Etat and Ouest / SNCF 2-8-2 Locomotives in France

Class 141-001 /3-141 C (Locobase 15577)

Data from diagram UG, Type 162, Societe Alsacienne de Constructions Mecaniques from locomotive book supplied by Dany Machi up at [] as

Diagrammes des machines SACM construites a GRAFENSTADEN (October 2007). See also "La locomotive 141 C, la dure loi de l'Ouest" AntiquitTs brocante de la tour, last accessed at [] on 11 November 2013. Schneider produced the first 190 of this class in 1921 and SACM finished the class with 60 in 1923.

These Mikes were soon discovered to be excellent dual-service locomotives. Strong, yet rated for a top speed of 100 km/h (62.1 mph), the class hauled freight trains of 1,800 tonnes (1,984 short tons) on one day and stood in for 4-6-2s on the next. Their relatively low axle loading allowed their use on most lines in the Ouest system, so many were reassigned to that railway.

Most retained their standard dimensions and configuration that included small steam and sand domes and a Belpaire firebox. Over the years, the Etat and later the SNCF updated the engines by raising the boiler pressure to 14 kg/cm2 (13.75 bar or 199 psi). This project began with a few in the late 1920s and was applied to the whole class in 1932. Many also received the Kylchap exhaust as well as small, "elephant-ear"smoke deflectors on either side of the smokebox that gave the engines the look of a typical French "late-steam" locomotive., ACFI (Compagnie des Auxiliaires des Chemins de Fer et de l'Industrie) feed water heaters on 99 locomotives (as well as Worthingtons on ten more and British-made Weirs on 141-029 and 141-050) also contributed to lower consumption of both coal and water.

The result boosted engine horsepower from 1,540 hp (1,149 kW) at 60 km/h (37.3 mph) to 1,700 hp (1,268 kW) and from 830 (619 kW) at 60 km/h (37.3 mph) to 1,160 hp (865 kW) at 100 km/h (62.1 mph).

A measure of their utility (as well as the simple economic advantage of "good enough") tells us that only eleven out of the original 250 had been withdrawn by 1960. Then retirement pacing increased, reducing the stud from 239 locomotives to 44 by 1969 and to a close out of the class at the end of that year.