Taltal Railway
The Taltal Railway, Chile (1944)[1]
"IN common with a large number of lines in South and Central America, the Taltal Railway of Chile is owned and operated by a British company. It is located within the so-called “ rainless belt ” and serves the department from which it takes its name in the southern part of the province of Antofagasta, which is situated in the north of the country. Its principal source of revenue is the traffic provided by the nitrate industry, for which Chile is well known, and, as may be seen from the accompanying sketch map, it is the only railway connecting the territory through which it runs with the port of Taltal, on the Pacific Ocean. It connects with the Northern Longitudinal Railway at Catalina. The line was opened for traffic on October 20, 1882, and the company now owns 160 miles of single track (including 68 miles of branch lines); the gauge throughout is 3 ft. 6 in. According to figures supplied recently to our associated weekly contemporary, The Railway Gazette, rolling stock comprises 40 locomotives, 18 carriages, 1,056 goods vehicles, one motor railcar, and one ambulance car. All-steel 18-ton medium-sided double-bogie wagons, of which there are 635 in service, are used for the transport of coal, nitrate, and mineral ore; and for the conveyance of fuel oil there are 35 hint wagons of 13 tons capacity each.
Apart from nitrate, the Taltal Railway concerned with the carriage of coal, mineral ore, and fuel oil, as already indicated, and of foodstuffs and gold, the latter from a mm about 80 miles from Taltal. Trains loaded with coal, fuel oil, and foodstuffs constitute the main traffic in the inland direction, and the chief commodities conveyed down to the port are nitrate, gold, and mineral ore. The company owns two moles at Taltal, from which the shipping capacity is 3,000 tons a day outwards, and 700 tons a day wards. Nitrate and mineral ore are gravity-loaded into lighters by means of chutes. Discharge from the lighters is performed by four gantry cranes, each of 30 cwt. capacity. The Taltal Railway has two tanks for the storage of fuel oil, which hold together 4,000 tons; it owns also a water pipe-line, 112 miles in length, leading from the foothills of the Andes down to the port.
Readers may recall that, in our January-February, 1943, issue, we published an illustration of a locomotive delivered to the Taltal Railway in 1881 which is still in service as a docks shunter. Six others which arrived as part of the same batch are also in operation. They were built by Nasmyth, Wilson and Co, and cost £1,200 each. Nearly 62 years of useful working is a tribute to the manufacturers, and to the railway's locomotive department for its care and maintenance. The company has several Vulcan Foundry locomotives, built in 1890, on main-line service."
| Class | Wheel Arr | Dr. Dia. | Cylinders Dia x Str | Boiler Press | Ad. Wt. | EW WO | Grate Area | Evap. Surface | Sup. Surface | Remarks |
| 1 | 0-6-0T | 36in | 13x20in | 150psi | 25t | 25t | 8sq.ft. | 570sq.ft. | None | NW |
| 23 | 0-6-4T | 39in | 16x20in | 150psi | 33t | 45t | 17sq.ft. | 1005sq.ft. | None | Dübs |
| 25 | 2-6-0T | 39in | 14.5x20in | 150psi | 33t | 38t | 13sq.ft. | 690sq.ft. | None | NB |
| 27 | 2-6-0T | 40in | 14.5x20in | 150psi | 34t | 39t | 13sq.ft. | 685sq.ft. | None | BP |
| 50 | 0-6-6-0T | 34in | 14x18in(4) | 160psi | 61t | 61t | 25sq.ft. | 1150sq.ft. | None | Kitson-Meyer |
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Railway Magazine, Vol. 90. No. 551, May-June, 1944, pp.158—159.
- ↑ J.D.H. Smith’s website called “Standard steam locomotives - Taltal Railway steam locomotives” - http://orion.math.iastate.edu/