This locomotive was built by Beyer Peaclck at the Gorton Works in Manchester in 1911 for the Central Uruguay Railway (CUR). It was one of the N3 class of locomotives.
The Central Uruguay Railway Co. of Montevideo, which was the largest railway company in Uruguay, was registered In London in 1876. It operated from January 1878 until the end of January 1949, when the railways in Uruguay were nationalized. By the end of the era of British railways in Uruguay, the CUR had a network of over a million miles of standard gauge track which was about half of the total within the country. It owned about 170 steam locomotives and several thousand cars.
The N1 locomotives were purchased following the good performance achieved by the 21 class N engines that had been supplied by Beyer Peacock in 1906 and 1907.
They had the same driving wheel diameter, the same cylinder dimensions and the same class of tender. The tenders had eight wheels and were of small capacity because the turntables in Uruguay were not very large (50 to 60 feet maximum) in the early 1900s. The class N1 locomotives had had larger boilers than the class N engines.
These non-superheated Moguls worked on main-line and cross-country passenger, freight and mixed services, including steeply graded and sharply curved single track branches.
From 1938 all the class N1 locomotives were converted from coal to fuel oil by the CUR. This locomotive was fitted with an N3 and a superheater.
They were capable of hauling a load of 15 wooden coaches at a speed of 45-50 mph and were able to undertake non-stop runs of over 80 miles without taking on water.
The maximum load for a class N3 locomotive was set at 380 tons by the nationalised railways.
By 1988 a number of the N3 class locomotives had been withdrawn from service and scrapped but this locomotive (works number 5400 CUR 120) was still working in the Paysandu area.
In March 1993 the locomotive was withdrawn from service and stored at Paysandu Works.
The locomotive was donated by the Administration of State Railways to the Uruguayan Association Friends of the Rail (AUAR) at Montevideo. Under the ownership of the AUAR it is used to haul tourist trains.
Classmate 119 (Beyer Peacock works number 5399) is also preserved in Uruguay.
Preserved British Steam Locomotives 