[Doug]

I was in the neighborhood of Mulhouse last week and stopped by for a visit to the French National Railway Museum.

Click here for a few photos.

It's a great place with many well restored locos and rolling stock. Below is the layout of the museum. Check it out in Google Earth. Paste 47°44'59.71"N, 7°17'40.61"E into the search box.

 

[Gary]

Just curious but is there a mainline preservation scene in France with famous old steamers running between Paris and Lyon (for example) on special steam train tours?

And what is the French equivalent of:-

1) The Flying Scotsman (most famous named train)

2) The Mallard (the fastest loco)

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[Doug]

The 232U had a top sspeed of 140 km/h. It seems the French were not obsessed with speed until the advent of electric locos.

The Mallard's speed of 202.8 km/h was not broken by any other steam loco.

In 1954 - a CC 7121 reached a speed of 239.8 km/h

In 1955 - the record was pushed to 330.8 km/h on the 28 & 29 March with the electric CC 7107 (looking like the image below) and BB 9004.

After that came the TGV's, but that's another story...