30-inch gauge Baldwins in Argentina

[Stephen Hussar]

They speak Portuguese in Argentina.

That may be true, but the official language of Argentina is Spanish.

[Wayne Laepple]

I believe it's Brazil where Portuguese is the national language.

[Ken Fleming]

Wayne and All

My bad!  Your right.  I even have friends living in Brazil.  Sorry.

Ken

[Nick Griffiths]

For those interested, there's a very good website on the narrow gauge railways in South America [http://railwaysofthefarsouth.co.uk/] compiled by a Welsh Highland Railway fireman.  The chapters on "La Trochita" and the other 2'6"/30"/760mm lines are worth reading.  I've come across other sites but can't think of the urls.

There's also a 1999 book - "Narrow Gauge Rails to Esquel" by Keith Taylorson ISBN 1-871980-41-0 with a more detailed (as far as information is available) history of this line which opened in the early 1920s and didn't open its full length until after WW2!

The Baldwins were interesting in that 1) the batch of 25 locos were delivered in only 40 days from receipt of the order in October 1922, 2) that some were superheated and some were saturated and 3) they weren't all commissioned- some ended up used as spares after sitting around for many years!

Hopefully of interest...

Nick

[Pete "Cosmo" Barrington]

VERRY interesting!
I wonder if any of the "spares" are still unused? (I'm guessing not.) I also wonder if it would be possible to "liberate" enough usable parts, perhaps even a less-than-servicable locomotive that's noot an exact match ut with the parts for building a closer representaative of SR&RL #23, 24, or 26?

[Vincent "Lightning" LeRow]

Perhaps we could scrounge up parts for a #6 copycat?

[Pete "Cosmo" Barrington]

Perhaps we could scrounge up parts for a #6 copycat?

My piont!

[Paul Horky]

Guys somethings to consider 1 these are 8 coupled not 6 coupled engines 2 they will not fit your track as they are 6" too wide. With work one could be a engine but big and not too useable on any of the Maine lines. Now some of the engines still in Barizl are 1 two foot 2 built from the same plans as some of the Maine engines 3 are 6 coupled so with work could be made to look like what you want.

[Wayne Laepple]

The difficulty with the two-foot gauge locomotives in Brazil is that all have been declared "heritage" by the provincial government and therefore cannot be sold or donated or otherwise removed. I spent quite a bit of time about two years ago corresponding with several people, including folks on the ground in Brazil, and they made it clear that none of this equipment will leave the country.

[James Patten]

Guys somethings to consider...they will not fit your track as they are 6" too wide.

Although 30" gauge equipment can be narrowed to 24" gauge (Our #10 used to be 30" gauge), I would be quite wary about narrowing the gauge on a large locomotive.  Unless you're prepared to do a lot of work on the cylinders, they will remain at 30" gauge, while the frame will have to come in 3" on either side.  Cylinder castings aren't made for that - #10's, when we rebuilt it a few years ago, required some careful thought as to how to stabilize the cylinder casting (it was relatively loose on the frame before the rebuild).  We ended up welding in some risers and wedging the cylinder, then drilling holes and putting in fitted bolts to hold it.

[Glenn Christensen]

Hi James,

You're right of course about the possible problems encountered when regauging a locomotive ... but don't forget, these locos are outside frame ...

(I can hear the "doh" way down here in Georgia.)


Grins and Best Regards,
Glenn

[James Patten]

I would imagine outside frame would make regauging from 30 to 24 much easier.