as a natural or social phenomenon: establishing the Inspetoria Federal de Obras Contra as Secas, 1909-1923", Bol. Mus. Para. Emflio Goeldi. CiOnc. hum. 5 (2) o Aug 2010, online at [link], last accessed 6 March 2023. Works numbers were 62904-62911 in May 1921.

Google translates the operator as the Federal Inspectorate of Works Against Droughts, which often went by the acronym IFOCS. Founded in 1909, the IFOCS addressed the repeated periods of drought in Northeastern Brazil more systematically by building dams, extablishing rights to the resulting reservoirs for irrigation, supporting the creation of crop storage faciilties and other programs. In the event, hundredss of dams were built but little other coordinated effort achieved the other goals. (See Buckley's full account cited above.)

While most other metre-gauge freight engines of the era rolled on four driven axles or more (e.g., 2-8-0, 2-8-2), these Ten-wheelers served the IFCOS with only three. It's possible by trading one driven axle for a bogie up front, the 101s could more easily negotiate sharper curves. Opting for wood-burning fireboxes (up to three cords in the tender) may have simplified fuel access and avoided paying for imported coal.

Principal Dimensions by Steve Llanso of Middle Run Media
Class101
Locobase ID21129
RailroadInspetoria Federal de Obras Contra as Secas (IFOCS)
CountryBrazil
Whyte4-6-0
Number in Class8
Road Numbers101-108
GaugeMetre
Number Built8
BuilderAlco-Cooke
Year1921
Valve GearWalschaert
Locomotive Length and Weight
Driver Wheelbase (ft / m) 7.83 / 2.39
Engine Wheelbase (ft / m)17.04 / 5.19
Ratio of driving wheelbase to overall engine wheelbase 0.46
Overall Wheelbase (engine & tender) (ft / m)43 / 13.11
Axle Loading (Maximum Weight per Axle) (lbs / kg)
Weight on Drivers (lbs / kg)60,000 / 27,216
Engine Weight (lbs / kg)74,000 / 33,566
Tender Loaded Weight (lbs / kg)62,700 / 28,440
Total Engine and Tender Weight (lbs / kg)136,700 / 62,006
Tender Water Capacity (gals / ML)2500 / 9.47
Tender Fuel Capacity (oil/coal) (gals/tons / Liters/MT)
Minimum weight of rail (calculated) (lb/yd / kg/m)33 / 16.50
Geometry Relating to Tractive Effort
Driver Diameter (in / mm)43 / 1092
Boiler Pressure (psi / kPa)160 / 1100
High Pressure Cylinders (dia x stroke) (in / mm)15" x 20" / 381x508
Tractive Effort (lbs / kg)14,233 / 6455.99
Factor of Adhesion (Weight on Drivers/Tractive Effort) 4.22
Heating Ability
Tubes (number - dia) (in / mm)130 - 2" / 51
Flues (number - dia) (in / mm)
Flue/Tube length (ft / m)14.33 / 4.37
Firebox Area (sq ft / m2)66 / 6.13
Grate Area (sq ft / m2)18.60 / 1.73
Evaporative Heating Surface (sq ft / m2)1036 / 96.25
Superheating Surface (sq ft / m2)
Combined Heating Surface (sq ft / m2)1036 / 96.25
Evaporative Heating Surface/Cylinder Volume253.26
Computations Relating to Power Output (More Information)
Robert LeMassena's Power Computation2976
Same as above plus superheater percentage2976
Same as above but substitute firebox area for grate area10,560
Power L13829
Power MT422.07

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