Paris-Lyon-Mediterrannee 4-8-2 Locomotives in France

Class 241.C.1 (Locobase 6071)

Data from I N Jevica's [] (visited 29 May 2004) and from US Military Railway Service Equipment Data Book for French Locomotives supplied by Allen Stanley in March 2004 from his extensive Rail Data Exchange, supplemented by PLM Wiki at [], last accessed 4 November 2011.

Impressive Mountain that displayed the novelty of different stroke lengths for the two different types of cylinders. Long a one-of-a-kind prototype, the SNCF later derived its formidable 241P Mountain class of 35 locomotives beginning in 1948.

Photos show that the slab-sided smoke deflectors flanking the smokebox led to a visually confusing profile. The boiler had an ACFI RM reheater between the HP and LP cylinders.

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Class 241A (Locobase 2131)

Data from PLM Wiki at [], last accessed 4 November 2011. Schneider au Creusot supplied the first 80 in 1925-1928. Then the Forges et AciTries de la Marine et dñHomTcourt a Saint Chamond delivered 241 A 81-A 95 in 1929. Creusot followed in 1929 with 241 A 96-A 115. Saint Chamond finished the class with deliveried in 1930 (241 A 116-125) and 1932 (241 A 126-145).

Fitted with a parabolic smokebox door to reduce wind resistance. In keeping with PLM practice, the low-pressure cylinders were outside driving the leading axle while the high-pressure cylinders nestled inside the frame farther back and drove the second axle.

According to Reder (1974), these engines, originallly described as "Valentin's folly" showed their mettle by developing 2,180 hp while pulling a 625-ton train between Laroche and Blaisy-Blas in the Cote d'Or mountains. They went on to have very successful careers on the steeper stretches of the PLM's line south of Paris.

[] (a German steam locomotive parts supplier) gives the normal steaming capacity as 18,000 kg/hr. The same site says these were rated as capable of hauling a 940-short ton passenger train up a 0.5% grade at 70 kph.

48 would be modified to improve steaming and reappear as 241 Ds; see Locobase 13379

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Class 241D (Locobase 13379)

Data from PLM Wiki at [], last accessed 4 November 2011.

Locobase 2131 shows the original configuration of the large class of PLM Mountains that first appeared in 1925. In the mid-1930s, famed locomotive designer Andre Chapelon reorganized the internal steam circuit to create a freer-steaming engine. He enlarged the piping between the exhausting HP cylinders and the intake face of the LP valves. A double Kylchap exhaust improved draft. In place of the distinctive parabolic nose cone, Chapelon fitted smoke-deflectors (smoke lifters) on either side of the smokebox.