JGR Class 5700

JGR Class 5700
5736 at an unknown date
Technical specifications
Serial number(s)	4572 – 4583, 4613 – 4622, 4764 – 4775, 5025 – 5036, 5773 – 5775, 6123 – 6127, 40407 – 40411
Manufacturer(s)	ALCO-Schenectady, Schenectady Locomotive Works
Build date	1897 – 1899, 1901, 1906
Total produced	59
Classification	4-4-0
Dimensions	14,643 mm × Unknown × 3,671 mm
Rail gauge	3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)
Valve gear	Stephenson
Cylinders	2
Boiler pressure	9.8 kg/cm²
Fuel type	Coal
Heating area	81.3 m²
Service information
Years in-service	1897 – 1936
Running numbers	5700 – 5757
Disposition details
Preserved	None
Number scrapped	59

The JGR Class 5700 (originally the JGR Class AO) was a 4-4-0 American-type steam locomotive operated by the Japanese Government Railways from 1897 to 1936.

History

The Class 5700 was an early steam locomotive operated in Japan. The type was ordered by the JGR, Kyushu Railway and Hokkaido Colliery and Railway Company, with a total of fifty-nine locomotives manufactured by the Schenectady Locomotive Works and the American Locomotive Company (after taking over Schenectady) from 1897 to 1906. Ten locomotives went to the JGR, were classified the Class AO and numbered 242 through 251; they were subsequently reclassified as the Class D10. The bulk of the locomotives went to the Kyushu Railway, with thirty-six total; these were classified as the Class 55, 116 and 142 and numbered 55 through 66, 116 through 127 and 142 through 153. The Hokkaido Colliery and Railway Company received the rest of the locomotives; these were classified as the Class L and numbered 55 through 57, 63 through 67 and 71 through 75; 71 through 75 were later renumbered to 74 through 78.

Regardless of railroad, the locomotives were reclassified as the Class 5700 in 1909 when a formal rule regarding standardized classification of locomotives was enacted; the locomotives were thus renumbered 5700 through 5757, with 5758 omitted as one of the locomotives, 242, was scrapped due to an accident in Manchuria the same year before this rule was enacted. Retirements began in 1928, with all locomotives retired by 1936 on the JGR. After retirement a number of these locomotives changed hands a few times, although some were also requisitioned by the Soviet Railways in 1945 after their takeover of Karafuto; it is not clear what happened to them after that although they were most likely scrapped. No Class 5700s have been preserved.