2-8-2 Steam Locomotives in Guatemala

Class 150 (Locobase 15424)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 79, pp. 76+ and, for the Caprotti pair), pp. 82. See also J B West's blog A Life Wasted Chasing Trains, "Some history [relating to the IRCA] at []. (Thanks to Ivo Rutishauser for his 15 October 2026 email correctly aligning works numbers with road numbers.) Works numbers were 60556-60557 in July 1928 and 60722-60723 in March 1929.

These oil-fired Mikados outstripped in size the 2-8-2s bought at the same time and described in 15423. The first two used Walschaert gear to actuate 9" (229 mm) piston valves. The second pair--152-153-- had Caprotti valve gear that opened four 5 1/2" (140 mm) poppet valves in each cylinder.

Baldwin's spec included the relatively low rail weights of 55-60 lb/yard (27.5-30 kg/metre). Locomotive empty weight needed to stay below 125,000 lb (56,700 kg) and axle loading shouldn't exceed 13 short tons (5,897 kg, i.e 5.9 metric tons)

The 150s were bought in batches at a time when the IRCA achieved a milestone, as J B West recounts: "The link between Zacapa and San Salvador was completed in 1929. It connected the previously built IRCA lines in the two countries, reaching in El Salvador as far south a La Union, on the Gulf of Fonseca, a ferry ride away from Nicaragua. It also connected in San Salvador with the independent El Salvador Railway."

Note the strategic thinking (and the prodigious resource outlay) of this next pair of sentences: "The direct route from El Salvador to the Caribbean port of Barrios justified the expensive construction through the mountains. At the Ipala Loops four levels of track are visible on the mountainside as the railroad looped around to reach the summit."

"With the completion of the link to El Salvador", says West, "the IRCA had created a narrow gauge empire stretching from Mexico to the Gulf of Fonseca, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, a system of over 800 miles [1,288 km] of line."