Giving France the Locomotives She Needs 



Six hundred and eighty engines and six 

 thousand cars are ordered for France 



A locomotive of American design, intended for service in France. The French tracks, 

 however, require smaller and lighter engines than those with which we are familiar 



WITHOUT an adequate system of 

 railways to move troops and sup- 

 plies to the front and distribute 

 ammunition to the big batteries on the 

 firing line, fighting, as it is done nowadays, 

 would be an impossibility, Germany has 

 made the world marvel at her railway 

 system. Over night she has moved vast 

 quantities of troops from one front to 

 another. Never before has the necessity 

 of rapid railway transportation been so 

 imperative as in this present war. 



France, of all the Allies, is the nation 

 most in need of railways just now. 

 Shortly after this country declared war, 

 the Government placed orders for six 

 hundred and eighty engines and six 

 thousand cars, all of them to be used 

 behind the battle line in France. Twenty 

 days after the order was placed, an engine 

 and a car were ready for shipment. The ac- 

 companying photographs show two de- 

 signs of engines which are being sent 

 abroad in very large numbers. 



Since French 

 tracks will not 

 stand the weight 

 and length of 

 standard American 

 rolling stock, the 

 engines are much 

 lighter and smaller 

 than those we usu- 

 ally see in this 

 country. They are 

 of the type of 1866, 

 but the design 

 closely follows mod- 



Smaller locomotives adaplid to rough 

 trackage and sharp curves such as are met 

 with in the hasty construction of war time 



ern American practice, with the excep- 

 tion that the couplings and buffers are 

 made to suit French standards. Designed 

 to make long runs and to handle heavy 

 supply and troop trains, these engines can 

 traverse the short curves of French roads 

 and run on rough tracks. A piping system 

 is placed at each end of the locomotive 

 to wash the rails with streams of hot 

 water and steam when they are covered 

 with mud. Another departure is a water- 

 lifting valve by means of which the 

 tender tank can be filled from streams or 

 ponds alongside the track. 



In addition to the large and small 

 locomotives already made for foreign 

 service, the Government has placed an 

 order for gasoline locomotives. All rail- 

 way equipment sent from this country 

 will be painted battleship gray to make it 

 inconspicuous. American motor trucks 

 and trailers equipped with flanged wheels 

 will be used in connection with the 

 standard equipment. It is understood 

 that five engineer 

 regiments will take 

 charge of railroad 

 operations for the 

 army. 



The big locomo- 

 tive works the 

 country over are 

 loaded down with 

 orders. France can 

 I) e assured of 

 efficient aid from 

 America as far as 

 locomotives go. 



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