Antofagasta 2-8-0 Locomotives in Chile

Class 45 (Locobase 10579)

Data from "New Locomotives, Antofagasta (Chili) and Bolivia Ry" The Locomotive Magazine, Vol XIV (15 October 1908), p.181-182 Works numbers were 44617-44636 in early 1908.

This was the only order Alco would get from the Antofagasta. The railway bought locomotives from a variety of builders and this one may have resulted from John Brown's displeasure with Baldwin's product over the years. See Locobase 20049 for a full account of the September 1905 letter to the Philadelphia builder complaining of several elements in their Consolidations' design.

Schenectady's 20 were delivered in the same year as Hunslet supplied ten locomotives (Locobase 10578). Like the Hunslets, the Alcos were fitted with outside radial valve in place of the traditional inside Stephenson link motion. The Alcos' boilers were bigger, but Hunslet's grate and fireboxes offered more heating surface area.

Class Colquechaca (Locobase 20049)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive.Works Specification for Engines digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 17, pp. 241. Works numbers were 12633, 12635 in April 1892, 12667 in May. (Road number order was 55, 54, 56.)

These Consolidations were identical to the eleven engines produced a few years later and sent to the nearby Huanchaca (Locobase 12150). That order recorded all of the heating surface areas and estimated weights in the Baldwin specs,. Although Locobase rules require me to treat the data as estimates in this entry, every available dimensional comparison shows identical values down to the 1/4".

The Antofagasta's John Brown expressed himself as not entirely pleased with this trio in a letter to Baldwin's Henry Tregelles dated 14 September 1905. He noted that he had complained several years before of the tight water space between the firebox and outer shell which was "too much contracted up at the sides of tube sheet ...which I consider should have more space, and would give the tube sheet longer life than what it does at the present."

Brown also criticized the method of constructing the wrapping plate on the fireboxes of other Baldwins delivered more recently. He said that countersinking the inside side, "I presume to give more water space on landing", he surmised, caused difficulties in patching the head plate.

Finally, Brown noted that drawings with desired changes in the Consolidation design had been sent to London. A future order for 2-8-0s was planned, but at the time of the letter, he could not say who would be awarded that contract. Perhaps it was that not-very-veiled threat or British builders couldn't meet either the Antofagasta's timetable or its price point, but Baldwin supplied several more 2-8-0s; see Locobases

Class Diana (Locobase 10578)

Data from General Arrangement Diagram DRc No 1, Specn No C 959, Hunslet Engine Co. Ltd Engineers; "New Locomotives, Antofagasta (Chili) and Bolivia Ry" The Locomotive Magazine, Vol XIV (15 October 1908), p.181-182 Works numbers were 958-967 in 1908.

Locobases 12954 and 20049 record Antofagasta's displeasure with Baldwin's firebox design in a September 1905 letter from John Brown. In it he noted that the selection of a builder for future orders had still to be made. Although Baldwin supplied the next six Consolidations in 1906 (Locobase 12954) and would deliver other locomotives later, Hunslet was one of two builders delivering engines in 1908.

The class used a larger grate and slightly larger boiler to supply the larger cylinders. Hunslet also adopted outside constant-lead radial valve gear instead of the inside Stephenson link motion.

Class Portezuelo (Locobase 12954)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 28, p. 289. See also "Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia", Wikipedia at [], last accessed 4 November 2016. Works numbers were 27995, 28029-28030 in April 1906; 28276-28277, 28282 in May.

Wikipedia's entry on the Antofagasta offers a telling comparison between the American locomotives that had gone into service on the railway's 30" gauge during the period of Chilean ownership and the British engines purchased after British interests regained control in 1903. "The Initial response was that the British locomotives were not as rugged or easy to repair as the American locomotives. However subsequent tests found British locomotives steamed better, resulting in savings in fuel costs that outweighed the extra maintenance costs."

They were repeats of the Polapis of 1901 (Locobase 12521), but put more weight on the drivers. An earlier locomotive was delivered to the Aguas Blanca in 1904 with a few more tubes; see Locobase 13621.

The spec notes the following about how this nitrate railway used the little 2-8-0s: "These locos in daily working haul between 110 & 115 metric tons gross exclusive of wt [sic] of tenders from Antofagasta to Portezuelo (max. gradient 3.3%) at a uniform speed of 25 kilometres per hour [15.5 mph]."

The Antofagasta stocked its steam roster with products from a wide variety of sources. See Locobase 20049 for a letter from John Brown to Baldwin in September 1905 complaining about some firebox features on earlier Baldwin engines. While the 1906 order shown in this entry went to Baldwin, Britain's Hunslet and Alco's Schenectady works produced locomotives for the Antofagasta in 1908; see Locobases 10578-10579.