Egyptian State-Western Oases 2-8-2 Locomotives in Egypt

Class 1 (Locobase 20945)

Data from "2-8-2 Narrow Gauge Locomotives for the Western Oases., Egypt", Locomotive Magazine, Volume 38, Number 490 (15 June 1939), pp. 174-175.

A noticeable absence from this Mikado's boiler is a superheater. Locobase hasn't seen many 2-8-2s, particularly of this somewhat later vintage, without one. But considering how small the gauge was, it seems likely that providing one might have stuffed the boiler and yielded very little advantage. Indeed, most 2-8-2s running on such narrow track did so without a superheater.

Perhaps aesthetics came into play as the engine's lines placed as much of the running gear behind a screen. Inside link motion left only the cylinders and connecting rods outside and all eight drivers turned inside the frame plates. Other such touches included tastefully rounded corners on the Belpaire firebox, four brass bands subdividing the view of the boiler, and a modest slotted pilot ahead of the pony truck resembled a veil.

As graceful as these two goods engines might have been, they faced the "absolute sterility" of the desert. The line left Egypt's Nile Valley at a point dubbed "Oases Junction", which lay 340 miles (548 km) south of Cairo at 226 ft (68.9 m) above sea level. Trains headed west 56 miles (90 km) before entering the Libyan Desert and ran west 65 more miles(105 km) to Kharga and its oases. Much of the gain in altitude to the summit at 1,265 ft (385.6 m) occurred during the climb out of the valley. While the desert presented only "fairly easy" grades, the final 10 mile (16 km) miles through the Sohag Pass dropped at a 2 1/2% pitch and offered "a series of corkscrew curves."

Over that distance, the first station after Gara in the Nile Valley was 102 3/4 miles (165 km) away at Mehrig near the oases. (Sidings or loops to permit passing were placed about 10 miles (16 km) apart.)