A MODERN COG RAILWAY

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

Hi fellows,

Here is a picture of the only cog railway that survives in Brazil. It is now operated by MRS at Paranapiacaba hill. The modern railroad uses japanese Hitachi electric locomotives and replaced the old funicular system built by ancient EFSJ in 1880´s. The funicular still there, but out of service. I think this is the only freight cog railway still in operation in the world today.

Picture from my friend Vanderlei A Zago

2

At the top of Paranapiacaba hill we see a large yard where some Hitachi locomotives switches some car to go down hill.

Photos from my friend Alexandre Almeida.

pedro

3

Nice pictures. Is this a section of the railroad from Sao Paulo to the port of Santos? And what about the cog-railway in Rio de Janeiro, to some mountain in the area? Is it out of service?

4

Yes, that´s the line linking Sao Paulo to Santos. All other cog railroads in Brazil were closed in 1960´s. [:(]

5

With that paint scheme,those electrics could almost pass for C&O units.

6

Even though they are cog-and-rack locomotives, I wonder how low the tonnage rating for these locomotives is while they are on the incline. There is also a Hitachi-built diesel (same appearance but no pantographs) in service on this line.

7

Is it all cog or combination cog and adhesion? The Swiss Federal line out of Interlaken to Mirigen and Lucern is narrow gauge, electric, and combination cog (rack actually, and there is a slight difference, but both require cog wheels on the lomotive) and does handle freight. I rode a mixed train. Also I believe the short line from Andermat that connects the Furka OberAlp to the Gothard tunnel line (town name begins with a “G”, but my memory isn’t the great on this) handles freight occasionally and is either rack or cog. It is also narrow gauge and electric and passengers are handled in self propelled cars, but I saw interchange frieght cars and an electric locomotive. (interchange from the Furka and from the Ratian Railway)

Looks like big stuff in Brazil and well worth a visit.

8

It’s Andermatt to Goschenen - see http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/netzkarte_schweiz.pdf

Tony

9

Hi daveklepper,

The Hitachi are cog and adhesion, because they can run on normal lines while switching at Paranapiacaba and Raiz da Serra yards. Brazil has wonderfull railroads to visit.

Here is 9036 switching at Paranapiacaba yard. Note the Big Ben clock. It is a replica of the original one and was built by the od EFSJ. Paranapiacaba was a british village in the early 1900´s.

10

Here is a side view of 9036…

11

The diesel electric Hitachi uses Alco 251 engines producing 1,000 HP. The locos can pull 65 tons each at 10 km per hour at rack section and 45 km per hour at normal rails.

The electric Hitachi locos are stronger. They weights 118 ton and have 3,780 HP. Two locos can pull 500 tons. The garsde at Paranapiacaba hill is 10 % and the locos can run at 22 km/hour.

Here is one of the 3 diesel electric Hitachi (951 to 953)

12

Pedro, many thanks for providing the tonnage ratings. I really like that side-rod drive on the Hitachi diesels, it looks like the side rods on an N&W electric on the Elkhorn tunnel route.

13

Pedro, what can I say? Thanks for the great information and photos [tup]

14

A couple of questions regarding this line and cog railways in general:

Pedro, what are the traffic volumes on this line? I would think that they would be high since they connect Sao Paulo with the port of Santos.

For anybody else: Were there any cog railways of this sort in the United States that hauled line-haul freight traffic? I consider Mt. Washington Cog and the Manitou & Pikes Peak to be tourist lines.

15

Hi csshegewisch,

The line is very important to MRS, mainly because the iron that carry from the Campo Grande yaard to Cosipa steel plant in Santos. MRS is planing to build a conveyor belt specially to transport the iron ore from the Campo Grande yard to the steel plant in Santos. The cong and rack line will be uesed only for containers and general cargo. The conveyor belt will be built in the old funicular line parallel.

The picture below shows a typical train going down hill. Note the funicular line above. Part of that line is preserved for tourism. Photo from my friend Vanderley A. Zago

Pedro

16

The link didn´t open. Please copy this one and glue it to the address box of you bowser;

http://www.railroadforums.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/45837/ppuser/3630

pedro

17

I think that this should work for you, Pedro -

EDIT: Uh-oh. Now I don’t know what’s wrong, since I can now see the pic that you posted, which I could not see before.