SNCF 2-8-2 tank No.141TC 6 stands in the Gare du Nord with a train for Persan-Beaumont on March 29, 1969. The last push-pull trains ran on Saturday, December 12, 1970.
SUE HORTON
AS DESCRIBED in my articles in The Railway Magazine for July and August 2020, inmainland Britain steamworked push-pull trains typically comprised an engine and, atmost, acouple of coaches running along arural branch line.
This method of working was however looked atdifferently on the Continent. In the 1960s huge MAV Class 424 4-8-0s propelled long commuter trains into Budapest’s Kaleti station, while in West Germany anumber of DB Class 38 (ex-Prussian Railways Class ‘P8’) 4-6-0s were also used on push-pull trains.
Until the mid-1960s the practice was also widespread on the French SNCF, and steam-worked push-pull trains could be found at, at least four of the Paris termini: Gare del’Est, Gare St. Lazare, Gare delaBastille and Gare duNord. These usually comprised eight bogie coaches. including the driving trailer from which the driver controlled the train by means of arelatively sophisticated electro-pneumatic system.