Shameless plug - "Electric Locomotives of the Paulista Railway Company"

[Nick_Burman]

Shameless plug... "Electric Locomotives of the Paulista Railway Company" is the newest book about Brazilian railways to come out in the market (well, not quite...it went to the printers today...it will be another 30 to 60 days before it hits the shelves). This book is the history of the Paulista Railway electrification and its locomotives, from the beginning in 1921 until the total junking of the system in 1999. For the unitiated, the Paulista was Brazil's "Standard Railway" - the company against which all other companies in the country rated and ranked themselves. Its network was entirely within the state of São Paulo, with lines of both narrow (60cm), metre and broad (5'3") gauges. The company was a pioneer in several aspects - mainine electrification, introduction of the eucalyptus tree, construction of steel rolling stock, etc... and its passenger trains were reckoned to be some of the fastest, most comfortable and most punctual the land could provide (an aprocryphal story says that whole towns in the interior set their watches by the passage of the trains). The company was also the second (after the British-owned São Paulo Railway) most profitable railway in the country - before it was taken over by the state in a misguided effort, its chips were as blue as its Pullman-Standard coaches.

 

The book started as a personal project by the author to document the comings and goings of the electric locomotive fleet and turned into a decade-long research effort which finally blossomed into a book. The publishers are an NGO dedicated to the preservation of the history of Brazilian railways through research and publications. This will be the first book isued by them to have a completely bilingual main text (I had the pleasure of doing the translation...hope it's up to scratch...) which will be accompanied by copious amounts of photographs, many in colour (and some of them mind-boggling - Paulista's unique Metro-Vick 1C+C1 boxcab arriving at Campinas station on the head of an all-wooden passenger train...in colour!).

 

As I've mentioned before, the book has just entered the printers and it will be awhile before it comes out. Further information can be had at the Memoria do Trem website at http://www.trem.org.br although I believe the editors will be making arrangements to place the books with selected booksellers in Europe and the USA.

 

Cheers NB

 

 

[cteno4]

Nick,

 

great, love to see publishing like this still alive and well! Kudos for getting in there to do the translation of it!

 

jeff

[SuRoNeFu 25-501]

And the cover reveals one of the best electric locomotives that ever owned by Paulista: The "Russa", which those locomotives were directly related with Milwaukee Road's EF-4 aka "Little Joe" (in term of the design, as those locomotives were originally destined for Soviet Railways (SZD) but couldn't reached the intended destination due to the events that eventually became Cold War).

 

Good job, this would be a very nice book! (^_^)v

[Nick_Burman]

And the cover reveals one of the best electric locomotives that ever owned by Paulista: The "Russa", which those locomotives were directly related with Milwaukee Road's EF-4 aka "Little Joe" (in term of the design, as those locomotives were originally destined for Soviet Railways (SZD) but couldn't reached the intended destination due to the events that eventually became Cold War).

 

Good job, this would be a very nice book! ( ^_^)v

 

Almost! The locomotive in the cover is one of the GE 2-C+C-2s delivered beginning in 1939. Nicknamed "V-8s", they were Paulista's best power and in time became the symbol of the railway. This particular engine is from the 1939 batch (5 locomotives, originally numbered 380 - 384, renumbered 370 - 374).

 

The Joes were good locomotives, however neither Paulista nor successor FEPASA ever really made good use them because of the relatively weak power system. They were only bought because GE made an offer that Paulista could not refuse (US$875,000 each, spare parts included).

 

 

Cheers NB

[SuRoNeFu 25-501]

Almost! The locomotive in the cover is one of the GE 2-C+C-2s delivered beginning in 1939. Nicknamed "V-8s", they were Paulista's best power and in time became the symbol of the railway. This particular engine is from the 1939 batch (5 locomotives, originally numbered 380 - 384, renumbered 370 - 374).

 

The Joes were good locomotives, however neither Paulista nor successor FEPASA ever really made good use them because of the relatively weak power system. They were only bought because GE made an offer that Paulista could not refuse (US$875,000 each, spare parts included).

 

 

Cheers NB

 

Ah, the body is really similar, even I can't differ both the Joes and the V-8s if those two are put side by side :laughing6: :laughing6: :laughing6: :laughing6:

 

But yeah, it was too unfortunate for Paulista's Joes, unlike their counterparts on Milwaukee Road were very well known as the most powerful electric locomotives that ever owned by the company (1 locomotive generates good amount of output power - 5000 HP). But they had the same fate: they were short-lived (Milwaukee Road units were short lived due to their failed attempt to performing dieselization on electrified sections, while Paulista ones were having relatively weak power system, as mentioned by yourself).

 

Nevertheless, I hope this book would be a great success (^_^)v