International Railroad Discussion > A rare 4-10-2 in Brazil

Last Saturday,  9/6, I was in São Paulo city and could visit the Catavento museum where we can see interesting things. The old German made 4-10-2 steam engine of former Companhia Paulista - CPEF, or simply CP, is one of them. The locomotive was originally built as a metric gauge (1,000mm), but later it was spread out to broad gauge (1,600mm).

1) A side view of the big 4-10-2;

2) A front view;

3) She is nice!

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,

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4 - 5) Rea views 

6) The cab.

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1

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7) What's that?

8) The plate;

9) The throttle.

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/25 21:20 by pedrop.

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10) The museum schedules;

11) The big 4-10-2 is seen over there;

12) A view of the museu building.

That's all for today.

Pedro

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1

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The locomotive is an interesting combination of "modern" and vintage attributes. Spoked tender wheels give it a vintage feel.

Appears to be a three cylinder machine too.

Very Nice steam look back series!

Larry

PHal you just beat me to it on the 3 cylinders
.  What a terribly small tender for that engine assuming that is its correct tender.  I notice they removed all the gauges from the backhead.  Probably just as well they did.  Are the drivers 52" ?

Info on Paulista Railway 4-10-2 3-cylinder meter (3' 3-3/8") gauge locomotives built by Henschel (Kassel, Germany) in 1935-1936:
https://www.steamlocomotive.com/locobase.php?country=Brazil&wheel=4-10-2&railroad=paulista

Paulista railway locomotive diagram: http://www.pell.portland.or.us/~efbrazil/cp_planta_jiboia.html

Photo of #791 (Later #193) when nearly new: http://www.pell.portland.or.us/~efbrazil/cp_791.html

Class Jiboia (Locobase 5400) 
Data from [link], last accessed 112 January 2007, which reproduced the Paulista's locomotive diagram for this class. See also [link] (visited 22 February 2003) (Thanks to Teemu Koivumaki whose 2023 email included a comprehensive spreadsheet of Brazilian steam locomotive builders, works numbers, and owners.).Works numbers were 22777-22778 in 1935 and 22994-22995 in 1936.

In another site -- -- Sergio Martire tells us in a caption of a very handsome photo the unusual history of these two locomotives. They were delivered in 1935-1936 for the meter gauge and that's where they operated for the first few years. Locobase has looked in vain for a locomotive anywhere nearly as big as this design riding on a three-ft line -- it was enormous in every respect. Antonio Augusto Gorni, captioning a photo on [link], wrote that Paulista drivers dubbed the pair Jiboia, which translates as "boa constrictor". The Centro Contemporaneo de Tecnologia -- [link]-- elaborated on the comment, saying that the usual long trains behind these behemoths were the source of the nickname.

After a couple of years, the Paulista needed locomotives for their broad-gauge (1,600 mm/ 5' 3") line and regauged these two. 791 became 193 and 792 was renumbered 192. Even on the wider track, few locomotives outside of North America measured up to these luggers' dimensions. Only their tiny drivers betrayed their skinny-rail past. Altogether, the Henschels served their owners for 40 years.

Locobase likes Martire's description of how the 193 came to be where he saw it to take its picture: "After 20 years in the rain, the Museu de Tecnologia de S.Paul transported 193 in January 2000 to S. Paulo and rebuilt it for display - stuffed and mounted."



 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/25 10:05 by DWDebs/2472.

Thanks for the great links to the history of the old Paulista rr 4-10-2s.

Pedro

DWDebs/2472 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Info on Paulista Railway 4-10-2 3-cylinder meter
> (3' 3-3/8") gauge locomotives built by Henschel
> (Kassel, Germany) in 1935-1936:
> https://www.steamlocomotive.com/locobase.php?count
> ry=Brazil&wheel=4-10-2&railroad=paulista
>
> Paulista railway locomotive
> diagram: http://www.pell.portland.or.us/~efbrazil
> /cp_planta_jiboia.html
>
> Photo of #791 (Later #193) when nearly
> new: http://www.pell.portland.or.us/~efbrazil/cp_
> 791.html
>
> Class Jiboia (Locobase 5400) 
> Data from , last accessed 112 January 2007, which
> reproduced the Paulista's locomotive diagram for
> this class. See also (visited 22 February 2003)
> (Thanks to Teemu Koivumaki whose 2023 email
> included a comprehensive spreadsheet of Brazilian
> steam locomotive builders, works numbers, and
> owners.).Works numbers were 22777-22778 in 1935
> and 22994-22995 in 1936.
>
> In another site -- -- Sergio Martire tells us in a
> caption of a very handsome photo the unusual
> history of these two locomotives. They were
> delivered in 1935-1936 for the meter gauge and
> that's where they operated for the first few
> years. Locobase has looked in vain for a
> locomotive anywhere nearly as big as this design
> riding on a three-ft line -- it was enormous in
> every respect. Antonio Augusto Gorni, captioning a
> photo on , wrote that Paulista drivers dubbed the
> pair Jiboia, which translates as "boa
> constrictor". The Centro Contemporaneo de
> Tecnologia -- -- elaborated on the comment, saying
> that the usual long trains behind these behemoths
> were the source of the nickname.
>
> After a couple of years, the Paulista needed
> locomotives for their broad-gauge (1,600 mm/ 5'
> 3") line and regauged these two. 791 became 193
> and 792 was renumbered 192. Even on the wider
> track, few locomotives outside of North America
> measured up to these luggers' dimensions. Only
> their tiny drivers betrayed their skinny-rail
> past. Altogether, the Henschels served their
> owners for 40 years.
>
> Locobase likes Martire's description of how the
> 193 came to be where he saw it to take its
> picture: "After 20 years in the rain, the Museu de
> Tecnologia de S.Paul transported 193 in January
> 2000 to S. Paulo and rebuilt it for display -
> stuffed and mounted."
>
>
>
>  

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1

In fact, that is not the original tender it had when new. The original was lost when it was put in the scrap yard for years. So, they found this one to use with it.

13) Here it is a picture of it.



tomstp Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PHal you just beat me to it on the 3 cylinders
> .  What a terribly small tender for that engine
> assuming that is its correct tender.  I notice
> they removed all the gauges from the backhead. 
> Probably just as well they did.  Are the drivers
> 52" ?

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/25 18:48 by pedrop.

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14) Here it is the "Giboia" 193 when in the scrap yard in Sumare, SP in 1999.
 

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1

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15 - 16) She was imposing.


 

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1

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17) She was numbered 793 when orignal as a narrow gauge (1,000mm) unit. Here it is in Espraiado, SP in 1935.

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1

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18) Its sister unit 792 when narrow gauge in Garça, SP in 1940. Later it was numbered 192 when modified to broad gauge.

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1

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19)  The unit in 2008.

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1

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20) Here it is a nice picture of it when restored in 2013. Author Eli Kazuyuki Hayasaka - Flickr album.  

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/25 19:07 by pedrop.

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Nice, informative post, Pedro.   Thanks!

Greg Stadter
Phoenix, AZ

Thanks for such a great story and the photos, especially the builders photos..  Two engines, and it is amazing we had not heard of these before now.

The museum building is a marvel!