RENFE 4-8-4 Locomotives in Spain

Class 242-2001 Confederacion (Locobase 1130)

Data from [] (last accessed 17 May 2006) and [], last accessed 13 February 2021. See also Via Libre's story on trial runs of a rebuilt Confederacion originally published on 6 June 2005 and archived at [], last accessed 12 April 2015; and "Historias del vapor (CXLVII): El breve pero intenso fulgor de las "Confederación" (RENFE 242-2001 a 2010) ", posted on the Trenes y tiempos website on 17 May 2020 at [], last accessed 27 September 2020. Works numbers were 695-696 in 1955 and 697-704 in 1956 (8).

Pere Comas, whose Paleontologia Vaporosa posts on the family tree of Spanish 4-8-0s are referenced in Locobase 3382, refers to this "Confederacion" class as "Velocepedus Largtijus" in signfication of their power-at-speed qualities and the long-boilered profile painted dark green that gave rise to the nickname "Lagarto" (lizard).

Ten locomotives supplied by the Barcelona works of Maquinista Terrestre Y Maritima. These drew heavily on the 2-10-2 design that entered service in the mid-1940s (Locobase 2456) using the same boiler and firebox. The Confederacions burned diesel oil at the rate of 2,100 kg (4,630 lb)/hours.

Equipped with the Walschaert-driven poppet valve gear. Other "mod-cons" included the TIA water-treatment system, a feedwater heater, double Kylchap blast pipe. The cab was mounted on springs, presumably to reduce crew fatigue.

NB: Renfe's evaporative heating surface area includes tube heating surface calculated using the inner diameters of tubes and flues. That result came to 267.57 sq m (2,880 sq ft), which together with the firebox heating surface area amounted to 293.72 sq m (3,162 sq ft).

Locobase used the external diameters to simplify comparisons of superheater ratios with other locomotives.

Pulled 750-ton trains with ease at speeds up to 68 mph (110 kph). (Hollingsworth -- 1982 -- notes that trials showed a top speed of 84 mph (130 kph) and cylinder horsepower of 4,000. He notes a more typical service performance of 600 tons up 1% at 55 kph /35 mph sustained.) Via Libre noted the the class's smooth ride at speed, which they attribute to its "stupendous suspension", effective counterbalancing, and the use of a Delta-design trailing bogie.

There were things to criticize, such as the failure to provide power reversing gear and the use of a tender too small to permit long runs. (The Trenes y Tiempos blog post credited the locomotive's range as 150 km (93 miles on )

But its overall reputation is world-class, according to Via Libre.