Re: Old time steam operations

Nice to see the preserved section of the EFOM/VFCO is doing well. The No. 41 is looking very well maintained, as are the passenger cars. The large red wheel, visible on the engineer's side of the cab, is part of the reverse gear. There is a conventional Johnson bar, but instead of a conventional toothed rack, it engages a long screw. Fast changes in direction or cut off are made with the Johnson bar, but fine adjustments can be made by turning the screw wheel.

I visited the railroad in 1982, a few months before closure. Then known as the VFCO (Viação Férrea Centro-Oeste), it was division 5 of the national railway system and was still operating 200km of what had once been a 600km mainline system with over 300km of branch lines. São João del Rei, the location of the fancy station in the video, was the center of the remaining operation, with a full 360 degree roundhouse and shops. There were still 15 steam locos present, of which perhaps 8 or 9 saw regular service. There were two 4-4-0's, six 4-6-0's and seven 2-8-0's, dating from 1892 to 1912. At its peak, sleeping car service was provided and at least one sleeping car was still in existence, although in need of restoration.

A lovely inside frame 4-4-0, dating from 1880 was on display in the Museum. The two outside frame 4-4-0's date from 1912 and one was in service on a tourist train to Tiradentes. The 12km segment from São João del Rei to Tiradentes was already being used for a weekend tourist train, so it looked like the railroad's future was secure. The roundhouse had burned a number of years before our visit and had lost its roof, but new pillars were on site and it has since been fully restored as part of the museum operation.

From São João del Rei lines ran 98km east to Antonio Carlos and 102km west to Aureliano Mourão. Principal traffic was limestone from Aureliano Mourão, shipped to the cement plant at Baroso, on the Antonio Carlos line, and cement, shipped all the way back to Aureliano Mourão for interchange with the meter gauge lines and shipment to the Itaipu dam project. Completion of the dam in October 1982 ended that traffic, causing the cement plant to close.

The Aureliano Mourão line saw a daily passenger train, as well as a freight, while passenger service on the Antonio Carlos line ran as a mixed train to Baroso, where the stone cars were dropped, and then proceded onward as a pure passenger train to the broad gauge connection at Antonio Carlos. Passenger traffic on the Aureliano Mourão segment might have kept the railroad open, but heavy rains in January 1983 washed out much of that line. Eventually, all but the section from São João del Rei to Tiradentes on the Antonio Carlos line was pulled up.

Today, São João del Rei, a colonial era treasure, is a major tourist draw and the museum looks to be doing a good business. The equipment has been lettered back to EFOM (Estrado de Ferro Oest de Minas), the original name for the railroad before nationalization.

Michael Allen