Presidential locomotive Forquenot PO 340 from 1883
It was the engineer Victor Forquenot who developed the first locomotives of the PO with two driving axles in 1875. To improve stability at high speed he added the carrying axle at the rear and this configuration gave birth to a large number successful locomotives which were built for 20 years from 1876. It is undoubtedly this success which decided the PLM to equip itself also with such machines, even if it means transforming 50 almost new locomotives.
