Steam Locomotives - France: Books - History and Types

Locos vapeur - Chauffeurs et mécanos

The smoky world of steam locomotives, these "warm-blooded beasts" that Jacques Lacarrière spoke of, invaded Bernard Bathiat's childhood dreams. At the end of the 1950s, everything stopped. The black faces of the railway, railway workers, drivers and mechanics, no longer "knit" the magnificent Pacifics of the Compagnie du Nord or the Paris-Orléans...

So all that remains is the memory and the photos yellowed by time. How beautiful these machines are! Bernard Bathiat is a work of memory. Beyond a gallery of unpublished portraits of locomotives and tenders, throughout the pages, we follow the men, their daily work, their strange jargon.

Nostalgia is good and fortunately there are enthusiasts like Bernard Bathiat or these associations that restore old locomotives so that the flame of the "human beast", this infernal couple of man and machine, never goes out.

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Les locomotives à vapeur du réseau de l'Etat

This book brings together the countless series of steam locomotives that belonged to the State company, which merged with the West company in 1909, from their beginnings to their extinction under the reign of the Western region of the SNCF.
Among the series reviewed, several of them had a truncated life and disappeared with nationalization. Some, like the Mountain or the Mikado, were proud figures in the service of passenger and freight traffic.

In addition to the battalion of 220s, Atlantics and Ten Wheels, which had fallen from express traffic, there is a panel of machines that are without glory but which also deserve an ode. To offer a complete panorama, we will return to the Pacifics, Consolidations and the galaxy of tender machines, some of which were actively used in the Parisian suburbs.

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Au temps de la vapeur (Tome 1)

Immerse yourself in the world of steam through a selection of the most beautiful images taken from the photographic collections of La Vie du Rail. The particularity of the book is to be printed on postcard paper.
Each photo, printed full-bleed on a 18 X 24 cm format, is detachable.

A short caption specifies the context of the shot and allows you to send by post or collect for yourself these snapshots of the great era of steam, taken for the most part between 1950 and 1960.
This compilation of 100 images focuses on all aspects of railway life: locomotives, railway workers at work, landscapes, depots, stations and passengers evolving in a beautiful atmosphere of black and white plumes.

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Locomotives (1904-1930) - Tome I - Les Photographies Fleury

First illustrated volume on railways from 1904-1930, with photographs from the astonishing collection of photographer Fleury.

Specialists, railway enthusiasts, simple amateurs, your gaze will not remain indifferent in front of these metal monsters which have disappeared forever.

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Locomotives (1904-1930) - Tome II - Les Photographies Fleury

The collection of photographs by photographer Fernand Fleury on steam locomotives is so rich that Jean-Pierre Rigouard has dedicated a second and magnificent album to it. Crampton, Forquenot, Engerth, Atlantic, Mikado, Ten Wheel, Mountain and other Pacifics were the French and foreign machines at the head of our trains for more than 144 years!

From simple patache to international luxury trains, these beautiful "locos" always left behind an impression of power and majesty...

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Locomotives (1904-1930) - Tome III - Les Photographies Fleury

A third illustrated volume was needed for Evelyne and Jean-Pierre Rigouard to reveal the thousand and one secrets of the astonishing collection of the photographer Fleury on the railway.
The locomotives are from another age: the "prehistory" of French railways parades before our eyes to the wild rhythm of the connecting rods and pistons, in the exhausts and the volutes of steam.

We also pay tribute to these men, lords of the railway, who knew how to lead their horses to the right destination. Today, only a few memories remain...
Thanks to the authors for refreshing our memories!

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Jean Bazot - Les années vapeurs

Volume XVIII of the famous "Images de Trains" collection is dedicated to the color photographs of Jean Bazot, known for his impressive collection of old postcards made available for many railway publications.
Jean Bazot's photographic collection has remained very little exploited until today. Didier Leroy, known for his many works on railway history, has brought together the most beautiful color images, mainly covering the period from 1956 to 1970.

Highlighted by using large and medium format extensively, they are supported by a caption providing subtle information, which can only invite additional curiosity about these "steam years", on the equipment, buildings, and environment, before the contingencies of time came to erase them.

Comprising 168 pages and 226 photographs, the book unfolds starting with the ex-PO lines around Ussel and Montluçon, followed by Paris and then those of different SNCF Regions. A certain number of secondary and industrial networks constitute the second part of this work, which ends with an evocation of steam in Spain and Portugal, so much do these emotionally charged images translate, in these sixties, a world tinged with the 19th century.

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Les vapeurs en couleurs 1950-1975

The Heritage collection, which has already covered various machines, is now tackling the case of steam locomotives, probably the most legendary machines in the history of French rail.
Generally seen in black and white, Didier Leroy and Philippe Feunten are now offering to make us rediscover them in color! With a selection of photos from different photographers, they thus retrace part of the history of rail.

From different companies to different types of networks, steam locomotives represent a significant part of history; this book presents a range of machines that deserve special attention.
This journey through time offers a panorama of the era when the railway was still very present, even in the most forgotten places!

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