Egyptian State 2-6-0 Locomotives in Egypt

Class 221 (Locobase 14722)

Data from DeGolyer, Volume 63, pp. 37 and "American-built Locomotives for the Egyptian State Railways", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXVII [27], No 352 (15 December 1921), pp. 314-315. Works numbers were 53004 in February; 53369-53370, 53469 in July; 53672, 53703 in September; 53807, 53862-53863 in October; 53945, 53974-53975, 54045-54047, 54131 in November; 54183-54186 in December 1920; 54326, 54386-54390 in January 1921; 54546-54547 in February; 54562, 54583 in March.

This class was the first in a series of Mogul locomotive classes that totalled 180 engines and were built to roughly the same specifications over an eighteen-year period. See Locobase 20800 for the 80 locomotives of the 545 class.

Using an arsenical copper Belpaire firebox, the design reflected British practice in being mounted on a plate frame and be stopped by vacuum brakes. Steam admission came through 10" (254 mm) piston valves. The original draft of the spec called for 162 small tubes and 21 flues.

The specs required the locomotive to haul a gross load around a minimum curve of 600 metres (1,969 feet) radius or 3 degrees. When shunting in a yard, it had negotiate 175 metre radius curves.

"Work generally is to be in the best style of locomotive work," supplementary paragraph 76 emphasized. "All parts of similar locomotives and tenders must be interchangeable and all the usual parts and fittings whether mentioned or not in this specification must be supplied without extra charge or extension of the limit of delivery."

Class 479 (Locobase 20679)

Data from E LAhrons, "Locomotives of the Egyptian State Railways", Locomotive Magazine, Volume 24 (15 January 1918), pp. 6-7.

Ahrons reported that the first half of this express goods Mogul class was produced in Germany, but doesn't name the builder. Franco-Belge of La Croyere delivered the second half. These engines constituted the first class of superheated goods locomotives in Egypt.

The profile showed a smooth jacket over the boiler, squared-off shoulders of a Belpaire firebox, a tiny dome over the middle driving axle. A somewhat overscale Walschaert gear layout. A sizable superheater area, large grate, and relatively high firebox area together suggest impressive steaming capability.

Class 545 (Locobase 20800)

Data from "Egyptian State Railways Type 2-6-0 Superheated Locomotive", Armstrong Whitworth catalogue page found on Flickr at [], last accessed 4 October 2020; and "Egyptian State Railways 545 class" entry in Wikipedia last updated 5 February 2017, last accessed 4 October 2020. North British Locomotive Company works numbers were 23682-23721, Armstrong Whitworth 585-604 in 1928 and Borsig 13983-14002 in 1931.

What Wikipedia describes as a design "very British in style" seems to have been derived from the Baldwin Locomotive Works 525 class Moguls of 1920 (Locobase 14722), whose Belpaire fireboxes were copper, frames built from plates, and most appliances and appearances were British. Six-inch (152 mm) taller drivers represented the most significant change from the 525 design.

Class Class 15 (Locobase 10522)

Data from "The Egyptian Government Railways and Locomotives," The Locomotive Magazine, Vol XI (15 August 1905), p. 131. See also DeGolyer, Volume 23, p. 177. Works numbers were 18446-18450 and 18459-18463.

Oversized cabs dominated this class of switchers (shunters) described by the LM report asa having a "somewhat novel design." It's hard to see what might be novel about this design, unless it's the use of a Mogul wheel arrangement under a tank-locomotive boiler for switching duties. Another possibility is the provision that Baldwin "arrange boiler to lift out of frames without taking down frames."

Class Class 7 (Locobase 10491)

Data from "The Egyptian Government Railways and Locomotives," The Locomotive Magazine, Vol XI (15 February 1905), p. 32. DeGolyer, Volume 21, p. 179. See also "English and American Locomotives", Indian Engineering, Volume 31 (28 June 1902), pp 412-413. Works numbers were 15857-15871 (April 1898), 15943-15947 (May 1898).

This class represented something of an emergency order when the EGR discovered its large order for 0-6-0 goods engines (Locobase 10492) wouldn't be filled in time to handle the large sugar and cotton harvests that were increasingly the norm. So the board ordered these batches from Baldwin for a cost of $9,000 each, the first of which were delivered in June 1898. (That the US was then at war with Spain doesn't appear to have impeded the flow of this commerce at all.)

In 1902, IE presented an overview of Francis Trevithick's most assuredly unbiased report by its editor, Patrick Doyle, comparing these Moguls with the British goods locomotives described in Locobase 10467. Trials of locomotives from "each country" (more about that later) consisted of eight runs. "It is not too much to say that as regards these particular locomotives the results are absolutely conclusive ...the superiority of the British engines is nothing less than startling."