Locomotora de vapor nº 1 “Tardienta”: Spanish steam locomotive

Locomotora de vapor №1 “Tardienta” 111T (#340)

The Tardienta is a Spanish locomotive with a large central driving wheel and a high chimney. The Tardienta runs on saturated steam and has simple expansion cylinders within the frame and a flat distributor system designed by Stephenson. The axle arrangement (1-1-1) with six free wheels and one driving axle was typical of English locomotives of the time, designed to haul fast passenger trains.

History

This tender locomotive, built in 1862, is one of the oldest in Spain. It began its history in 1864, when the small Tardienta—Huesca Railway Company (Aragon) purchased two of these locomotives from John Jones & Son. The 1T Tardienta continued to work on this line until 1884, when it was sold. The locomotive was then used to build the railway line from Salamanca to the border with Portugal.

Around 1920, the locomotive was assigned to La Rioja, where it worked until the 1940s, when it reached its last active location, the sugar mill in Aranda de Duero, in Burgos. There it was renamed CIA 3, an acronym for Compañía de Industrias Agrícolas S.A. It was this company that handed the locomotive over to RENFE in 1968 for museum use.

In 1975, after restoration in RENFE’s workshops and exhibition at commemorative events, the locomotive was placed on a pedestal as a tribute to steam transport on the Avenida Pío XII in Madrid. Here it remained until 1985, when it finally moved to the new museum at Madrid’s Delicias station.