Recently I ordered the MTH European series 241A locomotive (a 4-8-2) for my "Orient Express" (I know it never pulled that train). It's taking quite a while to get here but I guess that is the way it is.
I really wanted the "242.A.1" - this locomotive after Andre Chapelon re-designed it as a three cylinder compound 4-8-4. (The 241.A was a bit of a dog until Chapelon did this, after which the 242 was arguably the most powerful steam loco in Europe).
To help with my custom conversion of this model to a 242.A.1 I ordered the only biography I could find on Chapelon, a 1972 book published in England by Col. H. C. B. Rogers, OBE. (The book, Chapelon: Genius of French Steam, will help a lot: good pictures and diagrams and pages of details on the re-design/rebuilding).
Anyway, Col. Rogers does not shy away from hyperbole in places. The introduction to his chapter on the 242.A.1 finishes with this sentence:
"Chapelon's brilliance as a locomotive engineer has never been displayed more impressively than [when he] transformed his slut amongst engines into the most outstanding steam locomotive that ever ran on rails."
Harrmpphhh!
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