Central Cunagua / Central Cupey / Cuban Central 4-6-0 Locomotives in Cuba

Class 16 (Locobase 20808)

Data from DeGolyer, Volume 63, pp. 398-410. See also "American Sugar Weathers the Storm",The Magazine of Wall Street (30 April 1921), pp. 904-906. Works numbers were 52100 in July 1919, 53139 in April 1920, and 53692 in September.

Six coal-fired plantation Ten-wheelers served the Central Cunagua beginning in 1917 (Locobase 14424). were among the lightest standard or broad gauge 4-6-0s to be equipped with superheaters. Only a few months after Baldwin delivered the 12, it began production of this trio of duplicate engines as oil burners.

They went to a road that used 60-lb/yard (30-kg/metre) rail and relatively gentle curves, so the requirement to "run backward as well as forward" could be met without need of a trailing truck. Piston valves measuring 9 1/2" (241 mm) admitted steam to the cylinders.

Converting the fuel from coal on a grate to an oil mist required installation of the standard BLW arrangement that put the burner at the front end of the firebrick-lined firebox. More firebrick paved the bottom of the ash pan. An oil heater rode in the oil tank, fed forward through "oil piping and connections ...of large size suitable for heavy [Tampico] fuel oil."

18 would run on the Central Jaronu.

Class 2 (Locobase 14424)

Data from DeGolyer, Volume 54, pp. 134+ and Volume 63, pp. 396+. See also "American Sugar Weathers the Storm",The Magazine of Wall Street (30 April 1921), pp. 904-906. Works numbers were 45924-45926 in July 1917, 50994-50996 in December 1918.

This clutch of plantation Ten-wheelers were among the lightest standard or broad gauge 4-6-0s to be equipped with superheaters. They went to a road that used 60-lb/yard (30-kg/metre) rail and relatively gentle curves, so the requirement to "run backward as well as forward" could be met without need of a trailing truck. Piston valves measuring 9 1/2" (241 mm) admitted steam to the cylinders. Radley & Hunter cabbage stacks reduced the fire risk in the first six, which were coal-fired.

Three more locomotives were delivered in 1919-1920 as oil burners; see Locobase 20808.

Central Cunagua operated independently for only a short time after its establishment in Camaguey Province. The mill was not yet open when the Louisiana Planter and Sugar Manufacturer published its 21 April 1917 report "Central Cunagua to be a Model Ingenio." (p. 251). (Cite provided for those who want to know more about what went into an up-to-date sugar refinery at the time.)

In 1919, American Sugar bought all of the CG holdings. The new owners could boast of quite some operation, according the Magazine of Wall Street: "The factory of Central Cunagua is of the latest type of construction and the whole plantation is conceded to be one of the most complete raw sugar producing properties in the world ... [I]n 1920 it had the third largest output in Cuba, producing 552,121 bags of raw sugar.."

The report outlined the scale of operations. In addition to the 100,000 acres (40,490 ha) that came with the 1919 purchase, ASC had already acquired twice again as much and was building Central Jaronu, whose capacity would rival that of Central Cunagua. ASC then owned 60 kilometers of standard gauge railroad and 90 kilometers of road was being built for Central Jaronu. The report added:"540 steel cane cars and 24 locomotives are already on the ground."

4 and 10 would later be sold to the Central Ulacia, 12 would go to the Central Limones, and 18 would run on the Central Jaronu.

Class 3 (Locobase 14806)

Data from DeGolyer, Vol 64, pp. 5+. Works number was 54244 in January 1921.

The superheated steam in this oil-fired plantation Ten-wheeler was admitted to the cylinders through 8" (203 mm) piston valves. Central Cupey was located in Oriente Province and would be gathered together in 1921with the Central Alto Cedro and Central Palma under the corporate heading of "Sugar Estates of Oriente" incorporated in Maryland. At the time, the Cupey had a rated capacity of 1,200 tons of cane per day for an annual production of 150,000 325-lb (147 kg) bags.

Class 45 (Locobase 10981)

Data from Record of Recent Construction #54 (Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1905), p. 12-13; and DeGolyer, Volume 27, p. 200+; Volume 30, p. 149.. Works numbers were 24563-24564, 24580 in August 1904

Obviously well-suited for the freight-and-passenger role they filled, several versions of this design entered service over several years. All had the tall, thin steam and sand domes ahead of a Belpaire firebox. This trio was the first variant with the fewest boiler tubes and smallest grate.

Locobase has encountered this instruction in other Baldwin specifications: "Give particular attention to workmanship and details. Co[mpany] complains of bad work done on prev[ious] engines for this and another company." The broader sweep of this complaint seems more likely to damage a builder's reputation. (Locobase keeps in mind the lack of such records for other builders as a brake on any general conclusions about Baldwin's usual standard of quality.)

A later spec for engine 41 did not include the warning. In the same spot, details about the smokebox (install "renewable inside liner plate on bottom to take corrosion"), staybolts (tap them with "outside holes slightly larger than inside holes" to ensure they will "screw tightly into inner sheet" when tightened). Throughout, the specs have more details spelled out.

Class 48 (Locobase 12444)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 23, p. 129. Works numbers 18358-18359 in October 1900 and 18422-18423 in December.

A quartet of coal-burners, the 48 class engines didn't use very big grates. It may have been that the railroad determined that the grate was in fact too small for the boiler because the 1904 engines had smaller boilers and less cylinder volume pressed 30 psi higher.

Class 50 (Locobase 13841)

Data from DeGolyer, Volume 39, p. 185. Works numbers were 37058-37062 in November 1911.

Following the long string of Belpaire-boilered Ten-wheelers (Locobase 10981), the CC Rwy ordered five more that had the same power dimensions, but a boiler based on the recent pair of 4-4-0s (Locobase 13742). 54 also had a small version of the Baldwin smokebox superheater that contributed 193 sq ft.

The cab roof was to be built without a clerestory and be extended over the front end of the tender. An underlined instruction required the cab windows to be fitted with "strong teak louvre shutters." The running board should run the "whole length of the engine with hand rail to enable men to get at machinery when in motion."

A "Hereafter" note asked Baldwin to "make fire box 33 1/2" [851 mm; 1/2" less than the spec.] wide to provide more clearance between frames." Supplement #16 advised "Special attention to be given to design of boiler, and riveting setting of staybolts and tubes."

Supplement #29 offered the intriguing instruction: "Steam gauge to be conspicuously marked for steam pressure of 180 lbs." Did crew members meddle with the safety valves or was the gauge dial difficult to read?

#72 The underhung driving springs were to be"of suitable strength for working on rough track."

Class 55 (Locobase 13744)

Data from DeGolyer, Volume 49, p. 60. Works numbers were 37058-37062 inNovember 1911, 38648-38650 in November 1912.

After the CC took delivery of the three Ten-wheelers arrived with a boiler based on the recent pair of 4-4-0s (Locobase 13742 and 13841), they bought three more that introduced outside constant-lead radial valve gear in place of inside link motion.