Night at the Works

Above: Pictures at the shed show Henschel 4-8-2 'C14' 862 in the yard and Baldwin 4-8-2 'C16' 1825 inside the shed.

Below: Tucuman station had some nice signals to set off the pilot loco, 4-8-2 'C14' 880 built by Krupp in 1938. 

The main Belgrano workshops for overhauling its considerable steam fleet were at Tafi Viejo, about a thirty minute train ride north from Tucuman. Our initial sortie there was on a Sunday evening, when it was quiet. We walked around the very solid perimeter wall and I made a note at the time that 'the Works is inpenetrable'.

Although we had a permit to take photos and visit loco depots, we weren't sure if it covered loco works as well. But we decided to give it a go a day or two later.

We travelled elsewhere  - see the article  'Metre Gauge at Metan' - and came back to Tafi Viejo on the Wednesday afternoon to try our luck at the Works. Having presented our permit at the gatehouse it soon became clear that the security man did not think we should be allowed entry. However we persisted and eventually he told us to wait while he went to get someone who spoke English.

After thirty minutes or so, he came back with a couple of other people. One was a tall gent wearing overalls, who greeted us in English. We explained what we were doing, looking at railways in the country, we told him where we had visited. The gent insisted that we should be his guests in the Works, so we had a breakthrough. As we walked down to the workshops, he asked us our names and what part of the UK we hailed from. Then we asked his name. 'My name is Porta' he said. This stopped us in our tracks. We certainly knew his name, we knew he was THE steam loco engineer, known not only in Argentine, but throughout the steam world.

Our host, who was a consultant to the Belgrano railway, took us into the workshops and around the works yard. I remember Sr Porta climbed up on top of a loco to scour the yard  looking for two Esslingen 0-12-2 rack tanks amongst the lines of derelicts. They were built in 1955 fo use on the short, 11.3km, rack section of the  Tucuman - Potosi, Bolivia , line but proved too heavy and had also fractured their cylinders. Subsequently one was used as a stationary boiler at the Works.

Sr Porta was present on this occasion to continue his tests with Baldwin 4-8-2 1802, built in 1948 +. 1802 was his mobile testbed from 1969 to 1974. According to Martyn Bane" Porta perfected his Lempor exhaust ejector with 1802, also the Porta advanced boiler water treatment. The latter meant boiler washouts were done once every six months instead of once every week. Also it dramatically extended the life of boilers between heavy overhauls.

Sr Porta had his own train in the yard, which included a private saloon and staff sleeping car. We were invited to go out main line with the test train, due to leave the Works around 7.30pm, however it transpired that no path was available and the run was rescheduled for next morning.

Sr Porta then invited us to spend the night in the sleeper parked up in the Works! We had no hesitation in accepting the invitation. The chef who prepared dinner, which we ate in the saloon with Sr Porta, was sent out to town to buy bacon and eggs for our breakfast next morning! Over dinner, Sr Porta talked about loco design, water treatment and all things British.

One of the Works shunters was wood burning 2-8-2 7018, a 1920 Baldwin.

Another was 7178, built by North British Loco Co in 1910. It started life as a Compound 4-8-0, and was displayed at

the 1910 Buenos Aires Exhibition when new, being rebuilt in the 1930s as a 2-8-2.

Ex-works 2-8-2 7168 was originally a North British 4-8-0 dating from 1907.Tafi Viejo turned out an ex-works

loco every other day.

Inside the workshops under heavy overhaul is 3009, a Baldwin 4-6-2.

Senor Porta and staff in the workshops.

Porta's test loco 4-8-2 1802 moves off shed preparing for a day on the main line.

One of the Works locos,7178, was shunting when a freight passed by.

2-10-2 1312 reverses past 1802 which is waiting for the train order to proceed northwards.

The test train left the Works at 09.00 for the nearby station and a trip north on the single line to Metan. The consist was: loco 1802; bogie water wagon (empty), dynamometer car; Sr Porta's saloon; sleeping car; four coaches.

I recorded it was 10.13 when we departed Tafi Viejo. The loco had a 'tremendous bark' as it accelerated up the 1 in 60 gradient. But about an hour into the trip, at Tapia, a problem was noted, a hot rod bearing which Sr Porta put down to 'bad workmanship'.

We waited some time for a southbound freight which eventually arrived behind 2-10-2 1359. 1359 was short of fuel oil, so 1802 banked its train for about 20 minutes out of Tapia, returning light engine. We went too and sat on 1802's tender while it was performing this duty.

Picture taken while sitting on 1802's tender as it banked a freight headed by 2-10-2 1359 which made plenty of black smoke despite apparently being short of fuel oil!

The accumulated delays put paid to plans to go further, with 1802 and train coming back to Tafi Viejo. That wasn't quite the end of 1802's day out however. A two car diesel unit from Tucuman stalled on the grade into Tafi Viejo and 1802 went to assist, pulling it into the station.

1802 is behind the diesel unit it assisted into Tafi Viejo; also here is 1359, with the freight banked earlier by 1802.

After our unexpected night at the Works we needed to be on our way, so bid farewell to Sr Porta and his staff before riding the revived diesel unit back to Tucuman.

A little information about improvements to Porta's test loco 1802:

Development of improved water treatment using 1802 started in 1969. This subject is comprehensively covered in the papers mentioned in the POSTSCRIPT below.

Redesign of valve port openings with the area for steam to pass through  increased from average of 50% to 96%.

Redesign of piston rings and different (diesel) materials used reducing leakage from 15% to 5%, after 30,000 miles - on Chapelon's locos it was 3.5% after running in; Porta said on his loco the figure was 1.7% after running in. 

Continuous drawbar brake horse power increased from 1000 to 1700 dbhp.

The loco has been fitted with solid cast bronze axleboxes.

Porta published a paper in December 1972 entitled ' Steam Locomotive Sizeable Improvements with Minor Detail Alterations - The Experience with Engine No. 1802, FCGB.' 

A few more snippets gleaned from our conversations:

Porta said steam in Argentina was officially due to last until 1978, though even diesel engineers admitted it might last into the 1980s.

He thought Alco built locos were better than Baldwins...

Argentina had the capacity to export steam parts.

He has designed a three cylinder compound 2-10-0.

He has designed a firebox that is more round than usual with secondary air coming in four places, creating a swirling action which reduces sparks to one-fifth of the normal spark emissions.

He designed  hexagonal superheater tubes for a loco at the 60cm sugar railway at San Martin de Tabacal and had the loco converted to burn oil instead of wood. 

Footnotes

See also 'The Wizard's Apprentice' in the Southern Africa section.

+ Railways of Argentina loco list published by the Stephenson Locomotive Society in 1996 shows 1802 as Baldwin 73539 of 1947; however the plate on the loco was Baldwin 73545/February 1948 (shown in the SLS list as being 1808).

" Quoted from Martyn Bane/Porta Treatment.com

* Our journey to Tucuman was not on the Belgrano, but on the broad gauge - virtually completely dieselised - General Mitre Railway, leaving Rosario at 21.55 and arriving in Tucuman next day at 12.40. It was possible to do the journey on the metre gauge, but would have taken longer.

POSTSCRIPT

Perhaps surprisingly there was a British Railways Board (BRB) involvement in aspects of work carried out by Porta on loco 1802.  In 1971, under the auspices of the British Council and British Embassy in Buenos Aires, BRB sent out to Buenos Aires a technical expert, William Ridgway Richardson, from BR Midland Region to advise on steam locomotive boiler water treatment in collaboration with  the Belgrano Railway, Porta, his team and INTI, the National Institute of Industrial Technology, where Porta was Head of Section in the Thermodynamic Department. Richardson subsequently wrote a 'Report on Water Treatment Practices on Locomotive and Industrial Boilers in Argentina' which has been published by the Advanced Steam Traction Trust and is included in a 'Selection of Papers by L D Porta Volume 4 Locomotive Boiler Water covering Water Treatment, Feedwater Heating and Boiler Water Behaviour.' According to this volume, the Report 'greatly assisted Porta obtaining funding for continuation of the water treatment development work.' 

Loco 1802 was used for water treatment - and other - tests from 1969 to 1974. As a result Porta's treatment methods were used at various loco depots on the General Belgrano Railway until the end of metre gauge steam in 1979/80, including Tucuman, Metan and Volcan where boiler corrosion on locos working the line to La Quiaca had been particularly problematical. 

Some information about Tafi Viejo workshops from Railways of South America Part I. Argentina  published in 1926 by

United States.Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce

NORTH CENTRAL ARGENTINE RAILWAY, FERROCARRIL CENTRAL NORTE ARGENTINO

MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT  REPAIR SHOPS

The State railways have four repair shops along the lines of the Central Northern Railway. The main shops are at Tafi Viejo near the city of Tucuman and the other three smaller workshops are at Cruz del Eje, Laguna Paiva and San Cristobal. The Patagonian railways each operate small machine shops for repair work.

The Tafi Viejo workshops handle all of the major repairs and care for more than 75 per cent of the entire maintenance work.

The site of the Tafi Viejo workshops occupies 42 acres. The shops were built in 1911 and are modern in layout and equipment. They employ 1,900 workmen. The buildings are of brick with steel glass roofs. A workmen's village is built behind the workshops, å site covering 14 squares. There are 30 houses of three living rooms, kitchen, bathroom and lavatory; 80 houses of two rooms and 5 buildings of five two room apartments each. There is also a school, theater, market and cooperative store. All the houses are of concrete blocks with galvanized iron roofs.

The plant at Tafi Viejo consists of locomotive shops, boiler shop, machine shops, sawmill, carpenter shops, coach and car shops, paint shop, iron and brass foundry, forge shop wheel shop, tubé shop, power plant and warehouses. The locomotive erecting shop has two 100 ton Niles electric traveling cranes and all the other shops are served by adequate electric traveling cranes The two bays of the erecting shop have capacity for 21 locomotives each. There are more than 300 machine tools in the shops all of which are motor driven. The equipment is both American and European. Compressed air at 80 pounds pressure is piped to all parts of the workshops. A 100 ton hydraulic wheel press is installed in the wheel shop and the forge shop is equipped with steam hammers up to 1.8 tons capacity. The machine tools are well assorted to care for the general work of the shops. The iron foundry has one 3 ton and one 142 ton cupola. The average weekly output of iron is at present about 60 tons. The largest castings made are of 2 tons although larger pieces can be handled. Machine molding is being used in the making of grate bars, brake shoes and other small parts in quantity. The foundry is equipped with three brass furnaces with a daily capacity of about 114 tons.

From 25 to 35 locomotives pass through the shops each month equivalent to an average of 16 general locomotive repairs per month. The coach repair sections take care of an average of 26 general repairs to passenger coaches a month. There are also about 250 freight cars passing through the shops equivalent to an average of 120 general freight car repairs per month. The policy is not to build new equipment though complete rebuilding of coaches and freight cars is done regularly.. An American oxygen plant is installed capable of giving 120 cubic meters of gas every 24 hours. The water service of the shops is provided by five wells which supply two reinforced concrete tanks of 105,000 gallons capacity each. A central electric power station is equipped with six 220 kilowatt triple expansion groups of German manufacture. The continuous current generators furnish power at 440 volts and lighting current at 220 volts. Steam power is generated by six Babcock & Wilcox boilers working at 210 pounds pressure.