SNCF 2-10-2 Locomotives in France

Class 151.TQ (Locobase 2468)

Data from Wikipedia's entry [], last accessed 3 November 2013. See also "La locomotive-tender 151 TQ, la renaissance des Ceintures", AntiquitTs brocante de la tour at [], also last accessed 3 November 2013. Delivered in two batches: 10 in 1942 and 12 in 1951-1952.

Used on suburban passenger and freight-line work where short distances and heavy pulling were required. Their normal maximum speed was 70 km/h (43 mph ). The second batch differed only slightly from the first in having a Nord type smoke box door and larger tanks.

AntiquitTs brocante de la tour's account notes that results of 1950 trials on the Montluton a Eygurande in the Massif Central showed that they were strong pullers with lots of adhesive weight owing to the tanks and coal bunkers. But their boilers proved too small to produce enough steam to scale the long banks.

So the TQs moved to the Grande Ceinture, the belt line that circulated continuously around Paris, passing through towns like "Juvisy, Argenteuil, Le Bourget, Villeneuve-St-Georges, etc". It was hard service hauling an interminable number of slow freights (seldom faster than 30 km/h/18.6 mph), frequently stopping, switching back and forth from mainline to siding. The environment combined, says the author, to constitute " un vTritable exploit olympique pour les Tquipes de conduite et un bilan comptable terrifiant pour les gestionnaires des rTseaux formant le Syndicat des Ceintures. " (a veritable Olympic feat for the crews and a terrific drain on the balance sheet--Locobase's rough translation).

The 022 was the last steam locomotive accepted by the SNCF when it went into service in 1952. The last of the 22 left service in 1968.