The Class 1800 was an early steam locomotive operated in Japan. The type was ordered by various private railways, with thirteen locomotives initially ordered for the JGR from Kitson and Company. These were classified as the Class Y initially but reclassified as the Class B2. Many other locomotives and derivatives were produced by numerous other European locomotive manufacturing companies.
After the Railway Nationalization Act was passed in 1909, the locomotives were renumbered the Class 1800, with other classes receiving other classifications. The locomotives were moved around a number of private railroads a number of times until the last locomotive was retired in 1938. Four Class 1800 locomotives, 1811, 1855, 1859 and 1876, were reactivated and put back into service during World War II and served until 1949. Only one Class 1800 locomotive, 1801, survives today. The locomotive was first located at the Modern Transportation Museum in Osaka before the museum closed; the locomotive currently resides at the Kyoto Railway Museum, restored to its original appearance.
Preservation[]
The following Class 1800 locomotives have been preserved: