The JGR Class 1200 (and the related Class 1230, 1250 and 1265) are 0-6-0T Switcher-type side tank steam locomotives operated by the Japanese Government Railways from 1896 to the 1960s.
The Class 1200 was an early steam locomotive operated in Japan. The type was ordered by various private railways, with nine locomotives initially built by Nasmyth, Wilson and Company and delivered in 1896. The locomotives were ordered by the Sanuki Railway, Nanao Railway and Sobu Railway and named the Class A2, Kō 1 and Class 2 on these railroads. An additional four locomotives were produced in 1900 for the Nankai Railway and Hokkaido Railway.
After the Railway Nationalization Act was passed in 1909, the locomotives were renumbered the Class 1200, with other classes receiving other classifications. In the 1920s, the Kawasaki Shipyards manufactured a number of clones of the Class 1200s, and named the Class 1250 and 1265. The locomotives were moved around a number of private railroads a number of times until the last locomotive was retired in 1947 and scrapped. Only one Class 1265 locomotive, Kaya Railway 4, survives today. It is currently located at the Kaya SL Square in Yosano, Kyoto, alongside Class 120 locomotive 123, in its guise as Kaya Railway 2.
Preservation[]
The following Class 1200 locomotives have been preserved:
