Paulista 4-6-2 Locomotives in Brazil

Class 74 (Locobase 13657)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 44, p. 15. Works numbers were 37617-37618 in April 1912 and 39062-39066 in January 1913.

Paulista's passenger power was required to roll on 50-lb/yard (25-kg/metre) rail, 2% grades combined with 394-ft (120-m) radius curves.

Attention to detail served a railway with tight allowances, or so the following note suggests: "To obtain proper distribution of weight, the shops found it necessary to reduce the height of the front engine truck center pin 3/8" [9.525 mm]."

Class 90 (Locobase 15022)

Data from Roy V Wright (Ed.) 1922 Locomotive Cyclopedia of American Practice, Sixth Edition (New York: Simmons-Boardman Publishing Company, 1922), 1018. See also Leandro Guidini, "As ltimas locomotivas a vapor compradas pela Cia Paulista", posted 16 June 2016 on the EF Paulista blog at [] (English translation by Thomas Correa), last accessed 24 July 2022. Works numbers were 56966-56969 in March 1917.

Guidini-Correa tell the English-speaking reader that the EF de Paulista may be best known for its " impressive and pioneering electric locomotives in this type of traction, moved to electricity. Truth be told, during seven decades the powerful electric locomotives took over the main lines of CP." But, Guidini added, steam locomotives remained in service.

Before the transition, however, the Paulista needed more powerful steam power and ordered two 2-8-2s from Henschel. As this was in 1914, that order couldn't be completed and the company turned to Alco.to answer their urgent request. Delivered from Alco-Brook's Dunkirk, NY plant, the quartet cost "US$37,000.00 each." In the interests of time, the engines were "chosen via catalog directly, eliminating the minute technical details of a project properly developed for specific operational need."

The off-the-shelf origins of the class presented a powerful mid-size engine with a good superheat ratio. And, according to Guidini-Correa, these dual-purpose locomotives provided "excellent services to the CP worked with important express trains of parcels, passengers and cattle." for decades.

One left service in 1952, the next in 1962, and the last two in 1968 with the end of steam.