Manila Railroad 200 class

The Manila Railway Company Ltd., d/b/a Ferrocarril de Manila a Dagupan, owned various tank locomotives as the bulk of its mainline fleet. In 1906, the Manila Railway purchased five 100-class locomotives. These 4-4-2 Atlantics would be the first tender locomotive in Philippine service but the company continued to acquire tank locomotives. By 1916, the Manila Railway was reorganized into the Manila Railroad Company of New Jersey.[6] Under the new American leadership, the MRR purchased heavier locomotives such as the 4-6-0 45 class built by H.K. Porter, Inc. between 1919 and 1921.

In 1921, the company ordered 20 units of heavy locomotives from the American Locomotive Company. While having similar specifications, it was grouped into two wheel configurations. Ten of these would be in a 2-10-2 Santa Fe configuration for freight and another ten would be in a 4-8-2 Mountain configuration for passenger use. The Mountain-types would become the 170-class while the Santa Fe-types would become the 200-class.

The 200 class was the largest and heaviest locomotive class that entered Philippine service. With a four-axle tender, a 200 class was 80 ft (24 m) long and weighed 305,500 pounds (138,600 kg; 138.6 t).[4] Each locomotive was 50 percent heavier and twice longer than the 2-6-0+0-6-2 Kitson Meyer locomotives it replaced. Despite being its flagship class, the 200 class was still one of the smallest tender locomotives of this wheel arrangement. Santa Fes in other national railroads such as the USRA Light Santa Fe easily weighed above 100 metric tons (220,000 lb) without a tender and would rather not fit on the turntables built by the Manila Railroad.

According to Alco, it was built with almost the same exact specifications as the Mountain-type 170 class, except it had a different weight distribution and driver diameter, and was also heavier by 5,000 pounds (2,300 kg; 2.3 t). It also had the biggest cylinders of any non-articulated locomotive of the era that ran on narrow-gauge lines. It was not until 1927 when the so-called Henschel Giants of the South African Railways featured a wider cylinder. However, it had relatively small boilers and grates compared to the other Santa Fes, which would then contribute to its smaller size and weight.[2]

The locomotives were fitted with a Walschaerts valve gear similar to all steam locomotives during this era.[2]

These locomotives were used on freight services on the South Main Line. Initially the line ended near Lucena, Quezon. Due to the size of the locomotives, new 80 ft (24 m) railway turntables were constructed to accommodate them.[4] The locomotives would see extended freight service to Bicol with the opening of the Lucena–Port Ragay section in 1938. In 1942, the Japanese government took control of the operations of the Manila Railroad Company and the 200 class was included in the Japanese operations of the MRR.[7] The class did not survive World War II unlike its sister 170 class, which lasted until 1956. These were ultimately scrapped.[5]