0-8-2 Steam Locomotives in Cyprus

Class 2 (Locobase 14388)

Data from DeGolyer, Volume 63, pp. 29+. Works number was 56766 in July 1923. See Locobase 6689 for a description of this railway.

Baldwin only ever produced three eight-coupled radial saddle tanks: two for CMC and one for Chile's metre-gauge Arica la Paz. Cylinder volume in the 2 was the least of the trio, in large part because of the narrower gauge.

Because this was a coal burner, the CMC could use a straight stack. Despite the small size of this single-engine order, the CMC's comments generated no fewer than five "Hereafter" comments:

Brake shoes on plain tires must be flush to avoid to clear side rods. Also, oil cups on the side rods to have 1/4" (6.28 mm) clearance.

Both headlights to have copper silvered headlight reflectors.

Rear headlight must have trunions [presumably to allow elevation] and sit on a swiveling base.

Main driving boxes and engine truck must be made of cast steel and have hard brass hub liners on the wheels, and

Class 4 (Locobase 6689)

Data from DeGolyer, Vol 79, pp. 505+.Works number was 60344 in January 1928.

The CMC had many adverse gradients in its small ambit, tight curve radii of 160 feet (48.8 metres) or 35 degrees, and 50 lb/yard (25 kg/metre) rail,. so the compact and burly Baldwin seemed particularly suited to the task. A note in the Baldwin specifications states that the locomotive was "to operate in both forward and backward positions on 3% grades."

The line linked the mines at Mavrovouni and Skouriatissa to the jetty in the coastal town of Xeros.

One account says that Baldwin supplied four locomotives to the CMC from 1921-1927 (of which this is obviously the last). This was the biggest of the batch.

4 would rust away at Karavostassi for decades after it left service.