JGR Class 50

JGR Class 50
Builder's photo
Technical specifications
Serial number(s)	5642 – 5643
Manufacturer(s)	H.K. Porter, Inc.
Build date	1915
Total produced	2
Classification	0-4-0T
Dimensions	5,074 mm × Unknown × 2,969 mm
Rail gauge	3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)
Valve gear	Stephenson
Cylinders	2
Boiler pressure	12.7 kg/cm²
Fuel type	Coal
Heating area	15.1 m²
Service information
Years in-service	1915 – 1926
Running numbers	3 – 4
Disposition details
Preserved	None
Number scrapped	3

The JGR Class 50 (originally the Daito Railway Class 3) was a 0-4-0T Switcher-type well tank steam locomotive operated by the Japanese Government Railways from 1915 to 1926.

History

The Class 50 was an early steam locomotive operated in Japan. The type was ordered by the Daito Railway, with two locomotives built by H.K. Porter, Inc. in the United States in 1915 and imported into Japan. The locomotives were assigned the Class 3 and numbered 3 and 4. The locomotives entered service the same year and were used for switching services.

After the Daito Railway was nationalized, the locomotives were reclassified as the Class 50 although they did not receive new numbers. The locomotives were moved around a number of private railroads a number of times further until the last locomotive was retired in 1926. No Class 50s have been preserved.

Trivia

• The Class 50s had long been a locomotive with little to no information available regarding appearance; this was mainly because most documents regarding the Daito Railway being burned down in the Great Kanto Earthquake. This all changed when a Japanese railfan discovered photographs of a Class 50 locomotive in 2013, shown above.

References

Daitō Railway steam locomotives
Tank	1 • 2 • 3 • 4