Following my three postings of ALCo built locomotives supplied to the French and Belgian Railways after World War I here is a Balwin 2-8-0, one of 1,981 locos that were sent to France from 1917 onwards. 150 saturated examples went to the British Railway Operating Division (ROD) of the Royal Engineers. Then 1,731 superheated examples were supplied to the US army which were known as 'Pershings' and finally 100 went direct to the PLM Railway of France. After the war, apart from 39 ex-ROD engines that went to the Belgian Railway, they were split between the Est, Etat, Midi, Nord, PLM and PO railways and eventually became SNCF Type 140G. This engine is one of the 210, Nos 40101 to 40310, that went to the Est Railway. Photo by the late George R. Grigs.
