“Le Continent” in the Cité du train, Mulhouse

Alf van Beem

Original condition of No. 79 “Le Globe”

Locomotive Magazine, August 1923

No. 184 rebuilt with heavier driving wheels

Locomotive Magazine, August 1923

After the Nord had already had 100 km/h fast Crampton machines built with a driving wheel diameter of 2,100 mm from 1849, the Est procured similar ones with a diameter of 2,300 mm three years later. The engines of the Est could then even reach 120 km/h, which was beneficial to the Cramptons' reputation as “greyhounds of the rails”. To do this, the maximum speed allowed on the French railway lines had to be increased by decree of Napoleon III.

After the twelve examples numbered 79 to 90 had been delivered by Cail in 1852, another 15 by Schneider-Creusot with numbers 174 to 188 followed in 1855. The first carrying axle had a larger diameter than the second and carried a significantly higher weight. The locomotives could pull up to 15 of the passenger cars of their time and usually reached an average speed of 55 to 75 km/h with nine to ten cars.

Since the adhesive weight of just over ten tonnes later turned out to be insufficient, as with most Cramptons, a rebuild took place from 1881. In order to shift the weight further to the rear, particularly massive and heavy wheel hubs and a smaller boiler were installed. To compensate, the boiler was now operated at a higher pressure. Together with other additions, such as the Westinghouse air brake, the adhesive weight could be increased by about 3.5 tonnes.

It was not until just before the turn of the century that other express locomotives were able to overtake the Cramptons. Number 80 “Le Continent” is the only example that has survived to this day. It was restored to its original condition in 1925 and initially exhibited at the Gare de l'Est in Paris. In 1946 it was made operational again, but has been standing since 1970. Today you can find the theoretically operational machine in the Cité du train in Mulhouse, but no renewed refurbishment is currently planned.

In order to accommodate a boiler with the largest possible heating surface between large drivers, one of the approaches was the Flaman boiler. This consisted of two pipes arranged one above the other, which were connected at several points. The lower pipe accommodated all heating tubes and the upper pipe served only as a water and steam room. The water level was kept roughly in the middle of the top tube, allowing relatively dry steam to be extracted without a large steam dome. This arrangement was first tested on a Crampton in 1891 and was a complete success because it achieved a great increase in performance.

Since the Crampton was no longer sufficient as an express locomotive at that time and the Est had therefore switched to the 4-4-0 wheel arrangement a few years earlier in this role, twelve locomotives with Flaman boilers were built in this wheel arrangement in the same year. In these, the lower tube of the boiler had a diameter of 1,200 mm and the upper one had a diameter of 800 mm. In order to keep the center of gravity low, the boiler was positioned low and the firebox was mounted low between the coupled axles. To make this possible, the wheelbase of the coupled axles was increased to three meters.

Since the first twelve locomotives proved their worth, a further 28 almost identical units were delivered between 1892 and 1894. A vacuum and an air brake were installed as braking systems at the same time. On a 443 km stretch eastbound from Paris, which had long gradients of 0.6 percent, the average speed with a 250 tonne train was 82 km/h. Since it was soon realized that a low center of gravity was not important even for express locomotives and that a boiler with a larger diameter could be placed higher instead, the Flaman boiler did not catch on.

No. 503 (first batch)

Locomotive Magazine, September 1923

No. 512 (second batch) rebuilt with smaller wheels and new number 2512

Locomotive Magazine, September 1923

No. 508 with 4-4-0 wheel arrangement and Flaman boiler

Locomotive Magazine, September 1923

Although the Crampton locomotive enjoyed long popularity in France in general and with the Est in particular, it reached its limits in the late 1870s. Thus, Regray initially had seven locomotives made with 2-4-0 wheel arrangement. Since the Belpaire firebox ended with the rear on the second coupled axle and the 2.31 meter diameter wheels were still very large, the locomotives were referred to as “coupled cramptons” or “super cramptons”. On numbers 508 to 510, the firebox was pulled further forward so that it lay between the coupled axles. The locomotives had a double outer frame in which the cylinders were situated.

After the first ten examples had been manufactured in the Est workshops in Épernay in 1878 and 1879, the next 32 examples were ordered from commercial suppliers. The numbers 511 to 522 came from Cail in Paris in 1881 and the 523 to 542 in 1882 from the Wiener Neustädter Lokomotivfabrik. Their wheels were only 2.10 meters tall and the cylinders were slightly smaller. They also featured a conventional firebox that was larger than the previous Belpaire firebox. 

A third series of 20 examples was made again in Épernay in 1884 and 1885. These were given a larger boiler, which exceeded the 100 square meter mark for the tubular heating surface. This enabled them to achieve a boiler output that was greater than that of contemporary locomotives with a 2-4-2 or 4-4-0 wheel arrangement. Furthermore, they had received a larger tender that, in addition to the three tons of coal, could hold up to 13 cubic meters of water instead of the ten cubic meters of the older tenders. Traction was later increased on 48 of the 52 examples in the last two series by reducing the wheel diameter to 1.83 metres.

Numbers 508 and 509 were converted to a Flaman boiler in 1888, which could hold a maximum number of smoke tubes with two barrels. Since the front axle was heavily loaded after the conversion, the carrying axle was replaced with a bogie. Since the results of the conversions did not justify the high effort, no other engines were converted in this way. The engines with smaller coupled wheels were soon increasingly used in ordinary passenger train service and were partly used until 1936. The first of the non-converted examples, on the other hand, had already been retired in 1906.

As a replacement for four-coupled express locomotives, the Est procured a total of 178 locomotives with a 4-6-0 wheel arrangement from 1906 onwards. This wheel arrangement was chosen because it had already proven itself in the passenger locomotives built between 1897 and 1902 with numbers 3401 to 3500. The diameter of the coupled wheels was increased from 1,750 to 2,090 mm and the four-cylinder compound engine was retained. The bogie, which could be moved sideways by 53 mm, was also equipped with brakes. After the 3101 and 3102 prototypes, the production locomotives were made more powerful, moving them from the Est performance class 9 to 11. Production took place in eight batches at Épernay, Maffei and SACM between 1906 and 1913 and a ninth batch at Batignolles-Châtillon between 1925 and 1927.

The locomotives of the first series did not initially have superheaters, but were retrofitted with superheaters from different manufacturers between 1912 and 1914. Later locomotives already had superheaders ex works. The superheaters were subsequently unified to simplify maintenance. Various approaches have been tried to increase the power or reduce consumption of individual locomotives. An additional steam dryer was installed between the high and low pressure cylinders on seven locomotives and one received a boiler pressure of 20 bars, but was later operated again at 16 bars due to the more difficult maintenance. Others received differently shaped smokebox doors or paneling over the steam domes. 

No. 3175 on an old post card

Pol Gillet

A comprehensive modernization took place between 1932 and 1946, which, in addition to the revision of the steam lines, also included a boiler pressure of 18 bars and other improvements. From 1938 the 28 locomotives that were not rebuilt became the 1-230 J and the rebuilt ones became the 1-230 K. While the first decommissioning began in 1950, twelve units were further modernized, converted to oil firing and provided with a streamlined fairing for the special rubber-tyred Drapeaux express trains. In this role they were later replaced by Pacific locomotives.

The locomotives of the Est with the numbers 3501 to 3890 are considered the most important French 4-6-0 passenger locomotives. They were sorted into power class 11 by the Est. These 390 locomotives were developed from the series numbered 3401 to 3500 and built between 1901 and 1912 by a large number of companies from France and Germany. The first were the 3501 to 3520 from Maffei in Munich, followed by the 3521 to 3550 from Schneider et Cie. These were Du Busquet-De Glehn type locomotives, i.e. with a four-cylinder compound engine and drive on two axles. The locomotives up to number 3790 used saturated steam, from No. 3719 of 1911 superheaters were installed. The newer locomotives also had a larger diameter of the high-pressure cylinders with 370 instead of 350 mm and were classified as series 11s to distinguish them.

230 B 786 in 1958 in Chaumont/Marne

Ben Brooksbank

Although these locomotives with a driving wheel diameter of 1,750 mm were no express locomotives, they had a streamlined cab and were approved for speeds of 110 km/h. They were stationed at all depots in the Est network. After the locomotives had been delivered from the factory with superheaters and larger cylinders from 1911, most of the existing locomotives were converted in the same way. These converted machines were listed as the “11s bis” series. 36 examples were modernized by André Chapelon in 1932. They received new exhaust systems with six nozzles and smoke deflectors, which improved their power somewhat. When the SNCF was founded in 1938, there were still 388 examples, which were now designated 1-230 B 501 to 890. The twelve engines that had not undergone any conversion were withdrawn from service in 1951. The last of the rest disappeared in 1967.

Since the existing 2-8-0 locomotives were no longer sufficient for the heavy ore trains in Lorraine, the Est was looking for more powerful locomotives. The 031+130 T Du Bousquet type, introduced in 1905, could not quite convince with their boiler performance in heavy freight train service. Thus, a new single-frame tank locomotive was developed that had sufficient power.

Thus, in 1913, two prototypes were created in the workshops in Epernay, which had been developed based on the existing passenger tank locomotives with 2-8-2 wheel arrangement. By reducing the driver diameter, a fifth coupled axle could be added, making it the first 2-10-2 locomotive and at the same time the heaviest tender locomotive in Europe. Known internationally as the Santa Fé, this wheel arrangement has since been referred to as the Lorraine in France. This is because these locomotives used in Lorraine were the first French locomotives of this type in France.

The engines had a Belpaire firebox, a Mestre-type superheater and a three-nozzle variable blast pipe. The leading and trailing axles were designed as bissel axles, each with 150 mm of side play, while all five coupled axles were fixed in the frame. Instead, the wheel flanges of the first and fifth axles were designed with a smaller depth, those of the second and fourth axles were weakened in width and the third axle had no wheel flanges at all. In addition to the two water tanks on the sides of the boiler, a third was integrated into the frame to get a water capacity of 13 cubic meters.

Both machines performed very well in test operations. With a train weighing 890 tonnes, 20 km/h could be reached at 1.5 percent, and the same speed was possible with 1,000 tons at one percent. Due to the First World War, no series engines could be procured for the time being. Only in 1925 and 1926 were 25 built, which received the numbers 5901 to 5925. Deviating from the two prototypes, these were delivered by Schneider in Creusot. The changes were only a few, but the sandboxes were no longer on top of the boiler, but housed inside the smoke box. In addition, sanding now only took place in front of the leading wheels.

They were first distributed to several depots in Lorraine. In 1930 they received new numbers from 151-701 to 151-727. After the creation of the SNCF, they were also stationed at other locations. During World War II they hauled suburban trains in Paris, which were now fewer but heavier. As early as 1947 they faced competition in the form of the A1AA1A 62000 series diesel locomotives and in 1957 only twelve were still in use. From 1957, five and soon eight examples were leased to coal mines in northern France. The last engines were retired by 1966 after they had been replaced by the BB 63500.

After the First World War, the French Eastern Railway received six 2-10-0 freight locomotives as reparations, which they grouped as numbers 5201 to 5206. These were examples of the Saxon XIII H, which were derived from the Prussian G 12¹ and built in Chemnitz by Hartmann. These simple three-cylinder locomotives performed well, but were too few to replace the existing 2-8-0 freight locomotives pulling heavy coal and ore trains.

Thus, Grafenstaden used the Saxon locomotives as the basis for a new series, of which the Est procured a total of 195 units between 1926 and 1931. A further ten were ordered by the État to replace existing 2-8-2 locomotives pulling heavy ore trains. Of these 205 locomotives, only 72- were built by Grafenstaden, another 107 came from Fives-Lille and 16 from Blanc-Misseron.

In terms of the basic design, the French locomotives essentially corresponded to their models, but innovations had also been incorporated. Among other things, exhaust systems with cloverleaf-shaped inlets were used, initially with three and later six jets. Changes were also made to the chassis. The front Bissel axle was exchanged for a construction common on the Est and the last coupled axle could no longer be shifted sideways. Instead, the third coupled axle was designed without wheel flanges and the second and fourth with weakened wheel flanges. 

When SNCF was founded in 1938, the Est locomotives became the 1-150 E 1 to 195 and the État locomotives became the 3-150 A 1 to 10. After the Second World War, the eight remaining État locomotives were also transferred to the eastern region and then renumbered to 1-150 196 through 203 to match their sister engines. The last example to withdraw from service was 1-150 E 173 on January 26, 1963.

Side view

Die Lokomotive, December 1932

Schematical drawing with dimensions

Die Lokomotive, December 1932

Starting in 1930, the French Eastern Railway had a series of 2-10-2T tank locomotives built for heavy coal and ore trains. These came directly from the engines with the numbers 5001, 5002 and 5901 to 5925, which had brought the name “Lorraine” to this wheel arrangement in France. They took over the chassis including the axles and the boiler with Belpaire firebox from the previous series. However, the three-cylinder engine was taken over from the 2-10-0 tender locomotives with the numbers 150-001 to 150-195, which hab been built for the Est by SACM in Alsace since 1926.

The locomotives were initially only used in the east of the country, where they proved themselves in their intended purpose, even if the performance hardly excelled that of their predecessors. Due to the design with three cylinders, however, smoother running under heavy loads was to be expected. From 1938, they became the 151 TC 751 to 760 with the SNCF. Between 1950 and 1961, ten units were in service in the northern region, where they were used on the Paris circle line and north of the city. There one of their tasks was the supply of the power plant in Porcheville. Decommissioning did not begin until 1957 and the remaining machines still pulled heavy freight trains in the last few years before finally disappearing in 1966.