Mistral

1945 · SNCF 141R · Work 24 of 1,871

What it was used for

Rebuilding French traffic after 1945: 1,340 machines built in the United States and Canada and shipped across the Atlantic. 1,323 entered service. The missing ones are in the North Atlantic. On 11 April 1947 the *Belpamela* sank on passage from New York to Cherbourg after her cargo shifted in a storm; seventeen locomotives and nine crew went down with her. The same ship had carried the Duchess of Hamilton to the New York World's Fair in 1939 (work 5).

What was new

The type was not new; the procurement was. American series production for a European network, robust rather than refined, and popular with the crews for exactly that reason.

Connections

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

1. Follows fromPacific Chapelon1940The second batch of 141 Rs (from 141 R 701) was fitted for France with the Kylchap exhaust that André Chapelon had developed in 1926. According to the notes of SNCF test engineer Raymond Gleize, Chapelon got it adopted; tests in 1946 on the line and on the Vitry test plant showed close to 10 % more power with 13 % less water and coal.Source: Ministère de la Culture, Monuments historiques: Locomotive 141 R 1199 (Dossier) · Raymond Gleize (SNCF, Division des Études Locomotives): Locomotives 141 R, souvenirs – Essais de 141 R avec André Chapelon · Advanced Steam Traction (AST Group): Kylchap, Kylpor and Lempor Exhausts