Memphis, El Paso and Pacific No. 1 to 10

These ten locomotives were built in 1870 in France for service in the USA, but were ultimately used in Spain. They had been ordered by the Memphis, El Paso and Pacific Railroad that started to build a line from the eastern Border of Texas to San Diego on the Pacific in the 1860s. They had the works numbers 1253 to 1262 and were to be named after rivers. When Koechlin in Alsace had shipped the first two, they learnt that the customer was in serious financial problems. So the locomotives were loaded off from the ship in Bordeaux and Koechlin started to search for new customers.

Although built for North America, they were designed after typical European or French practice. They had plate frames and a very large steam dome. The outside valve gear was of the Gooch type. Due to their Stephenson long boiler design, they had long overhangs which meant that the running characteristics were not very good at speed. The coupler frame for the tender was mounted between the second and third driving axles to reduce flange wear. Sources state an indicated output of 499 hp, but continuous power is more likely to have been slightly below 400 hp. Built in broad gauge, possible customers were on the Iberian Peninsula.

Originally built to burn wood, they had to be converted to burn coal as usual in Europe. Four locomotives were sold to the Tarragona a Barcelona y Francia that later became part of the Madrid a Zaragoza y Alicante. There they were already withdrawn by 1906 since there were no tasks really suitable for them. Maybe this was because they had drivers too large for heavy freight service, but the boilers and running characteristics were too weak for fast passenger service.

Three were bought by the Asturias, Galicia y Leon and two by the Lerida a Reus y Tarragona. Both of these companies later became part of the Norte. The tenth locomotive maybe have come to the Torralba–Soria, but there are no records to prove this. Maybe this locomotive was not built at all after the original customer became bankrupt. All five locomotives owned by the Norte later became RENFE 030-2108 to 030-2112. They were officially withdrawn in 1964, after a life of 94 years.