Midi 0-8-0 Locomotives in France

Class 700 (Locobase 11319)

Data from August Perdonnet et Camille Polonceau, Nouveau Portefeuille de L'Ingenieur des Chemins de Fer, Tome Second (Paris: Librairie Scientifique, Industrielle et Agricole, 1866), pp. 528-529. See also Schneider Catalogue, last accessed 22 September 2018 at [], pp. 22-23; and M Jules Gaudry et M A Ortolan, "Section III - Machine A Vapeur - Locomotives IV- Locomotives ordinaires a marchandises a 8 roues fixes", +tudes sur l'exposition de 1867 ..., Parts 1-5, 2nd Serie, Fascicules 6 a 10 (Paris: Librairie Scientifique, Industrielle et Agricole, 1867), pp. 2-3.

Both Cail and Schneider (Type 65 works numbers were 1182-1191 in 1860) delivered locomotives of this design.

Class 750 (Locobase 20443)

Data from Maurice Demoulin, Traite Pratique de la Machine Locomotive (Paris: Libraire Polytechnique, Baudry et Cie, 1898), Table, pp. 131 and table, 449

Locobase 11319 shows the earlier 700 series locomotives produced by Cail and Schneider in the early 1860s. Demoulin's entry shows a later variant with fewer, but slightly larger boiler tubes.

Class unknown (Locobase 7415)

Data from Titre Exposition universelle internationale de 1889 a Paris. Rapports du jury internationale. Auteur - Volume France. Ministere du Commerce, de l'industrie. Picard, Alfred, ed. Volume Groupe VI - -Outillage et precedes des industries mecaniques. Electricite (5e partie) Classes 60 a 63. Rapport sur le materiel des chemins de fer. tables beginning on p. 183 ([] (accessed 1 September 2005)).

Faced with grades of up to 3.3%, the Midi went to Schneider for this low-drivered, eight-coupled freight hauler. Tonnage rating on the steepest grades was 140 tonnes. All four axles were grouped between the firebox and the smokebox and the front and rear axles had 20 mm (0.8") of play, thus allowing the engine to negotiate very tight curves.

Class unknown (Locobase 13168)

Data from W H Maw and William Dredge, "Locomotives", Reports on the Vienna Universal Exhibition, Part II (London: George Eyre and William Spottiswoode, 1874), pp. 400-404.

Maw and Dredge note that these twenty engines were designed to a very specific set of requirements. Maximum axle loading was to be no more than 13-14 tons (29,120-31,360 lb/13,209-14,225 kg). The "heaviest loads possible" were to go up a 3.2% grade at 12 1/2 mph (20 km/h) and continue this climb for 15-16 km (9.3-10 miles).

While impressed with the design's dimensions, its weight distribution, and the quality of its workmanship, the two British authors could not endorse it without reservation. Indeed, they pronounced on its inferiority to the Fairlie design at length. Their observation that the tube surface area is too large in proportion and each tube too long led them to conclude that expecting the boiler to produce the 0.259 hp per square foot is to describe a "maximum performance only attainable under very favourable circumstances."