JGR Class 8550

JGR Class 8550
8501 (ex-8550) at an unknown date
Technical specifications
Serial number(s)	5261 – 5272, 6153 – 6154, 27803 – 27814, 29852, 30500 – 30511, 41314 – 41325
Manufacturer(s)	ALCO-Schenectady
Build date	1899, 1902 – 1906
Total produced	61
Classification	2-6-0
Dimensions	14,630 mm × Unknown × 3,775 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	105.6 m²
Service information
Years in-service	1899 – c. 1945
Running numbers	8554 – 8578, 8580, 8587 – 8588, 8590 – 8610, 8500 – 8511 (originally 154 – 165, 191 – 227, 252 – 263)
Disposition details
Preserved	None
Number scrapped	61

The JGR Class 8550 (originally the Kyushu Railway Class 154) and the related JGR Class 8500 were 2-6-0 Mogul-type steam locomotives operated by the Japanese Government Railways from 1899 to about 1945.

History

The Class 8550 was an early steam locomotive operated in Japan. The type was ordered by the Kyushu Railway as the Class 154, of which sixty-one locomotives were built by the American Locomotive Company. These were mainly used by the Kyushu Railway as freight locomotives.

After the Railway Nationalization Act was passed in 1909, the locomotives were renumbered the Class 8550. Ten were later converted into Class 8500 locomotives, which were essentially superheated versions of the Class 8550 locomotives. The Class 8550s and their superheated counterparts the Class 8500s changed hands a number of times afterwards but they were all retired by around 1945. No Class 8550s have been preserved. The earlier Class 8500 locomotives are not related to this locomotive.