Norte 4-8-4 Locomotives in Spain

Class 242-0401 (Locobase 3327)

Data from []. See also "New Compound Locomotives, Northern Railway of Spain", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XIX [19] (15 October 1913), pp. 228-229; and Pere Comas and Alfred Puig, Breve Historia de la Traccion Vapor en Norte, Trensim TS10H001, Noviembre de 2010, p. 44. Works numbers were 6448-6453 in 1913.

Although smaller than most of their successors in Spanish service, these locomotives had relatively large Belpaire fireboxes and superheater area. They operated on the Ferrocarril de Tudela a Bilbao. LM reported that their "motions, wheels, bogies, and brake gear were identical for the 4-8-0 [Locobase 2526] and 4-8-4[T] engines."

Comas and Puig attribute this class to Madrid's inhabitants' custom of "summering" in the towns around the Guadarrama range, later expanded to traveling to the same areas for winter sports. It was a service that comprise short runs with many stops and stations at the each end of the line that did not have a way of turning their locomotives. The ideal locomotive for such operation was bi-directional with the power (agarre or "bite") to carry speed through the mountainous section.

Taking the 4-8-0 and adding a trailing bogie was the solution. The bogie provided stability as the engine reached its 60 kph (37 mph) speed as well as permitting an increase in water and coal capacity.

Although the class was successful and was brought wholesale into RENFE, they were displaced from their original duty by the electrification of the Guadarrama main line. Displaced to Miranda de Ebro, Leon, and, ultimately, Zaragoza, the class was finally retired in 1966.

NB: RENFE's 1947 diagram shows the exterior diameter of the 141 small tubes and 24 large tubes, but gives the following heating surface areas based on the tubes' interior diameters: tubes and flues , 136.51 sq m (1,469 sq ft) and, including firebox area, 150.89 sq m (1,624 sq ft).