A HELP OF THE DESTINY

An old drawing of the speed plate used by former EFCB



A routine rail incursion in Pedro Leopoldo's area ended for putting me face to face with a sensational file of former EFCB railroad forgotten in an old car shelter in the proximities of the old Workshop of Carpentry of the Central. It is the file of the extinct 12a Residence of EFCB. If the action of the time and the insects was not enough on that documentation, the file had also been discovered for criminals of the area that, don't please with the depredation that they did at the place, ended for setting on fire the file. The burns of that paper work turned off an important part of the national rail history. We lost the link that united us to the past of glory of the Central do Brasil railroad. This and other fires in rail files that I witnessed in turning off of the lights of RFFSA remembers me of the ancient report fire of Alexandria Library, that destroyed very important informations about the civilizations of the antiquity. Historians say that the humanity suffered one thousand year-old delay with the destruction of that library, of so big was the loss in scientific knowledgement. In our case, the damage was just historical and social. With the loss of official documents of the old EFCB, we also lost the chance to understand the day by day of a state owned company that took the progress to the state of Minas Gerais and whow it affected the life of the society of its time. But nor everything is lost. I got to save many documents in that first encounter with the file. Among the found preciousness, they are books of personnel's point (some dated of the turning of the séc. XIX), dozens of volumes of the rare Bulletins of Personnel of EFCB, and many other important documents to rebuild the history of Central were saved. Among those documents there were the reports on the enlargement of the line up to Sete Lagoas, for instance.
The delay in getting an authorization of the then RFFSA for the retreat of the remaining of the material ended for leaving it exposed still more to the vandalism and a lot of thing finished losing forever. Among the rarities of EFCB that I got to save it was one entitled “Bulletin of Train´s Accidents”, from January to December of 1952. When browsing the first pages, I had a larger surprise: they were, in their majority, reports with the narrow gauge Texas type locomotives. As I understood, the EFCB was concerned with the constant derailments of those locomotives and it made a collection of data of all of the occurrences related to them. The document lances a new light about the performance of those locomotives in the state of Minas Gerais.

THE METRIC GAGE "TEXAS" OF EFCB

The history of metric gauge Texas type locomotives of the former Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil - EFCB railroad is still little known. It is strange that almost nothing knows on one of the most fascinating steam locomotives that already run in Brazil. In general, the historians make reference to their performance in the Dona Teresa Cristina Railroad - EFDTC, where they concluded their career, and not in the Central. Even in the areas where they operated in the state of Minas Gerais it is more and more difficult to find somebody that can bring some innovation in the subject. The people that had the privilege of seeing them in operation and that lived together day by day with them no longer are many, and the official documents that tell their history ended if losing after the privatization of former Rede Ferroviaria Federal SA - RFFSA. But the destiny seems to want to help, therefore some documents that tell the history of those locomotives came to my hands by chance. It is with base in them that I produced this article.

FCA U20C from old Fepasa fleet

FCA U20C 3860 was one of the last diesels to wear the old Fepasa blue & white paint. Here we see it at Nova Granja yard.
Photo by the author.


With the end of Fepasa and division of the operational railways between ALL and FCA, the locomotives U20C were also divided among the two operators. It fell to FCA the following locomotives:

3801, 3803, 3806, 3808, 3811, 3813, 3814, 3815, 3819, 3820, 3824, 3825, 3827, 3828, 3830, 3831, 3834, 3835, 3839, 3840, 3842, 3845, 3852, 3853, 3854, 3856, 3857, 3858, 3860, 3864, 3865, 3866, 3867, 3871, 3872, 3874, 3878, 3879, 3880, 3881, 3884, 3885, 3886, 3889, 3890, 3892, 3893, 3897, 3898, 3901, 3902, 3903, 3904, 3905, 3907, 3908 and 3910.

Source: Diego Henrique Bini - Iperó - SP

Project Godfather

FCA U20C 3842 at Divinopolis yard.
Photo by Carlos Marinho


FCA U20C 2535.
Photo by the author.

We have been seeing locomotives of the model U20C with the registration "Projeto Godfather" in the lateral of the cabin, soon below the window. But what does this project means?
The Projeto Godfather it consisted of accompanying 12 locomotives of the model U20C for 4 months guaranteeing all of the necessary resources for operation and maintenance in a favorable scenery.
The project had as goal a better study of the maintenance processes and better definition of the goals.
The locomotive chosen boss for the project was to 2538. The another were:
2535, 2569, 2595, 2700, 3811, 3842, 3858, 3865, 3881, 3886 and 3902. This last one didn't receive the registration of the project.

The Yards

Curvelo yard.
Photo by Alexandre Almeida


These are the following yards of the branch qualified as siding crossings:

PP-Pirapora
VZ-Várzea da Palma
LA-Lassance
BE-Beltrão
CO-Corinto



The last one is the connection of the branch with mainline that is going to Bahia state through Montes Claros, MG.

There is Still a Lot to Do

FCA U20C 2512 and 2507 at Corinto station.
Photo by Alexandre Almeida



The current opening of the extension of Pirapora for FCA understands, then, it leaves of an old project of connection of the southeast area with the north area of the country. The works of the North and South Railroad are to full steam and it is foreseen for 2012 the arrival of EF Carajás trains in Anápolis. Maybe, when that happens, Vale introduces the third rail in the FNS so that the trains of the metric gage arrive to the port of Itaqui, in the Maranhão state, without needing of change for gage it releases.
For the time being FCA is just transporting soy on Pirapora branch. But there is possibility to extend their services to the industries of the area, what would enlarge the range of products to be transported by railroad. But that will still demand improvements in the road. The works of reopening of the extension were too shy. Basically the railway sleepers were changed that were very damaged. The great majority is original of the line that was paralyzed in the middle of the eighties, therefore with more than 20 years of abandonment and at least 30 years of use. The rails are of light profile, varying from 37 to 45kg. The change of the ballast was not accomplished and this is very dirty and polluted for earth in most of the points visited by us. The bridges are the original of the old Central, with at least 80 years of use. To conclude, the terminal of change of the soy in Pirapora is very small. That is a project that was not sized to what was waited of that line. Its capacity would not hold a larger flow of trains that what there sees today. All this contrasts with the merchandise made by Vale that says that it invested 300 million in the recovery of that line. Then it resulted that in less than a month of opening of the line there was a derailment that stopped the branch for two days.
What is waited of FCA and Vale is that not just the Pirapora branch is remodeled in fact, but its connection with the line of modern profile placed below Sete Lagoas is contemplated also with significant improvements. It does not advance to just remodel that branch if between Corinto and Sete Lagoas there is a bad line as the one that exists there now. Vale and FCA need to understand that it is necessary to invest really of the own pocket to obtain results satisfactory. To hope the government invests in the line that they own will use is not to believe in their own capacity to manage their resources. It is necessary to dare more and to believe that the project will meet the expectations. We will only like this have railroads really competitive in Brazil.
Now (set/2009) the extension is with the activities paralyzed because of the end of the harvest of the soy in that area. For the that we heard from the personnel of FCA, the project it was under dimensioned and the soy turned before the expected out right.

The Interest is Reborn for the Branch

Grain silos in Pirapora yard.
Photo by Alexandre Almeida



Such situation stayed up to 2004, when Vale intended to build two lines to solve the problems of traffic of FCA. The first line would be the connection Patrocinio to Sete Lagoas or Prudente de Morais that would eliminate the whole old line of EFOM and VFCO in the area of Patrocinio to Divinópolis, and of there to Belo Horizonte. That work, besides activating the traffic of the trains of grains, would end with trains for very populated areas along the current line in use. The new plan among Ibiá to Sete Lagoas would have 450 kilometers. With that, the speed, that today is of 16 kilometers per hour in the old passage would pass for 60 kilometers per hour. Now FCA transports grains, fuels, alcohol, sugar, cement and containers in that area, with use of trains with distributed traction (locotrol and tricotrol).
The second work intended by Vale would be the connection Pirapora to Rio Verde, and Pirapora to Unaí, from where would be done the connection Unaí to Anápolis, tying FCA and EFVM with to FNS.

The Period of RFFSA

Old EFCB bridge over São Francisco river. Photo by Alexandre Almeida


In the sixties RFFSA gave continuity to the project of prolonging the line of Pirapora heading for Goiás. The infrastructure works were built to the place of Paredão de Minas, MG. Bridges, cuts and great embankments were built, but again the plans changed and the works were paralyzed. There is said that part of the line got to operate, but it was removed later. Letters of navigation of USAF show the line built even to Paredão de Minas, as old railway men of the area told me.
In the eighties RFFSA stopped crossing the bridge over San Francisco river and it moved the end of the line again for Pirapora. Still in the eighties the branch began to be abandoned gradually, until that in 1996 FCA assumed the mesh of the old Central and it closed the branch once and for all.

The Reopening of Pirapora Branch

FCA GT26CU-2 #936 leading soybean cars at the new Pirapora yard.
Photo by Alexandre Almeida

For those that are not familiarized with the lines of the old Central of Brazil maybe it is a little confused to understand what means the reopening of the old Pirapora branch by FCA on March 20, 2009.
The Line of Pirapora had been drifts a lot before Central arrives in that area. They consist in old documents that a private railroad was granted to tie Curvelo, MG the Arara hill, in the state of Goiás. We don't know if such work arrived beginning or if it was the Central who accomplished all of the works in that line, but the fact is that the line between Curvelo and Pirapora was built among the years of 1905 and 1910 by Central.
About 1917 Central began the construction of the extension of Montes Claros, that in the decade of 50 it turned line trunk, relegating the line of Pirapora to the branch status. The change felt because of the connection between the Central and Brazilian East Rwy happened in Monte Azul, MG in 1948. But the change of plans didn't go reason to the Central to abandon the line of Pirapora once and for all. Forces politics of the area forced central to maintain the operational extension and to build the bridge on the river San Francisco, doing with that the terminal point of that line changed for the km 1007, in the station of Independence (current Buritizeiros), in 1922. Once transposed the largest difficulty in the southeast area to jump over the interior heading for the north of the country, central gave up the plans of its Centro Line and it passed being devoted to the line of Montes Claros.