0-4-2 Steam Locomotives in Chile

Class Loreto (Locobase 12468)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 23, p. 196. Martin Coombs, Chilean steam locomotive list, Part 3-Metre Gauge (March 2022), downloaded [], p. 184. Works number was 18510 in December 1900

The Loreto went about as far south in the New World as a locomotive could go when it traveled to Punta Arenas. The Mina Loreto tramway served a thick belt of lignite by taking it to the port and Baldwin guaranteed the Loreto to haul 65 tons of that up a 2 1/4% grade.

Martin Coombs reproduced the builder's photo, which confirms the engine's small scale by showing how big the cab had to be to fit a grown man inside.

Class Punta Arenas (Locobase 13072)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 30, p. 156 Martin Coombs, Chilean steam locomotive list, Part 3-Metre Gauge (March 2022), downloaded [], pp. 183-184. Works number were 29719 in December 1906 and 44824 in January 1917.

Most tanks of this size and arrangement served sugar plantations, but the Punta Arenas operated at the extreme southern end of the South American continent. (The city was in fact 6,390 nautical miles/11,830 km) from New York City.) Baldwin's builder's photo suggests a more substantially built cab to cope with much more challenging weather conditions.

Magallanes, the second locomotive, ordered eleven years later, put one more short ton of weight on the drivers.