French National Railways 2-12-0 Freight Engine

Between 1910 and 1912, the Paris-Orleans Railway constructed a series of heavy 2-10-0 freight locomotives which, on the formation of the S.N.C.F., became Nos. 150 A.001 to 070.

They were 4-cylinder superheated machines with 4ft 8in driving wheels and in 1939 one of them, No. 150.A30, was chosen to be extensively rebuilt as a possible prototype standard heavy freight design.

The resulting ' rebuild' in fact turned out to be a 6-cylinder 2-12-0 compound locomotive numbered 160.A1, utilizing a few of the original parts such as the wheels, and violating sundry cherished design principles with apparent success.

Thus, not only was the drive divided, but in fact the second, third and fourth axles were all driven; unlike the earlier P.L.M. 2-10-2 compounds, with coupling rods between the frames, the wheels were kept in step by the usual outside coupling rods.

The high-pressure cylinders, far back between the frames, drove the fourth axle and exhausted through a second superheater into four low-pressure cylinders in line below the smokebox; of these the inside pair drove the second axle and the outside pair the third.

Tractive effort was 65,000 lb, and with a total engine weight of 138 tons sufficient adhesion was obtained to enable 4,000 ton trains to be started from rest.

Naturally war conditions prevented much use being made of 160-A1, but after the war extensive trials were carried out both on the road and at Vitry testing station. However, the economic train length was too great for convenient operation, due to limited siding accommodation, and, shortly after this photograph of the 160.A1 at Ivry was taken in 1955, she was withdrawn from service and has since been cut up.