CFIL 0-6-0 Locomotives in France

Class 1 (Locobase 8001)

Data from [] (accessed 5 December 2006).

The Landes system bought 12 six-coupled tanks, an order divided between. Fives-Lille and Schneider, which finished the batch in 1890 and are described in Locobase 10000. This class of six-coupled tanks made up the principal steam power and were designed by an engineer of the Midi. All had balloon stacks with spark arresters, outside Stephenson link motion actuating slide valves, and a relatively simple design. The F-LL variation had slightly larger cylinder diameter than the Schneiders, but less heating surface area.

See below for a short history of the VFL

The Gascogne was a fertile area in southwestern France that until the late 1700s saw little development. Indeed, according to the Trainlandes website noted above, travelers to the region beheld a monotonous landscape that was flooded in the winter and dry in the summer. Shepherds tended their sheep on stilts (the shepherds, not the sheep). The coastal area was swept by dunes.

In the late 1700s, however, much of the land was drained and planted with trees.

In the 1850s, so-called agricultural railways to service these plantations of trees began spidering into the hinterlands. The Midi undertook the construction of secondary lines in 1875 ; work began in 1882 and was completed for the most part by 1891. The lines, which extended west in a series of parallels from the Midi's Biscayan line, were identified as the Chemins de fer d'IntTrOt Local du dTpartement des Landes.

By 1910 the three companies involved totaled 361 km. They were brought together under the name of the VFL -- Voies FerrTes des Landes -- in 1916.

In French, the author of the site -- LTon. JF Loock -- says the railway accomplished what was intended: "permettre la circulation, exporter le bois et la rTsine et aider a la construction de routes en transportant les matTriaux. Elles transporteront les habitants de ces rTgions. Elles autoriseront aussi l'exploitation de petites mines ou d'industries. Elles cesseront quasiment toutes leur activitT aprFs la seconde guerre. La fermeture au service voyageurs eut lieu pour la plupart fin 1949, aux marchandises en 1969 ou 1979."

(The lines allowed the export of wood and pine sap and supported transportation of other materials and the people of the region. Some small mines benefited as well. Those mines were closed by World War II. Passenger service ended in 1949 and freight service stopped in 1969-1970).

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Class Type 108 (Locobase 10000)

Data from [],vapeur-030t-landes,109533.html (accessed 22 March 2009).

Locobase 8000 describes the Fives-Lille portion of a 12-locomotive order that began delivery in 1899. This class of six-coupled tanks made up the principal steam power and were designed by an engineer of the Midi. All had balloon stacks with spark arresters, outside Stephenson link motion actuating slide valves, and a relatively simple design.

This entry gives the somewhat different data presented by Schneider's version of the design. Compared to the F-Ls, the Schneieders had slightly smaller cylinders, but more heating surface area. All operated for decades, the last retiring when the Labenne-Seignosse line was closed and the rest of the VFL was taken over by diesels.