Jules Petiet

Jules Petiet (5 August 1813 – 29 January 1871) was a French

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations o ...

who worked on the early development of the French railway network. He was the Chief Engineer of the

Chemins de fer du Nord The Chemins de fer du Nord''French locomotive built in 1846''

from 1845, and became a locomotive engineer from 1848. From 1868 until his death, he was head of the prestigious engineering school
École Centrale Paris École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...
, of which he was also a graduate. Petiet's name is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel tower. A street in Paris, rue Petiet (at
Épinettes Épinettes () is a neighborhood of Paris, a part of the 17th arrondissement of Paris, 17th arrondissement of the city. The neighborhood is bounded by the Avenue de Clichy, the Avenue de Saint-Ouen and the boundaries of Paris in the North. Hist ...
, 17th district) is named in his honour.

Locomotives
Petiet expanded the fleet of Nord locomotives from 187 at his appointment in 1848 to 841 at his death in 1871. He designed a class of 0-8-0T locomotives known as ''Fortes Rampes''; and built 20 even bigger
0-6-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, a wheel arrangement refers to a locomotive with two engine units mounted under a rigid locomotive frame, with the front engine unit pivoting and each engine unit with six coup ...
tank engines. Looking like a pair of 0-6-0s back-to-back, they had a long-rigid chassis. They were not as powerful as anticipated, and Petiet's successor rebuilt them into forty 0-6-0T locomotives. He introduced the
Crampton locomotive A Crampton locomotive is a type of steam locomotive designed by Thomas Russell Crampton and built by various firms from 1846 in rail transport, 1846. The main British builders were Tulk and Ley and Robert Stephenson and Company. Notable feature ...
to the Nord (and France), and developed an A3A (0-2-6-2-0) Crampton-style tank locomotive. Nicknamed "Camels", eight were built, but they soon were sold to the Nord's Belgian subsidiary ''Nord-Belge''.

References

Bibliography
* 1813 births 1871 deaths École Centrale Paris alumni French engineers Chemins de Fer du Nord {{France-engineer-stub