Product Features and Details
Historical extract of the history of this locomotive:
The railway company NORD launched in 1922 a study, which was actually drawn before the First World War, for a locomotive of the type "PACIFIC"; a strong locomotive for fast trains. The result of this project was a four-cylinder Compound machine type 231 series no 3.1201 to 3.1240; popularly called a "Super Pacific". After a few test drives, the locomotives were put into operation in 1923, via the depot La Chapelle and Calais. Immediately it showed that the locomotives were a lot stronger and faster than the previous versions (or ATLANTICs). The locomotives were, among other things, used for the famous express trains, such as FLECHE d'OR, NORD-Express, OISEAU-BLEU, and so on; it became "THE" machine of prestige trains that could provide transit times that were previously unthinkable .....; Here is a little example: the train no 79 "FLECHE d'OR showed on one of its first rides on 12. September 1926 that it was possible to complete the Paris-Calais route in just 2 hours 55 minutes. The train weighed 543 tons and reached an average speed of 101 km / h (driven with the loco no 3.1205). The ascent at Survillier was mastered at 104 km / h ...... an enormous power development and performance for the year 1926, even the newly founded airlines, a serious competition, had to lose out.