140 C Ouest - Service

Service

The 140 Cs were allocated to all the main État depots, Mézidon, Le Mans, Rennes, Brest, Nantes and Bordeaux, and were used to haul many of the company's express trains; Paris-Le Havre, Paris-Cherbourg, Paris-Granville and on the Chemin de fer de Grande Ceinture.

The 140 Cs, hired out to CFTA, were the last steam locomotives in regular day-to-day commercial use on the French railway network. Their final area of operation was the CFTA Réseau Franche-Comté, whose HQ was at Gray Gray, Franche-Comté. Operations were mainly centred on the line from Gray to Châtillon-sur-Seine and Troyes (in Champagne). After the end of SNCF operated steam in 1974, the 140 Cs became the last operating 'main line' French steam locomotives. 140 C 287 pulled the last ever commercial steam train on French railway metals on 24 September 1975 between and Sainte-Colombe.

Due to their prolonged use on parts of SNCF and on the CFTA, a total of eight engines were preserved; 140 C 22, 27, 38, 231, 287, 313, 314 and 344.

Read more about this topic:  140 C Ouest

Famous quotes containing the word service:

    The masochist: “I send my tormentor hurrying hither and thither in the service of my suffering and desire.”
    Mason Cooley (b. 1927)

    Old books that have ceased to be of service should no more be abandoned than should old friends who have ceased to give pleasure.
    Peregrine, Sir Worsthorne (b. 1923)

    Our chief want in life, is, someone who shall make us do what we can. This is the service of a friend. With him we are easily great.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)