Crochat

French railway equipment construction company

Crochat petrol electric railcar preserved at Pithiviers

Crochat was a French railway equipment construction company founded in 1899 by Henry Crochat. It is best known for building locomotives and railcars with petrol-electric transmission.^[1]

History

Reference^[2]

• 1899 - Company founded by Henry Crochat
• 1908 to 1918 - Construction of 420 petrol-electric locomotives for le Ministère de la Guerre (Ministry of War) and a small number for other customers. See table below for details
• 1924 - Acquisition of patents by Decauville
• 1926 - Foundation of Société Auxiliaire d'Entreprise (SAE) by Henry Crochat
• 1928 - Company liquidated

Locomotive types

Petrol-electric locomotive types^[3]

This is not a complete list.

Crochat and Colardeau

Henry Crochat obtained some patents jointly with Emmanuel Colardeau, e.g. patent US1416611.^[4] There is no evidence that Colardeau was involved in Crochat's railway business but he may have been involved, with Crochat, in the design of the Saint-Chamond (tank).

Equipment preserved

• Crochat AT1 petrol-electric railcar (1922) from Tramway de Pithiviers à Toury preserved at Musée des transports de Pithiviers
• Five Crochat 6-axle locomotives of 1918 (ex Salins du Midi) preserved at Chemin de fer touristique du Tarn. One of these is a historical monument
• Decauville-Crochat AT3 petrol-electric railcar (1926) preserved at Le p'tit train de Saint-Trojan^[5]
• Crochat standard gauge locomotive 44 L 4 N preserved at the Museum of Engineering in Angers (not on public view)

References

1. "Locomotives Henry Crochat, Paris".
2. "Locomotives Henry Crochat, Paris".
3. "Locomotives Henry Crochat, Paris".
4. "Espacenet - Original document".
5. "Le P'tit Train de St Trojan".