Sao Paulo a Rio Grande 4-6-0 Locomotives in Brazil

Class 105/P 150 (Locobase 20256)

Data from "Four-Cylinder Express Locomotives for the Sao Paulo Railway", Engineer, Volume 118 (30 October 1914), pp. 414, 416. (Thanks to Teemu Koivumaki whose 2023 email included a comprehensive spreadsheet of Brazilian steam locomotive builders, works numbers, and owners.) Works numbers were 20561-20565 in 19`4.

Designed by the Sao Paulo's locomotive superintendent R C Hillman and supervised by consulting engineers Fox and Mayo, these Ten-wheelers were needed for the relatively short (86 1/2 miles/140 km) main line between Sao Paulo and the ports of Santos and Jundiahy. During the busy season, 132 trains per day operated over a profile that included two 5-mile (8 km) segments where the grades could incline to 1 in 120 (0.83%) all the way to 1 in 40 (2 1/2%)

This class offered several unusual features in one express passenger design. the four cylinder layout will already be noticed, but its divided drive layout was unusual for a simple-expansion locomotive. The inside cylinders, positioned under the smokebox's centerline, drove on the leading axle. Their 9" (179 mm) piston valves were located outside of the frame and directly ahead of the outside cylinders and valves. The outside cylinders drove on the second axle and were served by 9" piston valves fitted directly above them.

All four eccentrics acuating the valves occupied the leading axle's crank. Each side's valves were connected to rocking shafts, the upper arms of which were coupled to the outside cylinders' valve spindles, the lower arm opening the inside cylinders' valves.

Another unusual feature was the high percentage of superheat, quite a bit greater than usually fitted. The large boiler, the biggest possible when the axle loading was limited to 18 long tons, was heated by an impressively scaled Belpaire firebox.

Class 31 (Locobase 13318)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 32, p. 34; Volume 34, pp. 327-329. See also "Americanizing Brazilian Railroads", The Railroad Gazette, Vol XLIII, No 20 (15 November 1907), p. 598 and "The Railways of the Republic of Brazil," The Economic World, Volume 17 (22 March 1919), pp. 403-407. Works numbers were 33145-33148 in January 1909, 33581-33583 in July, 33612 in August, and 34239-34242 in February 1910.

Identical to the Ten-wheelers that went to the Sorocabana in Brazil three years earlier (Locobase 12256), these 4-6-0s served another major line in the same region.

They were soon followed by superheated versions of a larger design; see Locobase 13650.

Although the SP & RG had reincorporated in Maine in 1906 and moved quickly to expand its holdings, it was bankrupt by 1914 and by 1919 was owned by the Federal Government, leased to the SP-RG Railway Company and controlled and operated by the Brazil Railway Company, which owned 95% of its stock.

Class 43 (Locobase 13650)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 36, p. 287. Works numbers 35129-35131, 35162-35164 in August 1910,

After taking delivery of an even dozen Ten-wheelers with small saturated boilers (Locobase 13318), the SP&RG plumped for six bigger engines a few months after the last set was produced. Enlarged in every respect, the design incorporated an also-ran superheater that soon was eclipsed by the Schmidt version. Locobase isn't sure if this class ever changed out its lower-temperature Emersons - even with an indifferent superheater, the 43s constituted a considerable increase in available power.