Guayaquil & Quito 2-8-0 Locomotives in Ecuador

Class 19 (Locobase 12960)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 29, p. 55 . Works numbers were 27615, 27638, 27649-27652, 27703, 27749 in March 1906.

For Baldwin to resort to a four-cylinder simple-expansion layout was a very unusual response to a set of requirements, but the very steep grades and sharp curves of the G y Q as well as the narrow gauge and light 55-lb (27.5 kg/metre) rail precluded a two-cylinder design. Two Mallets produced in the previous year (Locobase 12961) may have proved too light and lacked a leading truck.

The result of this "clean sheet" design dwarfed any other narrow-gauge 2-8-0 design. It's a little puzzling to Locobase that so long a boiler didn't suggest a 2-8-2 (Mikado) layout. Also, the boiler seems to have dwarfed the grate and firebox.

Class 28 (Locobase 15080)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 66, p. 150 and Volume 78, p. 203. Works numbers were 52869, 52915, 52934 in January 1921 and 58956-58957 in January 1926.

The GaQ bought some of the largest Cape gauge Consolidations of any railroad beginning with the saturated-boiler engines of 1906 shown in Locobase 12960. The next group of Baldwins adopted a two-cylinder layout of such volume that combined with superheated boilers pressed to 200 psi, tractive effort remained almost the same. The new engines included a good measure of superheater area and 9 1/2" (241 mm) piston valves to admit the steam to the cylinders.

They still had to run on 55 lb/yard (27.5 kg/metre) rail, scale 5 1/2% grades, and get around 29 degree curves (radii of 200 feet/61 metres). The steep maximum grades inspired a requirement that "ample space must be left above crown sheet to give full protection." To handle the curves, the rear axle was mounted on Rushton adjustable driving wheels and the rigid wheelbase was reduced to 8 feet (2.44 metres) and the front truck was allowed a 5 inch (127 mm) swing to each side. Connecting rods were made of carbon steel "quenched and tempered".

Class 31 (Locobase 15081)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 78, p. 203+ and Volume 79, pp. 304+. Works numbers were 8956-58957 in January 1926 and 62052-62053 in 1936.

This pair was a repeat of the three superheated Consolidations procured in 1921 and described in Locobase 15080. The substantial change was the adoption of oil-burning.

Apparently the tender was too large and prompted a "Hereafter" note saying that on future orders "Water tank to be smaller by 2,000 gallons and oil tanks by 1,000 gallons." Given the specifications drafted a decade later that included the very same tender capacities as the original, the note must have been forgotten.

Class 40 (Locobase 4414)

Data from narrowmind.railfan.net. Works numbers ran 62293-62294 in March 1939 and 62447-62448 in 1940.

Obviously the same design as all of the other Baldwins bought by the GaQ over the previous two decades, these low-drivered, outside-frame Consoldations added 12 sq ft (1.1 sq m) of thermic syphons in the firebox (included in the firebox heating surface area). The numbers all show this oil-burner to have been a free-steamer.

Class 42 (Locobase 949)

Data from a table in 1947 Locomotive Cyclopedia. Works numbers were 70186 in April 1944, 70323 in December, 70891 in 1944; 71522-71523 in 1945, 71582 in 1947, 72695-72698 in 1946.

A virtual repeat of 40 (Locobase 4414).