Callao Oroya Railway 2-6-0 Locomotives in Peru

Class Morococha (Locobase 12586)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 23, p.145. For the CO's history, see Juan Jose Castro, Treatise on the South American railways and the great international lines (Montevideo, Uruguay. Ministerio de fomento, cultos Instruccion publica, 1893); Frederic M Halsey, Investments in Latin America and the British West Indies, Special Agents Series - No 169, United States Department of Commerce (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office,1918) p. 328; and Clayton Sedgewick Cooper, "Peru's Principal Railway", Railway Review, Volume 64, No1 (4 January 1919), pp. 1-5 . Works numbers were 19878, 19941 in December 1901and 23829-23830, 23877-23878 in March 1904.

The other locomotives in this class had the following names: Ticlio, Desamparados, Verrugus, Infiernillo, and Galera. They were rated at 62 tons of trailing load up the ruling grades of 3-4% and curves of 106-metres radius.

According to Castro, the CO ran "...from the port of Callao to the Monserrate station in Lima, after a run of 12 kilometers, it climbs the mountains on the banks of the River Rinac until it reaches the San Pedro Mauna station in kilometers 53.340 with minimum gradients of 3 %; from this point on, the rapid ascent is made with gradients of 3.85% and 4.43% for which reason heavy engines are employed capable of overcoming these very heavy gradients.

"The station Cochaira is found in kilometer 75, Chicha in kilometer 160 and Oroya is reached in kilometer 209 from Callao."

Castro notes that the line was not without its demands: "The minimum radius of the curves is 120 meters with a distance of 40 meters stretch of direct line between two curves in opposite directions, save in some special cases where this has been reduced to 15 meters in order to have an easier line with reduced wear and tear for the rolling stock."

Cooper's later report on Peruvian railways singled out Henry Meiggs, the American engineer who designed and oversaw construction of a railway that cost $75,000/mile and was described by some as the "Eighth Wonder of the World". Travelling from Lima to Oroya 138 miles away included passing through the Galera tunnel, which bored through Mt Meiggs at 15,655 ft (4,772 m) above sea level. Halsey's survey that the line had 57 tunnels and was laid on 70 lb/yard (35 kg/m) rails.