Ermita Sugar Corporation 2-8-0 Locomotives in Cuba

Class 1 (Locobase 14906)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Vol 64, p. 309. Works number was 53721 in September 1920.

Another sugar mill, this one located near Guantánamo in Oriente Province, bought one of the larger standard plantation Consolidations built at Eddystone. The design was tweaked slightly as it used 11" (279 mm) piston valves to supply steam to the cylinders and had fire tubes 3" (76 mm) shorter than most of the 2-8-0s in Cuban sugar work.

The Ermita's railway was laid out on relatively gentle lines. Maximum grade was a typical 2% while main line curves were never sharper than 10 degrees (radii of 573 feet/275 metres) and curves on the Ys (used to reverse locomotive direction) arced no more than 16 degrees (358 feet/109 metres).

A "Hereafter" note entered in the specifications suggests that an experiment in bi-directional coupling was to be abandoned: "Omit spring draft gear front of engine [e.g., drop coupler?] and provide a regular center pin for front engine truck. (To correct error in design of base engine)."

The Ermita had been erected in 1914-1915 and had come under John Randolph's control with the aid of the E Atkins & Company.