Paris-Strasbourg (Est) No. 80. Built 1852 by JF Cail & Cie.
This is a "Crampton" locomotive, named after Thomas Russell Crampton,
chief designer of Great Western, who had the idea to place the driving
axle behind the firebox, lower the boiler for a low center of gravity
and enlarge the wheel diameter to 2.30 m. The design was not successful
in Britain, but became widespread in France. The main disadvantage was
that not much weight was on the powered wheels, so the tractive effort
was not high. The 12 locomotives of this type, together with 15 more
built 1854 by Creusot, were used for most express and postal trains from
Paris to Strasbourg until 1870. Some of them, including the 80, spent the
French/German war in Olten (Switzerland). The 80 was used on local trains
until 1914 when it was retired after 2433298 km. Weight (incl. tender):
50.5 t; length (incl. tender): 13.51 m.
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Mulhouse, Cit&eacute; du Train, 2006-06-02
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<a href="mailto:tbk@uncia.de">tobias b k&ouml;hler</a>