ALVF/Etat 2-8-0 Locomotives in France

Class 140 C (Locobase 6375)

Data from [], a page from a Vulcan catalogue ca. 1920 and VF construction information from [], where the 35 locomotives delivered in 1919-1920 were works# 3235-3244 and 3245-3269. Also, []; and "Consolidation Locomotive for the French State Rys", Locomotive Magazine (15 December 1919), p. 209. for most specifications. The Vulcan data for the heating surfaces runs a little smaller. Locobase cannot explain the datum in the ASSO website that shows another 46.13 sq m under "total heating surface."

The French tourist road website [] explains that Vulcan built half of a 70-locomotive order that followed the 270 locomotives built to a 1913 design; these are shown in Locobase 10006 as PLM 140 Ks.

It's clear from the data that the British manufacturers took the opportunity to enlarge the basic Consolidation design. The result was a slightly less efficient locomotive by Locobase standards, but nonetheless popular for all that.

When they were delivered, the military declared them surplus to requirements and gave 35 to the Est and 35 to the PLM (see Locobase 10006). (6 were lost when the Saint Chamond was torpedoed and sunk on 29 April 1918.)

In that service, according to the CFTLP site: "Leur robustesse, leur simplicitT, leur faible covt d'utilisation et leur aptitude a rouler sur toutes les lignes mOme les moins bien entretenues les fit trFs apprTcier des compagnies de chemin de fer puis de la SNCF." (Loosely translated -- they were sturdy, not overly complex, reliable, and able to operate on the least well-maintained roadbed and were prized as a result.)