231 C Nord
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| Power type | Steam |
|---|---|
| Build date | 1923 |
| Configuration | 4-6-2 |
| Gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) |
| Fuel type | coal |
| Tender capacity | 8 tons |
| Cylinders | 4 |
| Career | Chemin de Fer du Nord |
| Class | 231 C |
| Number | 3.1200 |
| Locale | Northern France, Belgium |
The 231 C Nord was a class of 4-6-2 (Pacific type) steam locomotive of the Chemin de Fer du Nord. It served in the North of France and Belgium. The first batch were built in 1923, and last remaining were retired from service in the 60's. These locomotives were widly known as super-pacifics due to their high performance, which made them famous even in Britain.
The locomotive was able to travel long distances as it was equipped of a tender, able to hold 37 m³ of water and 8 tons of coal, fuel capacity enough to travel from Paris to Lille at 120 km/h, pulling a 300 ton passenger train. The tender was built to Nord specifications and to such a quality that the SNCF used the exact same design for its own tender locomotives twenty years later. Their boilers were superb, which is the reason why Andre Chapelon later based some of his locomotive boilers on this design.
the 231 C had a Compound type engine with four cylinders and superheaters. Numbered 3.1200 before nationalisation of the Chemin de Fer du Nord in 1938, in which the Rotschild bankers possessed important assets, the 231 Cs were the most prestigious locomotives of the company. they were painted in a dark brown livery with cream lines which were apparently due to the hair colour of some of the Rotschild's employees.
The locomotive's design was due to Marc de Caso and its look to Gaston Schaeffer who grouped all the outside pipes together and run them along the boiler.
Marc de Caso created the 231 Cs capable of output of 2700 hp, with a narrow firebox some 3 m long. The engines were not equipped with stockers, a screw with no end that brought coal form the tender to the firebox, this made the job of the fireman harder as he had to throw the coal uniformly throughout the firebox. Its cab was not enclosed and drivers gave it the nickname rendez-vous des courants d'air, a characteristic found throughout the Chemin de Fer du Nord.
The 231 Cs were only surpassed by André Chapelon's 231 Pacific locomotive, copied from the 231 D Ouest engines of the Chemin de Fer de l'État. Chapelon did often say that the only modification he had made was the fitting of a Kylchap, thus enchancing smoke ejection. The Kylchap was named so due to the names of its creators, Kylälä and Chapelon.
The engine is famous thanks to a 1:87 HO railway model reprodused made by Jouef in the 1960s.
