Fc Minas de San Juan / Norte / Zaragoza a Barcelona 0-8-0 Locomotives in Spain

Class 040-2221 (Locobase 5965)

Data from [], the web site of the Spanish National Railway (19 Mar 2004).

These and the 040-2341s (Locobase 3470) were from the same Chemnitz batch, but numbered in different RENFE series. Locobase guesses that they came from different shed locations or possibly different predecessor railroads.

Class 2538/040-2131 (Locobase 3459)

Data from Lavagoneta, p. 208. See also Breve Historia .

This rather numerous class was built over 11 years (1880-1891) by several manufacturers including Chemnitz (Hartmann); Fives Lille; Sharp, Stewart; & Valere-Mabille. The table shows road numbers, builder, year, and works numbers for each batch:

Road numbers Builder Year Works numbers

2538-2546 Fives-Lille 1880 2279-2287

2547-2555 Sharp 1880 2900-2908

2556-2566 Hartmann 1880 1066-1072

2563-2566 Hartmann 1881 1124-1127

Class 2571/040-2071 (Locobase 3457)

Data from [] and Reder (1974). See also "Historias del vapor (XXXI): Unas 040 con bielas redondas (RENFE 040-2071/040-2090)", 10 April 2016 in the Trenes y tiempos, last accessed 20 February 2017 at [] . Avonside shipped twelve engines (91-102, works numbers 575-586 in 1865) for use on the 5-ft, 6-in Spanish broad gauge. Eight more were built in 1877 by Le Creusot (317-324, works numbers 1865-1872) after the Zaragoza & Barcelona had merged with the Zaragoza & Pamplona

Fear of a high center of gravity made these engines appear relatively small, but in fact the first eight-coupled designs built by an English builder had relatively large drivers. A large round-topped firebox was placed over the rear driving axle, which the Trenes y tiempos blog entry notes "conferred improved [ride] stability." Trenes y tiempos also notes that the coupling rod had a circular cross-section, which was quite unusual.

RENFE later operated these engines, which later acquired new boilers with square-shouldered Belpaire fireboxes. The first to retire went in 1958, the last in 1968. 040-2082 went into the Museo del Ferrocarril's collection, but was displayed by the friends of the Alcázar de San Juan railway.

NB: Tube diameter in Renfe diagrams was expressed as an outside diameter of 50 mm. But the heating surface area was calculated on the fire (internal) diameter side of 44.5 mm.

Class 2591/040-2001 (Locobase 5533)

Data from [], the web site of the Spanish National Railway (5 May 2003). Works numbers were 1380-1383 in 1865.

These were very similar to Cail's design for the predecessor of the Andaluces that were delivered in the same year. This Norte quartet was a big bigger, but used a lower boiler pressure.

All four went into the RENFE in 1941 as 040-2001-2004.

Class 2622/040-2341 (Locobase 3470)

Data from [], the web site of the Spanish National Railway (19 March 2004). See also Pere Comas and Alfred Puig, Breve Historia de la Traccion Vapor en Norte, Trensim TS10H001, Noviembre de 2010. Works numbers were 2611-2621 in 1900.

These and the 040-2221s (Locobase 5965) were from the same Chemnitz batch, but numbered in different RENFE series. Locobase guesses that they came from different shed locations or possibly different predecessor railroads.

Class 2651/040-2471 (Locobase 5869)

Data from Pere Comas and Alfred Puig, Breve Historia de la Traccion Vapor en Norte, Trensim TS10H001, Noviembre de 2010, pp. 28-29, p. 91-2 ; and MATERIAL MOTOR RENFE 1947 diagram book posted by carlos lavagoneta arroba and retrieved from Picasa [], last accessed 1 June 2014., p. 112. Works numbers were 3091-3106 in 1907, 3293-3312 in 1909.

These medium-sized eight-coupleds may have been the first of that wheel arrangement in Spain to have been fitted with superheaters, albeit at a relatively low percentage. The design had a long boiler with Belpaire firebox, a large, tall steam dome in the middle, small flared tube that indicated a Pascal-type brake system, and a cubic sandbox over the first axle.

Compared to the range of Spanish 0-8-0s, these had small boilers for their cylinder size and a low factor of adhesion despite a relatively high axle loading. The Henschel batch (2731 et seq, shown in Locobase 5966) more than doubled the superheater ratio.

Whatever the statistics, the class was taken up en masse by RENFE in 1941 and renumbered 040-2471-2502.

Class 2731/040-2511 (Locobase 5966)

Data from [], the web site of the Spanish National Railway (19 Mar 2004). See also Pere Comas and Alfred Puig, Breve Historia de la Traccion Vapor en Norte, Trensim TS10H001, Noviembre de 2010, pp. 30-31, 92-93 ; and MATERIAL MOTOR RENFE 1947 diagram book posted by carlos lavagoneta arroba and retrieved from Picasa [], last accessed 1 June 2014., p. 113. Works numbers were 9226-9245 in 1909, 10166-10175 in 1910.

As noted in Locobase , the 1907 2651 class was superheated, a first, but at a relatively small percentage of the total heating surface. Like the earlier engines, the 2731s had large, rectilinear sandboxes just behind the stack and ahead of very tall steam domes and the square shoulders of a Belpaire firebox. This pack of Henschels that followed two years later remedied the imbalance of saturated to superheated areas, although the ratio of heating surface to cylinder volume is still quite low.

Note, however, that RENFE's calculation of heating surface area uses the fire side (inside tube and flue diameters) rather than the Anglo-American outside diameters. Using the outside diameters yields an evaporative heating surface area of 1,552 sq ft (144.2 sq m). Superheater ratio drops to a still impressive 22% in what Comas and Puig describe as the most powerful class of eight-coupleds to serve the Norte.

Comas and Puig comment that the substitution of Walschaerts for the earlier Stephenson gear brought with it a word that is very difficult to pronounce properly in Spanish. They settled on "Gualchers". Replacing the Pascal brake system with a vacuum brake meant deleting the slender, upfacing "trompetilla" (literally "little trumpet") between the dome and sandbox.

Like the others, this class remained in service to the end of steam principally on demanding profiles limited by their construction to relatively low axle loadings.

Class Rigolisa/040-0201 (Locobase 5532)

Data from [] (21 April 2003). Works numbers were 290-292 in 1876 and 846-849 in 1879.

This small eight-coupled tank design was delivered to this mining road in the 1870s. All had names: Rigolisa, Torallas, Congost, La Pleva, Ogassa, Fresser, and Surroca. One would think the Walschaert valve gear replaced an original Stephenson setup, but Locobase can't say either way.

All seven of these little tanks had been in service over 60 years before being brought into the RENFE.

Class Serie 500//040-2091 (Locobase 3458)

Data from [] . See also "Le Chatelier Water Brake", a distillation of posts from the Narrow Gauge Discussion Forum available at [], last accessed 1 January 2021. Works numbers were 716-731, 747-755 in 1864; 817-828 in 1865.

These engines were similar to those already running on France's Midi Railroad, but were built to run on the 5-ft, 6-in Spanish broad gauge. They showed a square-shouldered Belpaire firebox, a large steam dome positioned forward of the first axle and Stephenson link motion mounted outside.

The engines were also equipped with the Le Chatelier (or Ricour; the two bitterly disputed credit for the invention) steam brake, which used special valves to admit hot water from the boiler through the exhaust ports into the cylinders. As the return stroke compressed the wet steam, its mounting resistance slowed the piston and thus the engine.

This engine-braking system was said to be very effective and reliable in mountain service in Austria, France, Italy, and Spain, although the Narrow Gauge Discussion Forum post by William L. Petitjean, P.E. claimed that the system could be too effective, heating up cylinders. "You had to handle them with kid gloves or you could quickly wreck a lot of machinery.", he added. (Also see Locobase 13777 for discussion of Brazilian operation.)[Note also that it did nothing to stop the train, just the engine.]

Named for rivers, the Rio class were the first eight-coupleds to enter service in Spain.