#0743
Heilmann locomotive
🇫🇷 France ·built by Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée· from 1892· Experimental steam locomotives with electric transmission.
5 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Heilman locomotive, Scientific American, 1897, vol. 77, no.10-001: Unknown author Unknown author· Public domain
- 2. Heilman locomotive, Scientific American, 1897, vol. 77, no.10-003: Unknown author Unknown author· Public domain
- 3. Heilman locomotive, Scientific American, 1897, vol. 77, no.10-004: Unknown author Unknown author· Public domain
- 4. Heilman locomotive, Scientific American, 1897, vol. 77, no.10-005: Unknown author Unknown author· Public domain
- 5. Heilman locomotive, Scientific American, 1897, vol. 77, no.10-006: Unknown author Unknown author· Public domain
what is it?
The Heilmann locomotives were a series of three experimental steam–electric locomotives produced in the 1890s for the French Chemins de fer de l'Ouest (CF de l'Ouest). A prototype was built in 1894 and two larger locomotives were built in 1897. These locomotives used electric transmission, much like later-popular diesel–electric locomotives and various other self-powered locomotives.
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 134 years ago, in 1892.
- Weighs about as much as 17 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 16.5 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
steam locomotive: Burns coal, wood or oil to boil water; the steam drives pistons that turn the wheels.
spec sheet
- built
- 1892–1893
- number built
- 1
- kind
- Steam–electric
- traction
- steam
- origin
- 🇫🇷 France
- builders
- Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée
- designer
- Jean Jacques Heilmann, fr, 3=Jean-Jacques Heilmann (inventeur)
- top speed
- 107 km/h
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Do'Do'
- length
- 16.5 m
- weight
- 100 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q5699483, Wikipedia: Heilmann locomotive (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.