Guayaquil & Quito Beyer-Garratt Locomotives in Ecuador

Class 101 (Locobase 591)

Data from Wiener (1930); and "Guayaquil and Quito Railway-Design 1137", Beyer-Garrrat Patent Articulated Locomotives (Manchester, England: Beyer-Peacock & Company Limited, 1931), archived on flickr's Historical Railway Images at [], et seq, p. 54.

Also 32 1 3/4" (44.5 mm) tubes.

Wiener described the railroad: 54 miles from Doiran (near Guayaquil) across the delta, then a 9,653-ft (2,942 meters) climb in 49 miles(78.9 km) to Palmira. The summit of the railroad lay at Umbina (11,840 ft/3,609 meters at milepost 171) then descending gradually to reach Quito at 288 miles (463 km) from Doiran. The steepest gradients were 1:18 (5.55%), curvature reached 5.5% (with another 42 200-ft radius and 222 368-ft-radius curves as well). 55-lb/yard (27.5 kg/metre) rail answered for most of the railroad with 70 lb/yard (35 kg/metre) being reserved for only some sections.

All in all, ideal Garratt country and a customer that led the 1931 B-P brochure to describe this trio as a "most excellent example of the value of accumulated experience." As with all the Beyer-Garratts in the guide, they proved "entirely satisfactory" as they hauled 170 short tons on "this severe section." They used the usual Beyer-Garratt equipment, which included a Belpaire firebox, superheater, bar frame, and four simple-expansion cylinders.

"An articulated locomotive for such exacting conditions," said the guide,"...must be designed and manufactured on the latest information regarding the performance of engines of this type."