Spanish 'Barry' scrapyard with British-built steam locos

[John Ashworth]

From The Railway Magazine, January 2013, p 110

Spanish 'Barry' scrapyard... with British-built steam locos

Thanks to the efforts of a Spanish scrap merchant, who was also a rail enthusiast, a large collection of narrow gauge steam locos, many of them built in the UK more than 100 years ago, survives in a sort of Spanish 'Barry' situation in the city of Zaragoza.

Senor Lopez, the former operator of Industrias Lopez Soriana scrap metal business... built up the collection when most of Spain's narrow gauge railways closed.

The business is now run by his son, who doesn't share his father's passion for railways - although he is well aware of the locos' historical value and may be trying to sell some of them to new owners for preservation...

The collection currently consists of 21 narrow gauge steam locos, two broad gauge, and several historic diesels.

A large number of 3ft 6in gauge locos from the originally British-owned Rio Tinto industrial system in south-west Spain, are in Zaragoza, sadly all in need of restoration; a small part of this system operates as a preserved line (http://www.parquemineroderiotinto.com)...

Photo caption:

Nine 0-6-0Ts from the 3ft 6in gauge Rio Tinto copper-mining line are grouped together... and can be photographed from a flyover on the Castellon road. The oldest is 'C' class No. 15 (Beyer Peacock 1440/1875), whose sister loco No. 14 now runs on the preserved part of the Rio Tinto line. The remainder - all 'I' class locos - are Nos. 52 (Dubs 1891/1883), 55 (Dubs 1894/1883), 75 (Dubs 4065/1900), 77 (Dubs 4067/1900), 78 (Dubs 4068/1900), 82 (NBL 16592/1906), 85 (NBL 17075/1906), and 93 (NBL 18320/1908). The yard holds 12 more steam locos.