STEAM LOCOMOTIVE WINTERTHUR SLM 140 - THE FRANCO ETHIOPIAN RAILWAY FROM 1900 TO 1980.
Gallery N°24 : SLM 140 (C.F.E. period)
An order for type UG 181 compound 2 cylinder steam locomotives 1.4.0 was a big one. For that reason, S.L.M. delegated their construction to the S.A.C.M. factories in Belfort, based on S.L.M. designs. Engines bearing Nos 25 to 32 bore the name of Belfort, while having the characteristics of Belfort locomotives.
The opposite happened during the 1930s. The SACM factories in Graffenstaden could not guarantee the manufacture and delivery of UG 174 type consolidation steam engines Nos 414 to 419. The construction of these locomotives fell to the Swiss Winterthur factories according to the Belfort schedule of conditions. This series of locomotive was not liked by the Franco Ethiopian Company as the load distribution on the axles destabilised the train causing mechanical strains.
In 1907, the Apenzell Railway Company ordered two tender locomotives with 4 axles with superheating (the G 4/5 No 7, named "ALTMANN" and No 8 named "SAENTIS"). They were to be delivered in 1908 and 1910 respectively.
The overburdened SLM factories sub-contracted the construction of the first locomotive to the Esslingen factory in Germany. Locomotive No 7 would be built following the schedule of conditions given by SLM and was delivered in 1908 under the factory number 3472. The second, No 8, was delivered by SLM in 1910 with the factory number 2093.
With the arrival of electric transmission in 1933, these locomotives were already obsolete. Unwilling to hand them to the scrap merchants, the Appenzell Company looked for a buyer. In 1936 SLM accepted to take them on at scrap value.
They were completely reconditioned and transformed in the SLM workshops: the driving cabs were modified, and separate tenders were added. New factory numbers were allocated to the locomotives (No 7 became SLM 3612 and No 8 became SLM 3609), supporting the belief that these locomotives were considered to be as new and not as old, renovated machines.
The Franco-Ethiopian Company took delivery of these locomotives in 1937. No 7 "ALTMANN" was renamed 102 and No 8 "SAENTIS" became 101.