http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw-DukkgAmk
"This film is not a documentary
Supported by the noises with which we are familiar
then closely tied to the music
The images which are going to follow
are put forward only to create an atmosphere"
The star of the film is a Chapelon pacific, one of the fantastic 231E series. They came from the rebuilding of redundant Paris-Orleans Railway pacifics in the late 1930s. The rebuilding transformed their performance. Although the original pacifics were not failures, the rebuilding doubled the power output and reduced fuel consumption, related to power output, by 40%.
Chapelon was one of the greatest loco engineers of the 20th century. He went back to first principles in loco design with a scientific analysis of the air/gas/steam circuit, leading to massive steam passages and highly efficient exhaust systems.
The French Nord and Est railways obtained locos of this design, some being rebuilds and some built new.
The tank loco is a former Nord Railway class 050TD. This was one of a class of 70 0-10-0 locos built between 1930-2. They were used for shunting in major marshalling yards.
