Re: My favorite locomotive...and ng too!

Great photo, Tom!

While appearing as American as they come, the thirteen 2-8-2 locomotives built by Fried Krupp A.G. of Germany (nos. 162 -174) that entered service on the International Railways of Central America in 1937 are especially interesting, as they appear to have been built from Baldwin construction drawings that originated with a concurrent purchase of 2-8-2’s from Philadelphia in 1936 and ‘37. And, although additional identical locomotives were ordered from Baldwin in 1946, ‘47 and again in 1949, no further orders were placed with Krupp.

Specification sheets for the Baldwin and Krupp locomotive from the IRCA mechanical department show an identical tractive power at 85percent of 27,265 pounds along with the same tonnage ratings across the system that maxed out at 3.6 percent.

Westinghouse supplied the brake equipment to both builders.

Indeed, the respective weights seem to be the only differences between the two manufacturers, which were as follows:

Krupp: Total engine weight 126,000lbs, drivers, 108,000lbs, lead truck, 11,550lbs, trailing truck, 21,750, Engine total, 141,300, Tender Total, 77,000 lbs, and combined engine and tender219,000 lbs.

Baldwin: Total engine weight 129,000lbs, drivers, 110,000lbs, lead truck, 11,600lbs, trailing truck, 24,700, Engine total, 146,300, Tender Total, 80,200 lbs, and combined engine and tender226,350 lbs.

Visual differences were limited to the placement of the generator adjacent to the stack and the air tanks on the running board on the Krupps, while Baldwin placed the generator just in front of the cab and the air tanks below the running board. Baldwin mounted the builders plates on the smokebox and Krupp chose to place theirs on the cylinders. The Krupps also carried a rectangular number plate on the smokebox door.

Jack Neville