Antofagasta / Nitrate Railways Beyer-Garratt Locomotives in Chile


Class Details by Steve Llanso of Sweat House Media

Class 33 (Locobase 3265)

See also Robert Tufnell, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Railway Locomotives (London: Quarto Publishing Ltd, 1986). See also Wiener (1930).

Fairlies that had been built as 0-6-6-0s in 1874, these engines went to Chile with a Bissell truck added to each end. Apparently the trucks either proved unnecessary or worse, because the locomotives were rebuilt as 0-6-0+0-6-0s. Tufnell adds that two more came to the railroad in 1889 and one in 1906, but it's not clear if they had the same design.


Class 390 (Locobase 582)

Data from Wiener (1930); and "Antofagasta (Chili) and Bolivia Railway-Design 1138", Beyer-Garrrat Patent Articulated Locomotives (Manchester, England: Beyer-Peacock & Company Limited, 1931), archived on flickr's Historical Railway Images at [], et seq, p. 29.

Described at the time of their delivery as among the most powerful metre-gauge locomotives in existence, these Double Mountain Garratts were designed to scale a 10 1/2-mile (16.9 km), 3% grade between La Paz and Guaqui in Bolivia while hauling 424 tons. Running for 170 km (116 miles) on the Potosi branch, the engines passed Condor station at 15,814 ft (4,820 m).

NB: Tube length is an estimate based on the calculation of tube surface area by subtracting reported firebox heating surface from reported total evaporative heating surface.


Class 393 (Locobase 583)

Data from Gavin Hamilton's excellent compilation of Garratt data posted at [] (6 September 2005); and A[rthur] E[dward] Durrant, Garratt Locomotives of the World (revised edition) (Newton Abbott, UK: David & Charles, 1981), p. Works numbers were 7420-7425 in 1950.

Double Mountain Garratts that were slightly heavier follow-ons to the 1929 engines described in 582 Produced after World War II, this sextet had the more "modern" streamlined tanks and bunkers.

Although these are clearly based on the 1929 engines, Hamilton doesn't give a grate area - so initially Locobase didn't presume they would be the same. Upon further examination, however, Locobase noticed that the firebox heating surface was identical, which usually means that the grates are too. As these were oil-fired engines, however, they would not have had grates to measure.


Class 51 (Locobase 3264)

Data from "Simple Articulated Locomotives for the Antofagasta [sic] & Bolivia Ry.", The Railway and Engineering Review, Vol 53 (25 October 1913), p. 992. Works numbers were 5617-5622.

This is a slight variation on the Kitson-Meyer type, because while it had the Belpaire firebox between the engine units, the cylinders were set at the back of each set of drivers. Tufnell (1986) observed that as these engines usually operated cab first, the arrangement would actually work out to be 2-6-0+2-6-0. It was an odd-looking profile, the coal bunker "short hood" having a slender stack for the front engine group, a long cab with the Belpaire firebox trailing behind, a steam dome and sand dome, then the smokebox and stack, and an eight-wheel tender coupled behind.

The design had other peculiarities, including a fully enclosed cab to ease working conditions at 15,000 ft (4,572 m), and an extra two-man contingent chiefly responsible for shifting the four tons of coal that would carried in bags in the rear tender to the front. This latter expedient was superseded by oil-firing.

The locomotives operated for decades, the last not being retired until 1976.

Principal Dimensions by Steve Llanso of Sweat House Media

Class3339039351
Locobase ID3265 582 583 3264
RailroadNitrate Railways (Chile)Antofagasta (Chile ) & Bolivia (FCAB)Antofagasta (Chile ) & Bolivia (FCAB)Antofagasta (Chile ) & Bolivia (FCAB)
CountryChileChileChileChile
Whyte2-6-0+0-6-24-8-2+2-8-44-8-2+2-8-42-6-0+2-6-0T
Number in Class5366
Road Numbers33-37390-392393-398/903-90851-56
Gauge3'6"MetreMetre2'6"
Number Built5366
BuilderYorkshire EngineBeyer, PeacockBeyer, PeacockBeyer, Peacock
Year1881192919501913
Valve GearWalschaertWalschaertWalschaert
Locomotive Length and Weight
Driver Wheelbase (ft / m) 3.74 / 1.1420.01 / 6.109 / 2.74
Engine Wheelbase (ft / m)44.75 / 13.6457.74 / 17.6045 / 13.72
Ratio of driving wheelbase to overall engine wheelbase 0.08 0.35 0.20
Overall Wheelbase (engine & tender) (ft / m)81.82 / 24.94
Axle Loading (Maximum Weight per Axle) (lbs / kg)29,343 / 13,31032,480 / 14,73325,500 / 11,567
Weight on Drivers (lbs / kg)190,400 / 86,364233,295 / 105,821259,840 / 117,862148,000 / 67,132
Engine Weight (lbs / kg)190,400 / 86,364379,680 / 172,220407,120 / 184,667178,000 / 80,740
Tender Loaded Weight (lbs / kg)54,500 / 24,721
Total Engine and Tender Weight (lbs / kg)190,400 / 86,364379,680 / 172,220407,120 / 184,667232,500 / 105,461
Tender Water Capacity (gals / ML)2660 / 10.085449 / 20.646600 / 255200 / 19.70
Tender Fuel Capacity (oil/coal) (gals/tons / Liters/MT)3 / 31820 / 6888.702640 / 99928 / 7
Minimum weight of rail (calculated) (lb/yd / kg/m)53 / 26.5049 / 24.5054 / 2741 / 20.50
Geometry Relating to Tractive Effort
Driver Diameter (in / mm)45 / 114348 / 121948 / 121944 / 1118
Boiler Pressure (psi / kPa)162.40 / 11.20188.50 / 13188.50 / 13160 / 11
High Pressure Cylinders (dia x stroke) (in / mm)17" x 22" / 432x560 (4)17.99" x 25.98" / 457x660 (4)18" x 26" / 457x660 (4)18" x 20" / 457x508 (4)
Tractive Effort (lbs / kg)39,007 / 17693.3056,133 / 25461.5356,239 / 25509.6140,058 / 18170.02
Factor of Adhesion (Weight on Drivers/Tractive Effort) 4.88 4.16 4.62 3.69
Heating Ability
Tubes (number - dia) (in / mm)330 - 1.875" / 48275 - 1.89" / 48156 - 2" / 51
Flues (number - dia) (in / mm)45 - 5.236" / 13324 - 5.25" / 133
Flue/Tube length (ft / m)11.60 / 3.5413.45 / 4.1015 / 4.57
Firebox Area (sq ft / m2)192.50 / 17.89217 / 20.16217 / 20.17153 / 14.21
Grate Area (sq ft / m2)35.50 / 3.3054.90 / 5.1054.90 / 5.1040.80 / 3.79
Evaporative Heating Surface (sq ft / m2)2075 / 192.842864 / 266.072864 / 266.171878 / 174.47
Superheating Surface (sq ft / m2)598 / 55.56546 / 50.74395 / 36.70
Combined Heating Surface (sq ft / m2)2075 / 192.843462 / 321.633410 / 316.912273 / 211.17
Evaporative Heating Surface/Cylinder Volume179.51187.36187.00159.41
Computations Relating to Power Output (More Information)
Robert LeMassena's Power Computation576510,34910,3496528
Same as above plus superheater percentage576512,10812,0047638
Same as above but substitute firebox area for grate area31,26247,85847,44928,642
Power L13201920587276173
Power MT222.38695.89592.36551.72

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