European Railroad Discussion > Andre Chapelon's Masterpiece, Le Mans 1969

The date was July 8th,1969 and I am doing the typical North American teenager adventure of the day, back packing around Europe with a student Eurailpass and an International Youth Hostel membership.

However, after a few cathedrals and castles, I discovered that there were European railfans travelling on a budget who knew where the last steam engines in western Europe were working.

Here I was at Le Mans, France, famous for auto racing. Instead, after checking out the huge engine facility at Le Mans, we headed to the station. There was a gap in the electrification which still required steam locomotives to handle express passenger trains out of Le Mans.

After getting thoroughly soaked in a downpour of rain, we witnessed an SNCF 241P (4-8-2) make a spirited departure from Le Mans.

Andre Chapelon was the designer of this fine series of steam locomotives which featured improved cylinder and blast pipe design.

Although the locomotive is dirty and run down, it still spells steam and speed and French pride to me. I'm so glad I got to see it, nearly 50 years ago.

Great shots of a great engine!

Thomas Eckhardt
Hurricane UT

Beautiful stuff.Reminds me of the movie Von Ryans Express.I had finished college,and been in the workforce 2 months when you took those pics.
Regards,DK

Nice set of pictures but the 241P was not a Chapelon design, it was a post war version of a pre-war PLM design, exhibiting certain weaknesses of the earlier locomotives. I'm sure Chapelon design principles may have been involved but these were certainly no masterpieces.

Great photos. Here is one of my shots of a pair of 241P's at Le Mans locomotive depot in May 1969 - a plumber's dream!
John McIvor
svsfilm.com

---

Do you have any pictures of the 24 hour Race?

Mike Mikado Anderson

OK, somebody clue me in here. 

What's up with all the plumbing on those engines?

march_hare Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OK, somebody clue me in here. 
>
> What's up with all the plumbing on those engines?

In the B & W picture, the loco on the left is not actually showing a whole lot of plumbing, other than sanding pipes; the rest of it is mechanical, part of the reverser/valve gear. On the right-hand loco, the gizmo on the running board is the pump for an ACFI-brand feedwater heater, and this device is associated with a whole lot of plumbing (steam, cold water and hot water pipes), just like the U.S.-made Elesco and Worthington brands were here in North America (although it always seemed to me that the ACFI had more complex piping than the other two; maybe someone more knowledgable than me can jump in here).

Hope this helps,

Roger Lewis (airbrakegeezer)

march_hare Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OK, somebody clue me in here. 
>
> What's up with all the plumbing on those engines?

French steam locomotive designers adopted a much more scientific, evidence based approach to locomotive design than, say, here in Britain. Men like Andre Chapelon and Marc de Caso were obsessed in maximising the thermal efficiency of the steam locomotive, adopting compounding and other technologies, such as the ACFI feedwater heater and new blastpipe technologies. Consequently French locomotive's boilers were often festooned with pipework. But it paid off, as a breed French locomotives, whether De Caso's Super Pacifics for the CF Du Nord or Chapelon's 240P 4-8-0s of the PO Midi, were the most efficient in the world.