Schneider et C^ie steam locomotive

In 2016, a former train locomotive, the Schneider 030 T steam locomotive for a metre-gauge railway stationed at La Grande Chaloupe and built in a series of eleven engines in Le Creusot in 1878, nine of which were made for Réunion, was identified and its position determined during field walking surveys. This locomotive is among the oldest railway assets still visible today.

The Schneider 030 T metre-gauge steam locomotive: a history

Tank engine (six coupled wheels) - Type 88 (1878) built by Schneider & C^ie at Le Creusot – Length over buffers: 6,196 mm - Platform width 2,050 mm – Empty weight: 11 t 600 – Loaded weight 15 t 200.

This model is a tank locomotive, in other words, it does not have a tender wagon where the coal is stored. Compressed charcoal briquettes were stored on the upper side of the engine’s two water tanks on either side of the locomotive boilers.

030 T - The wheel formula is composed of three digits. 030 indicates that the locomotive has three drive axles rather than front and rear carrying axles. The letter T sometimes comes after the number, as with a tank locomotive, like Schneider 030 or 030 T.

Eleven Schneider 030 T metre-gauge steam locomotives were produced by the Le Creusot factory between 1878 and 1880. Nine of these locomotives were shipped to Réunion.

This steam locomotive, bearing the markings C.P.R. N° 8, arrived as the railway was under construction, around 1879 to 1880. Present at the inauguration of the Réunion railway in February 1882, it was listed as a historical monument on 26 May 1994.