Sorocabana 4-6-0 Locomotives in Brazil

Class 90 (Locobase 12256)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 28, p. 255. See also Frederic M Halsey, Investments in Latin America and the British West Indies, Special Agents Series - No 169, United States Department of Commerce (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office,1918) pp. 148-149. Works numbers were 27527-27529 in February 1906.

Typical mixed-fuel Ten-wheeler run on Brazil's metre-gauge roads. This trio was joined in 1913 by 10 more that were identical in every respect except for the later engines' use of Walschaert gear.; see Locobase 13963.

The Sorocabana had a long history and several owners. In 1905, for example, the Sorocabana was sold to Sao Paolo State for 3, 250,000 pounds sterling. It was soon sold back to the privately held Brazil Railway Company, which was founded in 1906 by Percival Farquhar of New York City to promote the industrialization of the southern Amazon. The BRC leased the Sorocabana on 1 January 1909.

By 1913, the BRC had slid into bankruptcy because of the disruption to the Brazilian economy brought on by the Balkan wars. At the time of the BRC's reorganization, the Sorocabana operated 813 miles and had another 268 miles under construction. It originated in Sao Paulo and extended through southern and western Sao Paulo State.

At the time of this locomotive's purchase, the railway had several climbs of 10 miles or more at grades of 2 1/2 to 3%. By 1918, when the Special Agents' report was published, Frederic Halsey would say of the Sorocabana: "[The railway] traverses a growing and extremely rich part of Brazil, making important traffic connections with other companies, and opening new, fertile territory."

Class 97 (Locobase 13651)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 34, p. 343. Works numbers were 34775-34777, 34791-34793 in June 1910.

The Sorocabana was not far away from the Sao Paulo and Rio Grande and had stocked its roster with very similar Baldwin Ten-wheelers. At the same time as the SP & RG (Locobase 13650), therefore, the company bought a very similar upgrade in which the new engines now had outside constant-lead radial valve gear and an Emerson superheater.

Class T-1 (Locobase 13963)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 44, p. 79. Works numbers were 39047-39056 in January 1913.

Essentially identical to the 1906 trio shown in Locobase 12256, this later batch of Ten-wheelers actuated its valves through outside radial gear. In keeping with the varying availability of fuels, the grate was designed to burn Cardiff coal, briquettes, or wood.

The last three were redirected at the last moment by the parent Brazil Railway Company's to the Parana Railway. They later ended up on the Sorocabana with the lower numbers shown in the specs.