Engines from our Collection

Compiled by Gareth Jones

No.1 is seen in mid air being unloaded with No.3 already on UK ground in 1969

The Engines from Hulleras de Sabero

Hulleras de Sabero was a Spanish industrial railway, which had two railway systems of differing gauges. A metre gauge line ran for 3km between Cisternia and the coal washing plant at Sabero and a 600mm line ran between Sabero and Sotillos about 6km serving the various mines along the way.

We will be focussing on the 600mm gauge fleet as the entire steam locomotive fleet and the Director’s Saloon from this gauge was saved and preserved by the late Peter Rampton. The fleet comprised eight locomotives which he imported in 1969, with the engines arriving at West India Pier, Port of London, in the February. The Hulleras De Sabero was founded on the 7th September 1892, and by 1900 the 600mm system was carrying an average of 1,600 tons of coal each month, becoming the second most important mining system in the country.

The first engine received by the mine was an 0-6-0 Couillet tank locomotive No.1140 of 1895 it was given the name Sabero and the number 1. It was one of the last engines still in steam on the line towards the end of its Couillet No.1

days, a testament to the quality and care of the workshop at Sabero responsible for maintaining the engines. Although they were becoming a little tired by the time the line closed. Such was the success of this engine that two more were ordered for the line taking the numbers 2 & 3 in service on the railway, their works numbers were No.1209 of 1898 and No.1318 of 1900 respectively. In service these engines also received names with No.2 becoming Saelices and No.3 becoming Olleros.

These three engines formed the mainstay of the motive power on the railway until a fourth engine was procured for the line from the San Miguel Copper Mine. Sadly the exact date of purchase is not known though it is believed to have been during 1935 as during this year the engine was re-gauged from metre gauge to 600mm gauge, this locomotive was an 0-6-2 Borsig tank engine Borsig No.7 Sotillos No. 6022 of 1906 and was given the name Sotillos and fleet number 7, some sources suggest the engine may have carried No.4, though in images the number 7 can be read on the engines cabside.

In 1937 a fifth engine was added to the fleet which was assembled within the workshop at Sabero and built to the same Couillet 0-6-0 tank design as the first three engines, this engine became Number 6 in service and carried the name La Herrera.

The motive power fleet was further expanded in 1941 with the acquisition of three Henschell & Sohn engines from the Military Rail Service, these engines never received new fleet numbers or names and kept their original numbers of 101, 102 and 103. All three were built in 1918 and their build numbers were 16073, 16043 and 16045 respectively. The three henschell engines were all of an 0-4-0 tank arrangement upon purchase with loco No.101 being converted to an 0-4-2 wheel arrangement within the works at Sabero. Why only one engine was converted is not known. Perhaps it was an experiment to improve the engines riding along their system. No.101 is by far the most photographed of the three of the engines with no photographs of either No. 102 or 103 being found during the research for this article. The three Henschell engines have a matching history with all three being built during the final year of the First World War as part of a batch of 58 locomotives destined for a Turkish Army operated railway in Mesopotamia called the Tigris Kreigsbahn. However, only 23 of the constructed engines actually made it to Turkey, the Henschell No.101 with Directors’ Saloon

Henschell No.101 overtakes one of the Couillet Engines other 35 all being taken by the Spanish Army for use in Spanish Morrocco during the Moroccon War between 1921 & 1926. After the conflict the surviving engines were moved to the Spanish Peninsular on the Military Rail Service and forming part of the Manzanares-Cuatro Vientos-Leganes Military Railroad. Sales of some of these engines began in 1941 including the three engines which were purchased for use by the Hulleras de Sabero. The other item of rolling stock saved from this line is the directors’ saloon, it is a small 4 wheeled carriage with a veranda on either end for access and longitudinal seating within. Videos of the line in action can be found on the following links for our digital readers, the first being a facebook video which features loco No.101 hauling the Directors’ Saloon and one of the Couillet locos in action with Spanish commentary. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1559830964329619 The second video features the metre gauge railway system with the 600mm system having closed in 1967/68, however it gives an insight into operations at the coal washing plant again with Spanish commentary but none the less interesting to watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x04B26QvjIs&ab_ channel=Jos%C3%A9LuisGarc%C3%ADa

Research for this article has been compiled from the following websites and the book ‘Spanish Narrow Gauge Steam Remembered’ by Lawrence G Marshall. http://valledesabero.webhispana.net/viaestrecha.htm?ckattempt=1&i=1 https://www.spanishrailway.com/ferrocarril-de-hulleras-de-sabero-y-anexas/ http://www.manuserran.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id= 210:hulleras-de-sabero&catid=70&Itemid=238 http://www.manuserran.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id= 220:servicio-militar-de-ferrocarriles&catid=73&Itemid=238