Nord 4-6-0 Locomotives in France

Class 3.121-3.170 /230A (Locobase 3890)

Data from Edouard Sauvage, "Four-Cylinder Compound Locomotives of France", Railroad Gazette, Volume XXXII, No 30 (28 September 1900), pp. 629-632, which was compiled through direct communications with the various designer

Clearly from the de Glehn mold, these four-cylinder compounds also had the Belpaire firebox. According to the French website [], accessed 31 October 2006, these were mixed traffic locomotives of substantial power.

[], a history of all the major regional lines visited 26 November 2004, tells us that this design was the progenitor of several batches of Ten-Wheelers over a 15-year period and that the total came to 277 machines. They were rated at 200 tons at 100 km/h (62 mph), 300 tons at 90 km/h (55 mph), 450 tons at 70 km/h (43 mph), and 600 tons at 60 km/h (37 mph). Their maximum freight rating was 1,014 metric tons. They served all manner of trains from express and fast mail to freight and a wide variety of secondary-line services.

The later 3500-class "Chocolate Nords" are shown in Locobase 5322. See also Locobase 6548 for the very similar Prussian P7.

Class 3.513-3.557/230D (Locobase 20822)

Data from "Transition Locomotives for the Northern Railway of France," Railroad Gazette, Volume XLVII [47], No 14 (1 October 1909), pp. 578-579; and

As the Nord was "practically rebuilding most of its main line", it needed to handle traffic without using the newest engines then being designed (see Locobase 3890). Its shops turned out this set of "transition locomotives" that would be "discarded from the main line as soon as [it] is in readiness for the new equipment." They would make frequent stops and were designed to haul a 380 ton train. Axle loading needed to be as low as possible.

The boilers--fitted with finned, large-diameter Serve tubes--were practically a duplicate of the Nord's 4-4-2s as was the leading bogie and much of the frame and running gear came from the existing Ten-wheelers. Because the Atlantic's boiler had such a deep firebox, they needed to reposition the rearmost driving axle. An incidental benefit was a longer wheelbase and greater stability. Slide valves for the cylinder offered a further sign of their ad hoc origin.

To help the fireman supply coal to the fire, a large bunker of ready ordinary coal fuel occupied the front end of the tender. On either side of the bunker were additional storage for briquette fuel. The sloping bunker floor fed coal by gravity.

At the time of the report, the 4-6-0s had proved "very satisfactory", even though they couldn't make the express-train speeds of the earlier Atlantics. They moved heavy trains at "fairly high speeds" and made "excellent time". Encouraged by the results, the Nord ordered 20 more from Schneider et Cie of Le Creusot in 1910.

Planned as transition locomotives and originally destined for secondary service, this tranche instead went through an update in 1929-1934 that brought them up to date with the 125 superheated examples that followed.

Class 3500 - superheated/ 230D (Locobase 5322)

Data from "230 Nord 3.513 a 3.662" in Wikipedia at [], last accessed 27 December 2020; and a table published in Railway Mechanical Engineer (RME) in May 1916.

Superheated engines were delivered in 1911-1912.

In 1911, 3578-3597 came from Fives-Lille in 1911; 3598-3637 from Henschel; 3638-3657, Schwartzkopff; 3658-3662, Forges de Gilly in Charleroi.

Nord's La Chapelle shop produced 3558-3567 in 1912;

Nord-Hellemmes finished the class with 3568-3577 in 1913.

This is the later version of the du Bousquet-de Glehn compound of 1897 (Locobase 3890). The first 45--often called "transition engines"--were completed as saturated-boiler engines to be used as the Nord's main line was being substantially upgraded; see Locobase 20822.

After the first 45, Nord fitted superheaters in the boiler. The October 1908 Railway Engineer gave the particulars of this class: "The engines embody the usual features of the de Glehn-du Bousquet compounds, having two outside HP cylinders driving the middle coupled axle, and two LP connected to the crank axle of the leading wheels. Four sets of Walschaerts gear actuate the valves, all of which are balanced slides."

RE noted, the big difference was an increase in boiler power. They were fitted with a larger Belpaire firebox, a bigger boiler, and a well-proportioned superheater to feed larger cylinders. It's also worth noting that the 53 Serve internally finned tubes and the 22 superheater flues were accompanied by 20 smooth tubes measuring 50 mm (1.97 inches) in diameter. that contributed another 148 sq ft (13.7 sq m) of heating surface.

Yet, says Wikipedia, the relatively small Atlantic firebox limited the steam available and the relatively light locomotives weren't really suitable for heavy and slow trains. The 3500s became famous as the Chocolate Nords. As the French Railway Museum at Mulhouse puts it, these were true mixed-traffic locomotives. They could pull 600-ton passenger trains at 115 km/h (71 mph). Hauling the crack Blue Train (Train Bleu), a 503-ton express, between Creil and Amiens required them to average 95.3 km/h (59 mph). On the other side, they were rated at 1,100 tons in freight service between St. Quentin and Aulnoye.

Through two World Wars and the rise and fall of many other designs, the Nords carried on until the last was retired in 1965.