The du Bousquet locomotive was an unusual design of articulated

Articulated locomotive

Articulated locomotive usually means a steam locomotive with one or more engine units which can move independent of the main frame. This is done to allow a longer locomotive to negotiate tighter curves...

 steam locomotive

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

 invented by French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 locomotive designer Gaston du Bousquet

Gaston du Bousquet

Gaston du Bousquet was a French engineer who was Chief of Motive Power of the Chemin de Fer du Nord and professor at École centrale de Lille .-References:...

.
The design was a tank locomotive

Tank locomotive

A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of pulling it behind it in a tender. It will most likely also have some kind of bunker to hold the fuel. There are several different types of tank locomotive dependent upon...

, carrying all its fuel and water on board the locomotive proper, and a compound locomotive

Compound locomotive

A compound engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages.A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure cylinder, then having given up heat and losing pressure, it exhausts directly into one or more larger...

. The boiler and superstructure were supported upon two swivelling trucks

Bogie

A bogie is a wheeled wagon or trolley. In mechanics terms, a bogie is a chassis or framework carrying wheels, attached to a vehicle. It can be fixed in place, as on a cargo truck, mounted on a swivel, as on a railway carriage/car or locomotive, or sprung as in the suspension of a caterpillar...

, in a manner similar to a Meyer locomotive

Meyer locomotive

A Meyer locomotive is a type of articulated locomotive. The design was never as popular as the Garratt or Mallet locomotives. It can be best regarded as 19th Century competition for the early compound Mallet and also the Fairlie articulated designs....

.

Design

The design largely overcame the problems the Meyer design had with poor sealing on the steam-pipe flexible joints by having the rear truck, bearing the high-pressure cylinders, mounted on a bearing that permitted only rotation and not any other axes of flexibility. The steam connection, mounted in the center of this, could seal much more easily since it did not have to allow so much freedom of movement. The front truck, with the low-pressure cylinders, allowed some degree of tilt as well as rotation, and had steam connections from the rear truck with swivelling and telescoping joints to allow freedom of movement.

Also unlike the Meyer, the front set of water tanks were mounted to the moving truck and moved relative to the boiler, somewhat reminiscent of a Garratt locomotive. The tanks above the rear truck, and the rear-mounted fuel bunker, were attached to the boiler and superstructure.

The du Bousquet design had an unusual wheel arrangement

Wheel arrangement

In rail transport, a wheel arrangement is a system of classifying the way in which wheels are distributed beneath a locomotive.. Several notations exist to describe the wheel assemblies of a locomotive by type, position, and connections, with the adopted notations varying by country...

; both trucks had six driving wheel

Driving wheel

On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons...

s and two carrying wheels supporting the cylinders. Unlike many other articulated designs, these carrying wheels were toward the center of the locomotive, as were the cylinders. This arrangement is expressed in the French classification as 031+130, in the Whyte notation

Whyte notation

The Whyte notation for classifying steam locomotives by wheel arrangement was devised by Frederick Methvan Whyte and came into use in the early twentieth century encouraged by an editorial in American Engineer and Railroad Journal...

 as 0-6-2+2-6-0, or in the UIC classification

UIC classification

The UIC classification of locomotive axle arrangements describes the wheel arrangement of locomotives, multiple units and trams. It is set out in the International Union of Railways "Leaflet 650 - Standard designation of axle arrangement on locomotives and multiple-unit sets". It is used in much...

 as (C1')'(1'C)'.

French use

The du Bousquet design of locomotive saw most success in France, with three railway systems ordering the type; the Chemin de Fer du Nord

Chemin de Fer du Nord

Chemin de Fer du Nord , often referred to simply as the Nord company, was a rail transport company created in September 1845, in Paris, France. It was owned by among others de Rothschild Frères of France, N M Rothschild & Sons of London, England, Hottinger, Laffitte and Blount...

, the Chemins de Fer de l'Est

Chemins de fer de l'Est

The Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Est , often referred to simply as the Est company, was an early French railway company. The company was formed in 1853 by fusion from Compagnie de Paris à Strasbourg, operating the Paris-Strasbourg line, and Compagnie du chemin de fer de Montereau à Troyes...

, and the Syndicats des Ceintures (the Outer (Grande Ceinture

Grande Ceinture line

The Grande Ceinture line is a railway line round Paris 15 km from the Boulevard Périphérique. The decision to build it was taken at the end of the 19th century, to connect the radial lines linking the capital to the provinces and to relieve the existing Ligne de Petite...

) and Inner Circle (Petite Ceinture

Chemin de fer de Petite Ceinture

The Chemin de fer de Petite Ceinture was a Parisian railway that, from 1852, was a circular connection between Paris' main railroad stations within the fortified walls of the city...

) lines of Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

).

Nord

The Nord was the first to own the type, appropriately since du Bousquet was their Chief of Motive Power. They constructed 48 units, classified as 031+130TA, which were painted chocolate brown like all the Nord's compounds and assigned to the Le Bourget

Le Bourget

Le Bourget is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.A very small part of Le Bourget airport lies on the territory of the commune of Le Bourget, which nonetheless gave its name to the airport. Most of the airport lies on the territory of the...

 and Hirson

Hirson

Hirson is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France.It is a few miles south of the border with Belgium, and was in the past an important strategic position due to being near the intersection of several railway lines....

 depots. They worked heavy coal trains. In 1921, however, 34 of the 48 locomotives were transferred to the Grand Ceinture, where they worked until 1935, when the closure of many of the Ceinture lines rendered them surplus. They were slowly replaced by the 151 TQ class, but the last du Bousquet was not withdrawn until 1952.

Est

The Est bought 13 du Bousquet locomotives in 1910 and 1911; these were identical to the Nord locomotives, being constructed from the same plans. All of them were transferred to the Syndicats des Ceintures in 1921, and when no longer required for that service were transferred to the Nord in 1935.

Ceintures

In addition to the Nord and Est locomotives reassigned to the Ceintures, that system also acquired 38 du Bousquet locomotives directly, 32 of them from the Société des Batignolles and six constructed by Société anonyme John Cockerill. These locomotives were somewhat more powerful than those of the Nord and the Est, especially after they were upgraded to superheat

Superheat

Superheat is a live album by Dutch alternative rock band The Gathering, released on 25 January 2000 by Century Media. The album was recorded at Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands on 16 April 1999, with the exception of "Rescue Me" & "Strange Machines", which were recorded at 013, Tilburg, Netherlands...

 about 1930. These locomotives were transferred to the Chemin de Fer de l'État

Chemin de Fer de l'État

The Chemins de fer de l'État , often referred to in France as the réseau de l'État , was an early French railway company.-History:...

 and were all withdrawn by 1949.

Outside France

The type saw limited success outside France, being confined to China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 and Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

.

China

A batch were built for the Peking-Hankow Railway in China; they were almost identical to the French locomotives, and were built by the Société Anonyme des Forges, Usines et Fonderies of Hainaut province, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

.

Spain

Nineteen locomotives were built for the Andalusian Railways to the Spanish 5 in 6 in (1,676.4 mm) gauge by Usines Metallurgiques de Hainaulten. Four survived after the founding of RENFE

RENFE

Renfe Operadora is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1668-mm "Iberian gauge" and 1435-mm "European gauge" networks of the Spanish national railway infrastructure company ADIF .- History :The name RENFE is derived from that of the former Spanish National...

, but were withdrawn by 1947.