SNCF Class 141R

The SNCF 141 R was a class of 2-8-2 steam locomotives that the French national railway ordered from North American builders in 1945, when the war had left France short of engines. The design drew on the Green Bay and Western Railroad Mikados and the USRA Light Mikado, adapted to the French loading gauge with European couplers and buffers, left-hand drive and distinctive smoke deflectors. The first order for 700 was shared among Baldwin, ALCO and the Lima Locomotive Works, and the first engine, 141 R 1, left Lima on 30 July 1945. A second batch of 640 added Canadian builders and mostly burned oil. The locomotives ran all over France from 1945 to 1974, and twelve are preserved.