2-10-0 Steam Locomotives in France

Class 150 A65 (Locobase 2525)

Data from [], a description of the class, says that the PO was not only the first railway in Europe to introduce a 4-6-2 class, but also the first in France to operate a "Decapode". See also J B Flamme, Les Chemins de Fer a l'Exposition de Bruxelles (Paris: H Dunod et Pinat, 1911), p. 46; and "150 n° 6 001 à 6 070 du PO', from WikiPO's Locomotives vapeur à cinq essieux couplés section at [], last accessed 1 February 2025..(Thanks to Alexander Blessing for his 4 January 2025 email correcting the adhesion weight.) SACMBelfort delivered the first 30 (works numbers were 6101-6130) in 1909-1910. Fives Lille (works numbers 3827-3846 in 1912) and Franco Belge (works numbers 1999-2018 iin 1912) each followed with 20 locomotives.

The accompanying photo shows a Belpaire firebox behind a high-pitched boiler with three domes, a steam dome flanked by two sand boxes.

Although the account says that the design suffered from constricted steam passages and a poorly designed regulator, the 70 engines specialized in the difficult grades from Limoges to Montauban. They were also the only 2-10-0s that worked passenger service in those same years, particularly up the 3.3% grades from la Bourbole to Mont-Dore.