Manila Railway 100 class

Manila Railway 100 class
Manila Railway 101 in Scotland.
Type and origin Power type Steam Designer Horace L. Higgins Builder North British Locomotive Company Build date 1906 Total produced 5
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 4-4-2  • UIC 2'B1'vS Gauge 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) Driver dia. 60 in (1,500 mm) Wheelbase 13.27 m (43 ft 6 in)  • Engine 6.45 m (21 ft 2 in)  • Drivers 3.66 m (12 ft 0 in) Adhesive weight 47,712 lb (21.300 long tons; 21,642 kg) Loco weight 91,392 lb (40.800 long tons; 41,455 kg) Tender weight 71,680 lb (32.00 long tons; 32,510 kg) Total weight 163,072 lb (72.800 long tons; 73,968 kg) Fuel type Coal Water cap 3,000 US gal (11,000 L) Firebox type  • Firegrate area 16.5 sq ft (1.53 m2) Boiler: ​  • Type Fire-tube boiler Boiler pressure 180 psi (1,200 kPa) Heating surface  • Firebox 107 sq ft (9.9 m2) Valve gear Walschaerts
Performance figures Tractive effort 15,667 lbf (69.69 kN)
Career Operators Manila Railway Manila Railroad Number in class 5 Numbers 101-105 Locale Metro Manila Central Luzon Ilocos Region Delivered 1906 First run 1909 Last run 1949 Preserved 0 Scrapped c. 1950 Disposition All scrapped
References:[1][2]

The Manila Railway 100 class,^[2] of 1906 were five 4-4-2 Atlantic-type steam locomotives built by the North British Locomotive Company. They were the flagship locomotives of the Manila Railway during the late 1900s and throughout the 1910s, being the first tender-hauling locomotives in Philippine service. They hauled the Baguio Special, an express service between Manila and Baguio via Damortis station in Rosario, La Union.^[3]

The locomotives were relegated to freight services in the 1920s, hauling sugarcane trains in Central Luzon until they were scrapped after 1948.^[4]

Background[]

The Manila Railway Company, ancestor of the Philippine National Railways, operated solely tank locomotives on the Ferrocarril de Manila a Dagupan (now the North Main Line) through much of its early history. These locomotives burned wood fuel instead of using coal. Horace L. Higgins, a British engineer who was the head of the Manila Railway, ordered the modernization of its entire fleet. This would include the acquisition of bigger locomotives of the 40–45 t (88,000–99,000 lb) range and purchase of heavier track.^[5]

Neilson and Company and Dübs and Company, builders of the preceding Dagupan class, merged with another Glasgow-based manufacturer to form the North British Locomotive Company during this period.^[6] The Manila Railway then approached the newly formed manufacturer to build what would become the 100 class, as well as a series of tank locomotives named the 70 class.^[7]

Design[]

Having entered in 1906, the 100 class was the first tender-hauling steam locomotive in the Philippines. It used the 4-4-2 Atlantic wheel arrangement, which was a popular among express trains during the 1900s.

The design of the locomotives were built to Higgins' expectations in mind, especially to its weight.^[5] Weighing 41 metric tons (40 long tons) with the locomotive alone, it weighed heavier by 28 percent than its predecessors which normally weighed at 32 metric tons (31 LT). The locomotive overall weighed 73 metric tons (72 LT) with its four-axle tender.^[1]

Its most notable feature is the use of a cab for both the locomotive and the tender. This cab design would later influence the 2-8-0 Consolidation-type 130 class of 1912^[8] and the first batch of the 4-6-0 Ten-wheeler-type Manila Railroad 45 class of 1919.^[9] Both of these succeeding designs were tender locomotives.

Another notable feature is the Americanized tender design, having four axles compared to three as used in all British locomotives of the era.

Service[]

A Manila Railway bond in 1907 showing the 100 class.

The 100 class was promoted as the flagship locomotive of the Manila Railway during their introduction in the late 1900s. They appeared on various advertisements for the Baguio Special, a mixed train-bus service between Manila and Baguio via Damortis station in Rosario, La Union. This was then the flagship service of the company on the North Main Line and carried tourists between the two cities in nine hours, with an average speed of 30 kilometers per hour (19 mph).^[10] It also appeared on the header of the Manila Railway's bond documents.

Retirement[]

As later stated by The Locomotive Magazine, the locomotives had their brief heyday as the premiere express train locomotives, a fate shared by other locomotives of the same wheel type.^[1] By 1916, the Insular Government acquired the Manila Railway and merged into the New Jersey-based Manila Railroad Company. Henry Bayard McCoy, a United States Army colonel^[11] and a member of the Republican National Committee for the Philippines,^[12] replaced Higgins as general manager.

The new administration ushered the acquisition of more powerful locomotives from the United States. These new locomotives started entering service by 1919 and have largely replaced the aging British locomotives in mainline service for the next decades.^[13]

The Baguio Special^[14] and the newly inaugurated Bicol Express between Manila and Quezon province has then been hauled by the newly acquired Manila Railroad 45 class.^[15] Since 1922, the 100 and 120 classes were transferred to freight trains carrying sugarcane.^[4]

The class was last seen in 1947 when F. Unson, the superintendent of the Manila Railroad Mechanical Department of the time, reported that at least one 100 class member was still operational.^[16] In 1949, ten new locomotives of the 4-8-2 wheel arrangement built by the Pennsylvanian Vulcan Iron Works entered service. These new locomotives replaced seven of 10 Manila Railroad 170 class locomotives of the same wheel type that were destroyed by World War II. Having successfully operated passenger and freight services on the North Main Line in which the original 100 class ran, the Atlantics were pulled from service.^[17] Sometime later, the Manila Railroad ordered the surviving units to be scrapped.

References[]