Naming schemes in Brazil

In Brazil , each railway company had its own designation system until 1980 .

With the ever-increasing number of locomotives, without any formal agreement, three-digit company numbers were generally introduced after the First World War , with the first digit representing the serial number of the respective railway company.

RFFSA

In 1957, the Brazilian Federal Railroad RFFSA ( Rffsa S / A.) Was established, all summarized in the RFFSA railway companies has been a common four-digit numbering system imposed in the first place genus , type and track width and the second location specified maximum design features. Steam locomotives were excluded from the RFFSA numbering because steam operation in Brazil had become so sparse by then that it was still at the DTC ( Estrada de Ferro Dona Teresa Cristina ) in the state of Santa Catarina (thanks to the local coal mines that this railway company served) , the EFB ( Estrada de Ferro Bragança ) in the state of Pará and at the legendary EFMM ( Estrada de Ferro Madeira-Mamoré ) in the state of Rondônia as well as on the old OM ( Estrada de Ferro Oeste de Minas ) routes with 2-1 / 2 ' (0.762 m) gauge of the RMV ( Rede Mineira de Viação ) in the state of Minas Gerais still gave regular steam operation.

FEPASA

In 1969, the state of São Paulo combined its still existing private railway companies in FEPASA ( Ferrovia Paulista S / A.). FEPASA took over the RFFSA numbering system, excluding steam locomotives that had already been parked and, like almost everywhere else, were only kept ready for extreme emergencies.

For locomotives with internal combustion engines and for electric locomotives, the first digit meant:

2: Meter-gauge electric locomotive (gauge: 1000 mm)
3: Diesel-electric meter-gauge
locomotive (gauge: 1000 mm) 6: Standard-gauge electric locomotive (gauge: 1600 mm)
7: Diesel-electric standard-gauge locomotive (gauge: 1600 mm)

Scheme from 1980

In 1980, the ABNT ( Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas ) supervisory body for technical standards changed the RFFSA numbering system to a six-digit computer numbering system established for all types of railway vehicles in national use. In the case of locomotives, the first two digits remained in the computer, only the remaining four had to be painted on the locomotives for identification. The application of the computer number was voluntary and only the RFFSA applied it, but also on some of their ex-DTC steam locomotives.

Use of language

In normal parlance, steam locomotives are named after their manufacturer and their wheel alignment in Whyte notation, and then the serial number and the railway company are added. For example, the locomotive run as 602 by the earlier VFRGS ( Viação Férrea do Rio Grande do Sul ) is a "Baldwin 2-6-6-2 Mallet Series 600 of the VFRGS". If the VFRGS had not had any other mallet designs, one would only speak of the VFRGS mallets.

In the case of electric locomotives, in the absence of usable official names, reference is made to the nominal name given by the railway workers, if any. Different designations are possible here at the same time.

Example: The 9080 series of the former RFFSA, previously the 2050 series of the predecessor railway company CB (Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil), is referred to as the Carioquinha class, more rarely the Charutão class. ("Carioquinha" = "little lady from Rio de Janeiro"; "Charutão" = "long, thick cigar" e)

If a nominal name applies to several construction methods, the manufacturer and the wheel sequence are placed in front of the nominal name. Examples: The series from 210 of the earlier CP is referred to as “Metropolitan-Vickers 1-C + C-1 Box”, the series from 310 as “Baldwin-Westinghouse 1-B + B-1 Box”, and the series from 420 as "ALCO-GE 1-C + C-1 Box".

Where there is no nominal name, the locomotive is only designated by manufacturer and wheel arrangement. Examples: The series from 320 of the earlier CP is called "Brown-Boveri 1Do1", the series 2000 of the earlier CB is called "Prado Uchoa BB."

The same applies to diesel locomotives as in North America: The model name of the manufacturer is used. For example, a G16 is a 616 everywhere and a 9-40CW is a 9-40CW everywhere.

footnote

1. ↑ ^{a b} The Brazilian Railways Act, published in 1947, designates the 5'3 "or 1.600 m gauge as Bitola Padrão (= standard gauge) for Brazil and stipulates that from its publication all new railway lines, subject to special permits, must be built in this gauge The planned change of gauge from meter to standard gauge of the existing network in other gauges has not yet started, 61 years later.