Around 1950, André Chapelon developed two modern locomotive types with the 2-8-4 and 4-8-4 wheel arrangements for several Brazilian railway companies. While the machine shown here was designated 142N, the larger one was designated 242N. The 142N was developed for a maximum axle load of around ten tonnes and was designed to burn lignite or wood. It was used in mixed service.

Despite the meter gauge, the locomotives were all modern in design. In order to achieve enough power with the fuels used, they had a large firebox with thermic syphons. The superheater could reach temperatures of up to 380°C. Depending on the operator, different tenders were used, some of which had six axles.

The 66 locomotives were built by an export consortium called “GELSA”, which in this case involved Fives-Lille, Schneider-Creusot and Cail. In reality, it turned out that the curves with radii down to 50 meters were narrower than expected, for which the locomotives were not really suitable. That's why they were rather unpopular with the crews, who called them “too modern”. Instead, the old British locomotives were often preferred.

The first superheated Pacifics the meter gauge Leopoldina received were numbers 306 to 315. They were delivered by Beyer, Peacock & Co. in 1925. Ten and eight more followed in 1927 and 1928, respectively, bringing the total to 28.

They had a Belpaire firebox that burned wood. Despite the small driving wheel diameter of only five feet, they were used for express and night trains. Their use in this role only ended with the introduction of diesel traction. Number 327 has been preserved to this day and pulled tourist trains in different regions.

The Rede de Viação Cearense was in service in the Ceará and Paraíba regions of eastern Brazil. On the meter-gauge network, the axle load was only allowed to be ten tons and at the same time only wood was available as fuel. After locomotives with a 2-8-2 wheel arrangement had already been delivered by BMAG (formerly Schwartzkopff) in 1936, the six 4-6-2 machines were ordered from there again in 1940. In order to still be able to install a powerful boiler, BMAG used modern welding technology to save weight.

For heavy passenger service on their metre-gauge network laid with light rails, the Rio Grande do Sul operated a total of 42 4-8-4 locomotives built in 1945 and 1946. Although heavy for non-articulated locomotives on a metre-gauge line, they were among the smallest locomotives of this wheel arrangement. They had a twelve-wheel tender with a large coal capacity and a large firebox with arch tubes and thermic syphons.

The first batch of 27 locomotives, numbered 1001 to 1027, was built in 1945 by ALCO-Schenectady. 15 more were built by the Montreal Locomotive Works in 1946 and numbered 1028 to 1042. They had a higher boiler pressure of 245 instead of 235 psi and were also 1,000 pounds heavier. They became surplus in Brazil as early as in the mid-fifties and some were sold to the Bolivian State Railway, where they were used until 1980.

The British-controlled São Paulo Railway procured ten Consolidation freight locomotives in 1909, designed by chief engineer Charles H. Fox and manufactured by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow. Originally, they had got non-continuous numbers between 6 and 91. Later they were renumbered I 60 to I 69.

The tracks, which were very good by South American standards, allowed a heavy locomotive with an axle load of 16 and a half tons. Thus, a generously dimensioned boiler with Belpaire firebox is evident at the first glance. A Schmidt-type superheater was used, which was not standard on British locomotives at the time. Likewise, they had a steam reverser and there were special bypass valves between the cylinders, which reduced the back pressure when coasting with the regulator closed.

In 1884, the São Paulo Railway received three tank locomotives from Nasmyth, Wilson & Co., which had a 0-6-4T wheel arrangement. Since the number 1 had already been scrapped, they were given the numbers 1, 23 and 24. It was unusual that these locomotives, in the style of the later “Cab Forward” locomotives, always ran with the coal bunker first to keep the smoke gases away from the crew. The drawing shows that the cowcatcher and the headlight were also mounted on this side.

The numbers 13 and 14 of the São Paulo Railway were two 0-6-0 freight locomotives that were built in 1867 as tender locomotives. When they were transferred to the shunting service towards the end of the century, they were rebuilt into saddle tank locomotives. This had a positive effect on this task, since the adhesive weight increased due to the supplies.

Similar to numbers 13 and 14, numbers 15 to 18 were built by Avonside in 1867 as tender locomotives and later rebuilt to saddle tank locomotives. Compared to the other two machines, they had a leading axle and a shorter wheelbase between the driving axles. Thanks to a smaller coal bunker, they even came to a shorter overall length.

After the 4-4-0 locos numbers 9 through 11 were originally built with a 2-4-0 wheel arrangement and later rebuilt, in 1876 numbers 19 and 20 were the first 4-4-0 locos the São Paulo Railway received from the factory in this form. They came from Avonside and had equalizing beams on the driving axles. 

The largest tank locomotives on the São Paulo Railway at the time had a 4-8-0T wheel arrangement and were called “Jumbos”. They were supplied by Avonside and were obviously intended for another railway company. So they came to this railway company in 1882 after they had been re-gauged to 5 feet and 3 inches. The first driving axle had no wheel flanges to improve running characteristics in curves.