JGR Class 6500

JGR Class 6500
Kansai Railway 44 (later JGR 6504) at an unknown date
Technical specifications
Serial number(s)	1771 – 1776, 41427 – 41429
Manufacturer(s)	ALCO-Pittsubrgh, Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works
Build date	1898, 1906
Total produced	9
Classification	4-4-0
Dimensions	14,405 mm × Unknown × 3,658 mm
Rail gauge	3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)
Valve gear	Stephenson
Cylinders	2
Boiler pressure	11.3 kg/cm²
Fuel type	Coal
Heating area	96.6 m²
Service information
Years in-service	1898 – 1925
Running numbers	6500 – 6508 (originally 40 – 45, 107 – 109)
Disposition details
Preserved	None
Number scrapped	9

The JGR Class 6500 (originally the Kansai Railway Class 40) was a 4-4-0 American-type compound steam locomotive operated by the Japanese Government Railways from 1898 to 1925.

History

The Class 6500 was an early steam locomotive operated in Japan. The type was ordered by the JGR, with five locomotives manufactured at the Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works in 1898. These were classified as the Class 40 locomotives, nicknamed Hayakaze (lit. "fast wind") and numbered 40 through 45. Three more locomotives were manufactured in 1906 by the American Locomotive Company (after ALCO took over the Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works).

The locomotives were reclassified as the Class 6500 in 1909 when a formal rule regarding standardized classification of locomotives was enacted; the locomotives were thus renumbered 6500 through 6508. The locomotives were mainly used between Kameyama and Ōji and on the flatter sections of the Kansai Main Line. All locomotives were retired by 1925 as compound steam locomotives were generally disliked by the JGR. No Class 6500s have been preserved.