Manila Railroad 200 class

The Manila Railway Company (MRC) purchased and operated tank locomotives for its fleet until 1906, when they purchased five Manila Railway 100 class 4-4-2 locomotives for the Baguio Special, an express train bound for Baguio via Dagupan station. After the company was renamed into the Manila Railroad in 1909, the first American-built locomotives were purchased from the American Locomotive Company (Alco) and arrived in 1912. Ten of these were the 110 class 4-6-0 and another ten were 130 class 2-8-0 locomotives.[6]

By 1917, the Insular Government took over the remaining Manila Railway operations in Manila and merged it into the Manila Railroad.[7] The success of Manila Railroad 45 class in the early 1920s the urged the government to purchase newer and larger locomotives based around H.K. Porter, Inc.'s acclaimed designs. These would replace its aging fleet of mostly tank locomotives, as well as the Manila Railroad 160 class Meyer locomotives, the latter were seen as slow, inefficient, and controversial during their time.[8]

Twenty new locomotives were purchased from Alco, ten being a 2-10-2 Santa Fe-type heavy freight locomotives and another ten being a 4-8-2 Mountain type for passenger use. The Santa Fe's were numbered the 200 class to the while the Mountain types were numbered the 170 class. While the first 20 Alco locomotives were built in the former Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works facility in New Jersey, these were built in the former Brooks Locomotive Works facility in Buffalo, New York. The transfer of facilities was made because the Brooks plant was more capable of building larger locomotives.[2]

A Manila Railroad 200 class in its full length in Tutuban, c. 1930s. The influence of Porter's designs is most visible on the cab.

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 343,500 pounds (155,800 kg; 155.8 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. The locomotives were fitted with a Walschaerts valve gear similar to all steam locomotives during this era.[2]

The overall design also heavily resembles the Manila Railroad 45 class locomotives designed by Porter, particularly the second batch numbered 55–64 introduced a year before owing to that design's enjoyed popularity among MRR's railroad engineers and maintenance crew.

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.[9]

Four units managed to survive after World War II, Nos. 205, 206, 208 and 209, all of which were still in active service by 1952. In comparison, the 170 class survived with three units after the war.[10] Even after the dieselization efforts of the Manila Railroad was initiated in 1956, the locomotives continued its duties well into the 1960s. No. 205 was stored in San Fernando railyard by c. 1965 and was eventually scrapped there in the decades after. The class is now considered extinct.[11]