Moctezuma Copper Company 2-8-0 Locomotives in Mexico

Class 4 (Locobase 13231)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 31, p. 10 and Vol 45, p. 203. Works numbers were 32329 in December 1907 and 33405 in May 1909.

Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company was headquartered in Douglas, Ariz. In 1903, the company was described as "one of the world's greatest copper producers." Its underground openings totaled more than 100 miles. It would take the name Phelps Dodge in 1917, although this title applied to the holding company.

The relatively short-stroke #4 worked the 5-mile road that connected the Pilares Tunnel with the concentrating mill at Nacozari in Mexico's Sonora State. The 5 was sold soon after delivery to the Shannon-Arizona Railway as their #1, where it joined the #2 . The S-A connected the copper mine at Metcalf, Ariz with Clifton's smelter.

Nine years after these two came to the Nacozari mill, the Moctezuma returned to Baldwin for a superheated variant; see Locobase 14985).

Class 6 (Locobase 14985)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Vol 65, p. 376+. Works number was 49926 in September 1918.

Copper companies usually had railways that went from mine to smelter in some of the most inhospitable places. By the looks of the specs for this oil-burning, outside-frame Consolidation, Moctezuma fit the pattern. It was the superheated reworking of the pair of 2-8-0s Baldwin delivered in 1907 (Locobase 13231).

According to the book, the 6 would roll on 30 lb/yard (15 kg/metre) rail up maximum grades of 1 1/4% against the load and snake around 45 degree curves. All four driven axles had flanged drivers, although lateral play in the second and fourth was 5/16" (7.9 mm) as opposed to the virtual immobility of the first and third (1/16"/1.6 mm). The front truck enjoyed an extensive 6 3/4" (171 mm) swing to each side. The crown sheet sloped downward from the front of the firebox to the rear at a pitch of no less than 5/8" per foot ( (52.2 mm/metre).

The engine's short stroke was later adjusted when the 6 was rebuilt with 18" x 22" cylinders and given slightly taller 41" drivers.