Texas in the Sertão

Picture above: a Texas switching at Vespasiano yard, in the forties.

The Interior in Brazil is called Sertão. The old EFCB narrow gauge Texas run in the Sertão lines too. This is a brief history of them in the Sertão.

Reports picked with railway man and historians give us information that the first two Texas type locomotives of the EFCB were acquired in 1938 and had the 1627 and 1628 road numbers. The data on these two locos are insuficentes to determine their origin. Once no document of the EFCB mentions those locomotives, I cannot determine their origin or even the existence. But I also can not leave of mentioning the fact, once more than one person mentioned their existence in the area where they run from the 1940 to 50´s. Like this, the technical data of this article concerns to the locomotives EFCB ordered in 1940, in other words, of the locomotives of the class 300, weighing 174 metric tons, with 8,391.6 kg of tractive effort. It is interesting to mention that the Santa Fe type of former Teresa Cristina railroad - EFDTC, in spite of being smaller, developed 9,752.4 kg of tractive effort after they were equipped with kettles Belpaire bought in Argentina.

The EFCB Texas was acquired in 1940 in an agreement with Baldwin and Alco, in which resulted in identical locomotives, with possibility to exchange pieces among them. The lot was divided like this: Baldwin supplied 10 units, numbered from 1651 to 1660; Alco supplied 7 units, numbered from 1661 to 1667. All them had capacity to pull 19 freight cars at speed of 40 km/h, what is equal the a capacity of 1500 tons. They came disassembled from United States, being assembled in Horto Florestal shops. Although their base Deposit was there, the ones that were sent to the 12th Residence od EFCB made light and heavy maintenance in the Sete lagoas shops, where one of them arrived very damaged after an accident and, thanks to the excellent crew of the EFCB, returned to the rails in a very good condition, when everybody thought about its scrapment, due to the damage it had in the frames.

An analysis of the Train's Acident Bulletins of 1952, reveals that the locomotives based in the 12th Residence were the Baldwins 1652, 1653, 1657, 1659 and 1660, besides all Alco too, from 1661 to 1667. They were the machines that run between Horto Florestal and the area beyond Sete Lagoas, going to Corinto, as indicate in the same Bulletins.
In the area of the Sertão they became famous because they were common leading the cattle trains, coming from Montes Claros area. Those trains usually arrived to Sete Lagoas leaded for Mikados or Consolidations and, after joined in a composition of, at the most, 20 cattle cars, were common seeing leaded by the Texas until Horto Florestal yard, where the cattle was unloaded at the corrals to take water and to feed, being embarked soon afterwards in the trains of the broad gage heading for the slaughterhouses of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

The mixed trains between Sete Lagoas and Belo Horizonte, formed by three passenger cars, a mail-luggage and, at the most, sixteen freight cars were also leaded by Texas. They left Sete Lagoas at 05:00 AM and arrived in Belo Horizonte at 10:00 AM. Those train came back afternoon, leaving Belo Horizonte at 5:00 PM and arriving to Sete Lagoas at the 10:00 PM.

In the end of their career in the EFCB, the Texas were located to passenger express trains. The nostalgic friend José Augusto Neto told us that the passengers were afraid with the speed of the train, apprehensive that it could jumped out of the rails, but they arrived at the destiny in the foreseen schedule and without larger problems.

To switching operation ofa Texas type locomotive was a difficulty, once there was not turntable to hold their 26 meters in length. They were always turned in the triangles, and for this one was built behind the Sete Lagoas shops. In the eventuality of they proceed beyonde that point, there was necessary to do the reverse traction, or run until Corinto shops to do a turn in the triangle there. That procedure type caused many derailments of the radial wheels, because the line of the Sertão was always terrible (until nowaday).
In that time, the railway sleepers were very spaced, about 60 or 70 centimeters one from the other, besides they be plump. Besides, the preaching was deficient, with two nails for railway sleeper in each rail. These, were very old, having the case of they have more than 70 years of use, besides they be very light, of the type 25 or 37 kg. All this resulted in a frightening picture, with several derailments in the week, having the case of a same locomotive to derail three times proceeded in the same day (like happened with locomotive 1661, in december 20,1952). Another problem was the sinuous shape of that line, with curves and more curves in “S”, as we can verify in the area between Captão Eduardo and Sete Lagoas, where the old bed crosses the current in an endless zig-zag.

The accidents with the Texas had beginning with locomotive 1667. But another suffered more serious derailments, as happened to 1666, that caused the machinist's death, and the oil man and a rider in November of 1950, when the locomotive leaded a train in the km 624, in Vespasiano. The cause of the accident was the deficiency in the lubrication. It was said that these locomotives consumed about 12 liters of oil in the itinerary between Sete Lagoas and Belo Horizonte, but the inspector wanted they consumed the half, then it lacked oil in the drive system and there was the consequent pull to the side affected.
Of this accident we have proof of the press and of José Augusto Neto report, that was in Lagoa Santa that day and drove to Vespasiano to pick the mixed train coming from Belo Horizonte to Sete Lagoas. Because of the interruption of the line, the trains delayed a lot of hours and José Augusto could go to the place of the accident and verify the damage.

It is not known a lot about the performance of these locomotives in the Nova Era branch, where they divided the work with the Santa Fe 2-10-2 and Mallet 2-8-8-4 in one of the busiest lines of the EFCB in the metric gage, where the high grade reduced the capacity of the locomotives. The little we know about that Texas there are the accidents registered in the press and in the Bulletins of the EFCB. In the same way, little it is known about their test in the Vitória to Minas railroad - EFVM, what was not also mentioned in the book “The Estrada Vitória to Minas and their Locomotives since 1904”, of J.B. Setti and Eduardo Coelho. We just know that they leaded trains in that railroad, what is obvious of supposing, once the EFCB and EFVM connected in Nova Era. I have, also, information that locomotive 1655 leaded train even to Counselheiro Lafaiete, in the EFCB Centro line.

The deactivation of these locomotives in the EFCB happened in 1958, when they were sent for the Northwest Railroad of Brazil - NoB, from where they proceeded, in 1960, to the Dona Teresa Cristina railroad - EFDTC, where they operated until the middle of the decade of 80, even when they were leaned definitively after the explosion of the kettle of the locomotive 312 (actually, the first explosion happened with to 304, some years before, forcing to a total stop of the fleet for inspection and repairs).
Former RFFSA tried to manufacture these locomotives in Brazil, sending in 1983 locomotive 313 to USIMEC (Usiminas Mecânica), in Ipatinga, MG to be disassembled for making of molds for production of their pieces. The project didn't go proceeded ahead and of that it resulted that the locomotive ended being forgotten at Usimec and, this way, preserved, being the
only Texas that remained in Minas Gerais.