I just had to share this. Bet you never saw this before. A narrow gauge articulated with poppet (Caprotti) valve gear.

Looks like a feedwater heater also. Nice find.... do you know any more about it?

It is shown in this journal, and the caption says it is headed for an African colony. The title of the article is about locomotives produced by Officine Meccaniche Reggiane SpA, which is better known for their aircraft.

http://gazzettadireggio.gelocal.it/reggio/foto-e-video/2015/01/15/fotogalleria/le-locomotive-a-vapore-prodotte-dalle-reggiane-1.10674128#1

Another photo from the same article. This one says the boiler is for a heating car to provide heat for the coaches in a passenger train. Note the water hose fitted for pressure testing and the staybolt sizes chalked on the firebox.

I am only linking to the images hosted by the article. If the publisher takes them down, these links will break. The journal is Gazzetta di Reggio.

An image of a cylinder block for a Greek railways locomotive, 1951. Note the thin sections and coring. This cylinder is bolted to a plate frame, unlike the American heavy cylinder block bolted to the bar frames and smokebox.

Close up of the African Caprotti system

Same engines loaded for delivery. It appears they are class "P".

The caption on the photo:

"Locomotiva tipo R.441 per le colonie italiane in Africa, riprese sul ponte trasbordatore interno alle officine"

mentions a "type 441" locomotive. On this page about the Eritrean Railways (one of several Italian colonial railways) http://www.trainweb.org/eritrean/scrapb ... frica.html

I found this:

"The next Mallet type, class 441, was considerably larger, weighing 46 tonnes and differing from the class 440 by having single-expansion steam distribution. Sixteen of these were built between 1933 and 1936 and were the most powerful engines to operate on the system � having a tractive effort of 13,606 kg (29,970 lbs) compared to 6,946 kg (15,435 lbs) of the class 440 Mallets. The first eight 441s, delivered in 1933, included three engines with Walschaert valve gear and five with Caprotti valve gear. These engines were all super-heated, but the second batch, delivered in 1936 were saturated, although having Walschaert gear. Later, one of the final batch was converted to compound working, while in 194S four others were transferred to Libya by the British administration. Towards the end of the 1950s, only the single compound engine was still in service in Eritrea � an indication that the Italian builders possibly miscalculated the boiler's ability to supply enough high-pressure steam to the four hungry cylinders of the 441 class engines."

The builder is Ansaldo of Genoa.

Not the same engines. These are 1922 build.

I’m looking at this on my phone. Different pictures of what appear to be same engines. Some say type “P” from 1922 and some say R.441 from 1931.

Something to also refer to.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=38286

Super cool. I haven't been able to find anything more recent than 2009 or so on the line and if they are continuing to rebuild it westward.

Edit: I found this website in Italian and a having fun running the text through translation programs: http://www.ferroviaeritrea.it/

I found this photo of an engine used in Eritrea with what looks like (to a novice) a similar valve system, but missing the large tank on top of the boiler and with a different style cab- perhaps modified later in use. What is the thing that looks like a stack just ahead of the cab in both photos BTW, a water fill perhaps?

Vacuum brake ejector.

And the number plate does show class 441 clearly.

A recent news story, or at least recently dated, on the railway in Eritrea:

https://www.tesfanews.net/eritrea-is-a- ... ostalgics/

More news: http://www.siciliaintreno.org/index.php ... a-militare

Stefano Pettini, an Eritrean Railway fan who set up the page I posted earlier (http://www.ferroviaeritrea.it/), has managed to see through a project to donate seven small diesel switchers, on the order of a GE endcab switcher, plus four of something called a loco tractor that looks like a jeep with hi-rail wheels as best I can tell, from the Italian Air Force to the Eritrean Railway. As he says on the website (in Italian and run through a translation program by me):

"The project "Italian Locomotives in Eritrea" was born at the beginning of 2011 as a personal contribution to the efforts of the Eritrean authorities to keep alive an infrastructural work of art with few equals in the world. The fleet of machines that has been painstakingly recovered from oblivion in which he had lain for dozens of years suffered from serious functional deficiencies due to the impossibility of finding spare parts to carry out the necessary periodic maintenance, but above all the lack of reliable small machines suitable for tow short trains to carry out maintenance work along the railway line and maneuvering inside the stations...As a lover of things railway I knew that the Italian Air Force, in which I have served throughout my career, had spread in several locations of the diesel maneuvering machines that made short services for moving rolling goods in military areas, and that as a result of changes in the transport strategy these machines were no longer in use. What better opportunity to acquire material that due to its characteristics suited very well to the needs of the Eritrean railway. No electronic technology, very robust but simple structure in the assembly and above all suitable for the conversion of the gauge from normal to reduced Italian (95 cm)...In detail, the motorized vehicles destined for Eritrea are: one Greco, two Ranzi, three Badoni VC, one Badoni NLR and four road- Zephir rail."

He says he expected the donation to be simple, as the units were no longer needed, but it became a bureaucratic morass involving issues of shipping military goods overseas, etc., Nonetheless, by earlier this year the units were re-gauged, had their two buffers replaced with a single centered one, painted, etc. and were shipped to Eritirea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Aq0XSM72jA

Super cool.