4-4-0 Steam Locomotives in Cuba

Class 21 (Locobase 12074)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 18, p. 241. Works numbers were 13559 in July 1893.

This was one of two American-type Eight-wheelers supplied to the Oeste, possibly for comparison. )the other had 54" and more cylinder volume).

Class 23 (Locobase 12461)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 23, p.175, Volume 31, p. 170. Works numbers were 18398 in November 1900, 29968-29969 in January 1907, 32656-32657 in February 1908, and 32848 in July.

Obviously this American-type Eight-wheeler design was quite satisfactory for the WRH's mixed-traffic needs as they returned to Baldwin for additional locomotives several years after delivery of the first one.

Class 7 (Locobase 11449)

Data from "Eight-Wheel Engines with Superheaters for the Western Railway of Havana," The Railway Age Gazette, Vol XLVIII, No 8 (25 February 1910), pp. 403-404. Works numbers were 46143-46144 in July 1909.

As the RAG report noted, the chief innovation in this pair of American-type Eight-wheelers was the smokebox superheater, which was designed to give a "moderate" amount of superheat. Twelve flues, each containing four superheater elements, were divided into groups of six. Each group of six angled away from the centerline at the front tubesheet to connect with a header box casting bolted to the smokebox wall. Seen from the front, the flues flanked the exhaust nozzle, while the superheater output pipe on each side extended down from its header to the cylinders. Locobase cannot say what success this design enjoyed, but notes it was not widely adopted.

The rest of the design was straightforward. A boiler pressed to an artificially low level preceded the Belpaire firebox, which had a generous amount of direct heating surface.