Further re. the mystery of D 842 Cn2t "Lang-Son" & D 843 Cn2t "Dong-Dang"
With the kind help of the author of the last C&L book I have received another delivery list with the details for these two locomotives stating that they were actually exported immediately after the delivery (and have so never been used in France).
The delivery list also states their weight at 15 tons.
Quite weak for a railway company that already had much stronger locomotives on their roster.
Interestingly these two locomotives never got their road numbers, just the names of the last two stations on the then recently regauged Decauville line to the Chinese border.
The train on the photo could be the farmers market train along the Red river villages described in the “Le chemin de fer du Fleuve Rouge et la pénétration française au Yunnam / capitaine Ibos” @
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k ... 6/f20.itemIsn’t it a bit strange for an established railway company to buy locomotives through a stone quarrying company?
Maybe Desforges realized after ordering that the locomotives were not needed any more for their stone quarrying business?
It is probably not too wild of a speculation that they might have ended in the coal mines of Tonkin where No.708 was sent earlier.
D 708 Cn2t 1000 27.05.1898 Charbonnages du Tonkin
The only photograph of the C&L on the stone quarry railway is most likely the C&L locomotive that Desforges have acquired earlier and was there until the Decauvillisation of the track in 1924
https://www.asso-mpv.com/photos-ancienn ... -essonnes/D 723 , Cn2t , 1000 , 03.09.1898 - Desforges, Orgenoy-Ponthierry / 1926 Carrières de Bretagne et de Normandie, carrières d'Etavaux, St André-sur-Orne (Calvados)
p.s.
I still believe that the closest relative to this couple would be No. 672 Landerneau.
From the times when the weight of the loco was important I can see the only difference being the shape of the sand dome (and the counter arguments are more than welcome).
Re. D 433 Cn2t 1000 08.04.1885 Marlaud Père & Fils "Richecourt"
Le Génie civil : revue générale des industries françaises et étrangères. 1886-02-13.
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k ... w/f11.itemhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/189316830 ... 125240102/Could this be the same company (but now only brothers) that has later built the Tunnel de la Colle Saint Michel?
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_de ... int-Michelhttps://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMZ ... _les_BainsLe dernier tronçon ouvert entre Saint-André-les-Alpes et Puget-Théniers achevant la Ligne Nice-Digne est ouvert aux voyageurs et aux marchandises le 3 juillet 1911 et inauguré le 6 août de la même année2 après des années d'études et de travaux. Le tunnel demande trois années de travail à près de 800 ouvriers installés aux deux extrémités, au lieu-dit le Plan-de-Lys côté Verdon (commune de Thorame-Haute), et au village de Méailles côté Vaïre. Après le percement de deux galeries d'étude de 200 mètres de longueur en 1893, les travaux sont entamés en janvier 1900 par l'entreprise Marlaud Frères, adjudicataire du chantier le 30 novembre 1899. Les deux galeries d'avancement se rejoignent le 16 janvier 1902. Le tunnel est achevé en 1903, soit huit ans avant le passage du premier train.