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ARGENTINA, 1973
Much of the extensive railway system was financed by capital raised in London and UK loco builders provided many engines over the years. And not only steam, as Argentina was a fairly early adopter of diesel traction, see https://www.derbysulzers.com/argentinadmu1935.html for a detailed look at some early internal combustion locos.
9026, one of 20 class 'F' 4-6-0, was built by North British Loco Co in 1909 for the metre gauge Buenos Aires Midland Railway, later part of the General Belgrano system. It is on the turntable at Tapiales, the Buenos Aires depot of this relatively small system, around 500kms, which ran to Carhue.
The F C Central Norte had 50 of these metre gauge class 'C10' 2-8-2 from North British Loco Co in 1911. 770 is seen coming onto shed at Tapiales. They were fairly widespread on the Belgrano, two more were seen at Salta, over 1100 kms away from BA.
Busy scene at the 5'6'' gauge General Mitre loco shed, Rosario with a trio of class 'SS5' 0-6-2T being prepared for duty. 50 were supplied between 1928 and 1931 from North British Loco Co and Robert Stephenson. 40 were allocated here, we saw 22 of them. The large allocation of tank locos was due to this important port city having extensive marshalling yards and grain discharge sidings.
The Central Argentine Railway, or FCCA, became part of the General Mitre system and was 5'6'' gauge. It had 40 class 'L3A' 4-6-2T, built as 2 cylinder compounds in 1907 by Beyer Peacock. Although in steam, 1006 is not going anywhere, being used as a stationary boiler at Rosario with coupling rods removed.
Dumped at Rosario was this ex-FCCA compound 4-8-4T 505. Built by Armstong Whitworth in 1927 and 1930, there were 30 in class 'MS6A' used on urban passenger trains. I made a note at the time that 505 was being kept for a museum and it has indeed been preserved. More information about this class at www.steamlocomotive.com/locobase 11216
Twenty of these class'PS11' 3 cylinder Pacifics were built in 1930 by Armstrong Whitworth and used on express workings between Rosario and B uenos Aires. Note the Caprotti valve gear. Another 30 were constructed by Vulcan Foundry between 1947 and 1952; nineteen went to the Mitre, six to the San Martin and five to the Roca. 1122 above dates from 1947 and is dumped out of use at Rosario in 1973. They were fine engines in their day. 2206 from the San Martin railway has been preserved.
In 1915 North British Loco Co produced 40 class 'CS6' 4-8-0s for the FCCA. A few were still on the active list in 1973 according to 'World of South American Steam'. But not 784 seen at Rosario, where there were many redundant locos.
Below are further details of the Pacifics as published in a Vulcan Foundry brochure (online at http://enuii.com/vulcan_foundry/ ). It seems the post-war order was reduced from 50 to 30 with twenty-one 1000hp English Electric/Vulcan Foundry metre gauge diesels being delivered instead. These were also very successful.
5 ft. 6 in. Gauge 1950 and 1953 4-6-2 (PS.11)
Cylinders................. (3) 19½ in. Diam. x 26 in. Stroke
Diameter Coupled Wheels........................ 6 ft. 2½ in.
Working Pressure.................................. 225 lb.
Tractive Effort at 85% Pressure................. 38,068lb.
Maximum Axleload................................. 18 tons
Weight :
Engine in Working Order..................... 99.7 ’’
Tender ’’ ’’ ..................... 102 ’’
Total ’’ ’’ ..................... 201.7 ’’
The original PS.11 4-6-2 Pacific was the standard express passenger locomotive of the late Central Argentine Railway, now the Bartolome Mitre Railway. So successful was it that upon nationalisation of the Argentine Railways, the Authorities decided to standardise this class for express passenger service on three railways, the Roca, the Bartolome Mitre, and the San Martin, where very heavy trains and continuous high speeds are a daily occurrence, in consequence an order for 50 additional units, duly modified and modernised, was placed with The Vulcan Foundry.
As a result these locomotives-among the most powerful in the world on a power for adhesive weight basis-are operating express trains of up to 750 tons weight on all three railways, including the seaside expresses between Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata, the " Cuyano " and " Internacional " between Buenos Aires and Mendoza en route for Chile, the sleeping car traffic from the Cordoba hills, and the business expresses between Buenos Aires and Rosario.
One of the original locomotives created a South American speed record in 1939 by averaging 65.7 m.p.h. with 500 tons on the non-stop run of 188 miles between Rosario and Buenos Aires, during which a maximum speed of nearly 100mph was attained.
The only locos working were tanks on shunting duties around Rosario Norte station. Above, 963 is an 0-6-0T, class 'SS4' from Beyer Peacock in 1920. Left is 0-6-2T 582, class 'SS5' . This one was built by Robert Stephenson in 1930.
Here is a Kitson 4-6-0 which was station shunter at Santa Fe on the metre gauge Belgrano system. There is a bit of mystery about this loco numbered 1009 which, according to 'Railways of Argentina' by Reg Carter makes it Kitson 3056 of 1888 (built as a rwo cylinder compound) for the North West Argentine Railway. Carter has it as withdrawn from service 'by 1944' but it was very much in service in 1973. Another 59 numbered 1011 to 1069 were built by Kitson in 1889 - 1891, we saw 1056 and 1069 in use at Santa Fe along with 1009.
In addition to the Kitson 4-6-0 tender locos, the same maker provided fifteen 0-6-4T in 1911. Designated class 'S11' on the General Belgrano 2102, a wood burner, was in steam at Santa Fe, as was 2113. 2102 is shown at the 40 stall fan shed, which contained 14 locos on our visit.
The General Mitre broad gauge at Santa Fe had a classic train shed. It was virtually all diesel, but this North British built two cylinder compound 2-8-0, 681, dating from 1907, was active. Due to a derailment on the direct line in, our train was hauled a short distance to the station by 681, which was an unexpected bonus.
The General San Martin railway had many NBL 2-8-0s. 23 is one fitted with Stephenson valve gear, it was another loco built in 1907 and is seen above at Alianza, Buenos Aires .
This 5'6'' gauge class '8A' 2-6-2T was one of six constructed by Beyer Peacock for the F C Oeste de Buenos Aires in 1906. It was 804 on the national F C General Sarmiento before moving to the General Mitre as 2804. Seen out of use at Rosario.
Another ex Sarmiento, ex F C Oeste 2-6-2T, class '8S' 830 was out of use along with 828 at Olavarria on the General Roca. Henry Finch has a photo of one shunting on the Roca in BA in 1968. The class of ten came from Armstrong Whitworth in 1922.
Withdrawn but looking in good order at Tres Arroyos on the 5'6'' General Roca was 7D 2-6-0 3102 coming from Beyer Peacock in 1912, for secondary and branch line work. The whole class of 22 was extant until 1970.
As well as main line railways there was demand for locos on industrial systems. The Port of Buenos Aires had in times past an extensive fleet of Manning, Wardle 0-6-0T on 5'6'' gauge. A couple gravitated south to the Port of Comodoro Rivadavia connected to an isolated State railway going into the interior. One of the Mannings is depicted out of use.
Three generations of British locos on the Roca at Tres Arroyos. Left is 4-6-0 3213 from Beyer Peacock in 1905, originally a compound; right, 3957 a later Beyer Peacock, from 1913; just visible in the background is 4-8-0 1582 built at Vulcan Foundry in 1949.
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