État 42-001 to 42-020, was a class of

2-8-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and two trailing wh ...

Tank locomotive A tank locomotive is a steam locomotive which carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender (rail), tender. Most tank engines also have Fuel bunker, bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a #Tender ...

s of the

Chemins de Fer de l'État The Administration des chemins de fer de l'État (, "State Railway Administration"), often referred to in France as the Réseau de l'État (, "State Network"), was an early state-owned French railway company. History The company was establishe ...

Design

Studies were led in parallel with those of the 140 C. The 42-000s were of simple expansion with two cylinders and possessed the powerful fireboxes of the 140-100s. Although the fireboxes were excellent, the rest was of average quality with cylinders particularly of small diameter (). The

Chemin de fer de l'État Chemin or Le Chemin may refer to: Arts and media * ''Le Chemin'' (Emmanuel Moire album), 2013 album by French singer Emmanuel Moire * ''Le Chemin'' (Kyo album), 2003 album by French band Kyo ** "Le Chemin" (song), title song from same-titled Kyo a ...

chose small wheels to give the engines the capacity for quick acceleration. The railway company was very satisfied with the engines as they were capable of hauling the heavy steel coaches.

Construction

This series of 20 engines, numbered 42-001 to 42-020, was built by

Fives-Lille Fives-Lille was a French engineering company located at Fives, Nord, Fives, a suburb of Lille. It is now part of the Fives Group. History The company began as in 1861. The founders and were of Belgian origin. The company later entered into a ...

and was allocated to the

Batignolles Batignolles () is a neighbourhood of Paris, part of its 17th arrondissement. The neighbourhood is bounded on the south by the Boulevard des Batignolles, on the east by the Avenue de Clichy, on the north by Rue Cardinet and on the west by the Ru ...

motive power depot A motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine sheds" or just "sheds". Facilit ...

. Although they were designed in 1913, production was delayed by

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

until 1923, when the Chemins de Fer de l'État took delivery.

Service

They were designed to serve in the western suburbs of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. In 1930, the engines were equipped with for push-pull operation. The driver could operate the engine from the driving cabin of a

Voiture État à 2 étages The Voiture État à deux étages, (English: ''State Railway Company double-deck passenger car''), were a class of double-deck carriages built for Paris suburban services of the French Chemin de fer de l'État. Origin The suburbs of Paris, havin ...

carriage at the other end of the train, using compressed-air pipes. This saved much time at terminals. The engines were modified, primarily with the addition of a

smoke deflector Smoke deflectors, sometimes called "blinkers" in the UK because of their strong resemblance to the blinkers used on horses, and "elephant ears" in US railway slang, are vertical plates attached to each side of the smokebox at the front of a ...

and a closed cab. The 42-000s were renumbered 3-141.TC 1 to 20 by the

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...

in 1938. The electrification of the

Réseau Saint-Lazare Réseau Saint-Lazare () is the network of railway lines originating from Saint Lazare Station in Paris. The network stretches from Paris to Normandy and encompasses suburban services. Parisian suburban rail services are operated under SNCF's bran ...

moved the engines to

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

. The last of the series were allocated to the St-Brieux depot and rented to the ''Société générale de chemins de fer et de transport automobile'' ( CFTA) after

Réseau Breton The term réseau derives from a French word meaning "network". It may mean: *a network of fine lines on a glass plate, used in photographic telescopes to make a corresponding network on photographs of the stars: see Réseau plate *a system of weat ...

lines between

Carhaix Carhaix-Plouguer (; ), commonly known as just Carhaix (), is a commune in the French department of Finistère, region of Brittany, France. The commune was created in 1957 by the merger of the former communes Carhaix and Plouguer.

and

Paimpol Paimpol (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwest France. It is a tourist destination, especially during the summer months when people are attracted by its port and beaches. Geography The town is located in t ...

had been re-gauged from metre gauge to

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

. The last 141.TC was withdrawn in 1971.

Preservation

One locomotive has been preserved: 42-019, later SNCF 3-141.TC.19 (Fives-Lille 4328 of 1923) is preserved by AJECTA at the '' Musée vivant du chemin de fer'' in

Longueville, Seine-et-Marne Longueville () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in north-central France. Longueville station has rail connections to Provins, Chaumont, Troy ...

, and has been designated a ''

Monument historique () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, ...

''.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Etat .42-001 to 42-020 042-001 2-8-2T locomotives 1′D1′ h2t locomotives Fives-Lille locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1923 Standard-gauge locomotives of France Passenger locomotives