Bulk Cement Transportation
The Araraquara Railway (EFA) played a fundamental role in the development of the interior of São Paulo, and to this day it is one of the Fepasa trains with the largest number of enthusiasts in the state of São Paulo. Whether due to its striking aesthetics or historical ties to the company, Marumbi Modelismo also has great sympathy for the EFA.
In addition to the "EFA TCR Tank" model, which represents a wagon from the Broad Gauge era, we are pleased to announce a new addition to our catalog: a wagon from the metric era of the Araraquarense.
We present the Closed Dyle EFA, with a capacity to transport up to 36 tons.
After a turbulent period of disastrous or less than virtuous administrations, the Araraquara Railway (EFA) was taken over by the state of São Paulo in 1919. From that moment on, a long process of expansion and re-equipment of the railroad began. With the arrival of the tracks in São José do Rio Preto, the EFA consolidated itself as a penetration railroad, boosting the colonization and development of the region that, thanks to its activities, came to be known as Alta Araraquarense.
To meet the growing demand, the company had a fleet of wooden wagons. In the 1930s, in search of greater safety in the transportation of flammable liquids, the EFA ordered its first closed metal wagon. This model was designed to reduce the risks in the transportation of gasoline, essential for the incipient fleet of automobiles and tractors, as well as kerosene, used in oil lamps, lanterns or lamps, to brighten the nights. A small fraction of oil was also transported, intended for stationary mill engines.
At that time, this type of fuel was transported in closed wagons, since it was sold in fractions and cans. The product could be purchased in rural stores or small urban markets, and was sold in different volumes: five or ten-liter cans, 18-liter cans and, to a lesser extent, one-liter containers. Often imported, this fuel was fractionated and bottled in São Paulo or Santos, from where it was distributed and sold at retail.
Needless to say, transporting this fuel in wooden wagons, pulled by steam locomotives that gave off sparks, represented a great risk. Faced with this concern, the railroads began to order steel wagons, equipped with vents at the head to eliminate any vapors, allowing these cans of imported fuel to be transported more safely. This solution minimized risks to both the crew and the company's assets and the cargo being transported. In addition to being flammable and in the opposite direction, the wagon was a conventional closed one, transporting any type of dry or bagged cargo.
Above we see the recently acquired Dyle EFA at Fazenda Buarque, still in 1938.
The Araraquara Railway (EFA) ordered these wagons from the Franco-Belgian company Société Anonyme des Travaux Dyle et Bacalan, which produced them at its headquarters in Louvain, Belgium, in 1937.
The Société Anonyme des Travaux Dyle et Bacalan, commonly known as Dyle et Bacalan, was a renowned Belgian manufacturer of railway equipment and metal structures, established in 1879 from the merger of the Ateliers de la Dyle of Louvain, Belgium, and the Chantiers de Bacalan of Bordeaux, France.
The company excelled in the production of railway equipment, including locomotives, freight and passenger cars, as well as bridges and other metal structures. One of its notable projects was the Imperial Car, built in 1886 for Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil, currently preserved in the Train Museum in Rio de Janeiro, or the metal bridges of the scenic Paranaguá-Curitiba Railway.
We did not find any references confirming whether the wagons were imported ready-made or whether they arrived in kit form for assembly in the railway workshops, as occurred with the Pressed Steel wagons of the Estrada de Ferro Sorocabana (whose model is also available at Marumbi Modelismo).
Mechanical Project made by the Locomotion Department of the Araraquara Railway
Initially, the wagons were equipped with bar bogies, vacuum brakes and coupling chains. Over the years, they underwent modernization, receiving cast bogies and compressed air brakes. However, most of them ended up being equipped with small automatic couplings, of the "Alliance 2" type, until the end of their useful life.
Loading of the EFA Mikado 314 onto the flatcar during its widening, where a Closed Dyle EFA can be seen in the background on the left, already fully integrated into the railroad traffic. Photo by Sebastião Ramos.
On the Araraquara Railroad, the wagons received their characteristic gray paint, in addition to the company logo and series (S-IC), which were applied in castings on the wagon's bodywork. Marumbi Modelismo, always attentive to details, could not fail to faithfully reproduce these characteristics. Therefore, it offers something unparalleled in the market: photoetches with seven wagon numbers, in addition to the Araraquarense logo, available in this paint option.
Simply select EFA when purchasing, and we will add a photoetch, as well as tare and capacity decals to your kit. This way, you can faithfully represent not only the inscriptions, but also the volume of the car.
Connecting Araraquara to the city of Rubinéia, on the banks of the Paraná River, and functioning as an outlet for the immense agricultural production of the regions of Catanduva, São José do Rio Preto, Votuporanga and Fernandópolis, the Estrada de Ferro Araraquarense (EFA) began to demonstrate the limitations caused by the break in gauge with the Companhia Paulista.
Since the line was isolated from the other metric gauge railways in the state, it became clear that manual transfer, one car at a time, was a major inconvenience for connecting the region with the capital of São Paulo and Santos. As a result, in the 1950s, EFA began the process of widening its track gauge. As part of this same program, the company acquired or leased dozens of used broad gauge locomotives and cars from other Brazilian railways, while it continued to widen its tracks, moving the transfer forward, station by station. In its workshops, EFA continued to convert metric gauge material to broad gauge, in addition to transferring and selling part of its old material, while awaiting a large order for cars, cars and the famous EMD GPs.
It is at this point that the history of a wagon, which initially belonged only to the EFA, begins to diversify, becoming multiple and representing a significant part of the national railway system. Let's start with the most obvious variant: the wagons that were converted to broad gauge.
Unfortunately, we do not have any photos of these wagons, but it is possible to confirm that at least seven of the original closed wagons were re-rigged, receiving broad gauge bogies, as indicated in this record from the early years of Fepasa, which was made by erasing a record from the old EFA. The record mentions re-rigging in 1963, which leads us to believe that these were some of the last metric gauge wagons to run on EFA lines.
Marumbi Modelismo provides Fepasa phase 1 “fepasinha” decals with numbers from this phase, as well as the wagons that only come with “wide” gauge bogies (standard 16.5mm) for this variation.
Well, since only seven wagons were converted to broad gauge, it is time to describe the unfolding of the history of the others. Let's start with the wagons that EFA sold to Estrada de Ferro Leopoldina, around 1961.
If you want to know more about the history of Leopoldina and the moment it was experiencing in the 1960s, you can check out the article about the La Brugeoise Wagon by Marumbi Modelismo.(https://www.marumbimodelismo.com/en/masterclass/fechado-labrugeoise-efl).
Leopoldina received a total of 18 “Fechado Dyle EFA” type wagons in a purchase of hundreds of wagons, including steel and wood, that RFFSA made with that company. These wagons that headed north, along the Mogiana and VFCO lines until reaching the EFL, operated both on their lines and on loan to the south, in the 11th division, Paraná-Santa Catarina.
Plan of the ‘Fechado Dyle EFA’ belonging to EF Leopoldina. On the right we have the list of wagons loaned to Paraná Santa Catarina.
In this photo from 1968 in Paranaguá/PR we see a ‘Fechado Dyle EFA’ in the foreground, already as EF Leopoldina, loaned to PSC. José Petroski, Acervo APFMF Curitiba.
The wagons were loaned from 1963 to 1969, when PSC received closed-type bulk wagons from FNV. Some of the Dyles underwent modernization, such as the installation of rolling bogies and the replacement of the old opening doors with sliding doors. Upon returning to Leopoldina, the wagons continued to provide services to the railroad, initially on a paid basis, and later, the surviving ones began to be used in the railroad's internal service. Currently, one of the examples that passed through Leopoldina is under guard and awaits restoration at the ABPF facilities in Porto Novo.
Now let's go back to Fepasa, talking again about metric gauge, represented by those that were transferred to Sorocabana, the largest metric gauge company in São Paulo and currently also owned by the state. Sorocabana received a large quantity of metric wagons that were declared non-obsolete when the EFA was widened. Among them we can list some 'Closed Dyle EFA', as shown in the photos.
A ‘Closed Dyle EFA’ as the first wagon of this composition pulled by a GL8 from Mogiana.
We were unable to determine exactly how many wagons were transferred to the Sorocabana Railroad (EFS), nor when their original numbering (S-IC series) was changed to the numbering in effect at EFS (VG series). However, we are certain that the numbers available on the decals from the EFS phase really existed.
It is also known that at least one unit (VGE-3703) was converted to transport fertilizer, receiving caps on the roof for loading. Since it is a unique wagon, we will not produce it in miniature.
However, if you wish to model something unique, here is a suggestion: starting from a Dyle EFA Closed from Marumbi Modelismo, simply add the caps to the roof, which can be cut from a Graneleiro EFS roof (Ref. Frateschi 2002 or 2008) .
There is also information that some of these EFA wagons were transferred to São Paulo – Minas, one of the most obscure Fepasa train companies, at least in our opinion. However, we were unable to confirm this information with any documentation or images.
If you have more information about these wagons and would like to share it with us, please get in touch.
Naturally, all the EFA and EFS wagons and those that were eventually transferred to São Paulo – Minas (SPM) ended up being reunited in 1971 under the same company, Fepasa.
At Fepasa, the metric gauge wagons were numbered in the series 110XXX to 115XXX and 216XXX (numbers in random order according to use, bogies and type of service), while the few broad gauge wagons were numbered in the series 6140XX (sequentially).
Fepasa underwent a change in its visual identity in the second half of the 1970s, which was also reflected in the livery of the ‘Closed Dyle EFA’ in its fleet. The adoption of #FEPASA brought with it a new look, and the Sumo numbering (Fepasa’s equivalent to SIGO/ABNT standard) was also implemented in the early 1980s, resulting in a new typology for closed wagons.
Dyle EFA closed, now as #FEPASA (phase 2). Photo by Mauricio Lima (note that he was on assignment for TWC).
“Pendants” on a closed Dyle EFA at the service of Votorantim, near Sorocaba. Collection of the MPF Sorocabana, via Eric Mantuan.
Finally, some of these wagons, which are already obsolete for freight transport, are being redesigned for internal railway service, changing from FSC to FNC, where the N stands for “Unpaid”. Wagons designated for emergency services and overhead lines can be seen in the photos below.
These wagons will initially not have decals available, and they will only be produced if there are enough interested parties to make it possible to produce a sheet of decals. If you wish to order one of these wagons, keep in mind that the decal may take a while or, in some cases, may not even be produced, depending on market demand.
Relief Wagon, photo by Davi Boçon (in Memoriam). Its numbering is partially legible, as FNC 34323X, still in Fepasa colors.
Permanent Way Train, photo Stenio Gimenez, among the closed ones, we see a ‘Closed Dyle EFA’, the FNC 343480-0.
Another closed one, this time FNC 343490-7 in the service of electrical engineering, as per the inscription on its door “MAINTENANCE OF PRESIDENTE ALTINO AIR NETWORK”. Author unknown, if it is you, contact us.
Finally, with the privatization in 1997, the remaining wagons were transferred to Ferroban and, with its split in 1999, were received by FCA and ALL. In 2006, the rest of Ferroban was incorporated by ALL, which also took over the non-operational wagons.
Among these wagons, one stands out as the most photographed and measured by Marumbi Modelismo: FNC 343350-4, which is located in Mauá da Serra, in the Central region of Paraná, just over 4 and a half hours by car from Curitiba. This ‘Fechado Dyle EFA’ continues to resist firmly, at almost 80 years old, fulfilling a function curiously close to its original function: today, it serves as a support wagon, storing fuel and lubricants for the mechanization of the permanent way.
Dyle EFA closed in Mauá da Serra/PR, in 2024, photo by João Licorini.
Forward EFA.
