Western Railway of Havana 2-8-0 Locomotives in Cuba

Class 11 (Locobase 12246)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Vol 21, p.115 and Volume 23, p. 139. Works numbers were 15791 in March 1898 and 18341-18343, 18357 in October 1900.

Class 15 (Locobase 20410)

Data from "2-8-0 Locomotive for Western Railway of Havana", Railway and Engineering Review, Volume 46, No 1 (7 July 1906), p. 514; and "Heavy 2-8-0 for Cuba", Railway and Locomotive Engineering", No 8 (August 1906), p. 359. Works numbers were 39652-39653 in March 1906.

The Review noted that the railway had "suffered the same depredations as did the plantations along its line" during the Cuban insurrection and Spanish-American War. "Several locomotives were dynamited and a number of stations and bridges were destroyed."

The British owners responded to the devastation with "a characteristically thorough manner. Modern stations and bridges have replaced those destroyed and a considerable portion of the line has been relaid with heavy steel." Similarly, cars and locomotives were upgraded or new ones purchased.

The R&LE article said that these were the heaviest freight engines on the railway.

This duo had unusual proportions that well-served the requirement, according to the report, which explained that freight traffic on the W of H differed considerably from that in the United States in that it amounted "to practically switching over an extended territory, hence the power requirements are more for a switching locomotive than for the usual road machine." So the design emphazed a small boiler and grate related to cylinder volume as well as low drivers. As it performed its duty, said the report, it wouldn't be "so wasteful of fuel as would a larger boiler and grate, during periods of station work and underloading on the road."