Pacific Chapelon

1940 · SNCF 231E · Work 23 of 1,871

Pacific Chapelon, 1940, SNCF 231E

A Chapelon rebuilt Pacific locomotive, external steam pipes and Kylchap exhaust arrangement prominent, standing in a French depot with a roundhouse behind.

What it was used for
SNCF express work, produced by rebuilding older Pacifics rather than building new.
What was new
André Chapelon did not enlarge the machine but the paths of the steam inside it: wider passages, a better superheater, the Kylchap exhaust. The same boilers then produced half as much again. Proof that mature technology still holds reserves.

Connections

Every connection names its kind. “Forerunner” on its own would be a claim.

  1. Made possibleRed Devil1981Without Chapelon's work on draughting there is no Red Devil. Porta reworked the Kylchap into the Kylpor and then the Lempor; that Lempor is what the Class 26 of 1981 carries. The Coalition for Sustainable Rail calls the Lempor a direct outgrowth of the Kylchap.Source: Wolfgang A. Fengler / Davidson A. Ward: The Development of Modern Steam 1 - André Chapelon and his Steam Locomotives, Coalition for Sustainable Rail, 2013 · Advanced Steam Traction (AST Group): Kylchap, Kylpor and Lempor Exhausts