Several 2-8-0 Locomotives in Spain

Class 140-2068 (Locobase 3373)

RENFE grouped several railroads' worth of identical locomotives under a single class -- included were Norte's 400, 4700, 4800, & 4900 series; Oeste's 891-899, and Murcia-Caravaca 6,7, & 4777.

Developed, says Reder (1974), to provide more pulling power on the Guadarrama grades and Cantabrian mountain routes while allowing a decent turn of speed on the flat, these engines had relatively tall drivers for a Consolidation. All but 80 engines had Walschaerts valve gear, straight boiler barrels and a Belpaire firebox. OS Nock's RWC IV, pl 166 shows a lumpy profile with large domes, auxiliary tanks, air pumps, and pipes. The last 80 -- Norte 4837-4916/RENFE 140-2392-2471 -- had Lentz poppet gear and boiler pressure raised to 184 psi (13 bar), and Kylchap exhaust.

This design was rated at 275 tons up the Guadarrama section and 360 tons (freight), 260 tons (passenger) over the mountains.

So successful were they that construction continued from 1909 to 1943. The first 127 came from builders in Belgium -- St Leonard (72, including the first 50), Cockerill (10) -- and Germany -- Maffei (20), Linke Hoffmann (15), and Hanomag (10). Beginning in 1924, Spanish locomotive shops took over the task. These included Babcock & Wilcox (165), Euskalduna (122), Sociedad de Construcciones En Naval (14), and MTM (10).