JGR Class Ke 100 (1919)

JGR Class Ke 100
Ke 101 in May 1951
Technical specifications
Serial number(s)	231 – 236 (unconfirmed)
Manufacturer(s)	Amemiya Seisakusho
Build date	1919 – 1920
Total produced	6
Classification	0-4-0
Dimensions	4,925 mm × 1,580 mm × 2,590 mm
Rail gauge	2 ft 6 in (762 mm)
Valve gear	Walschaerts
Cylinders	2
Boiler pressure	10.5 kg/cm²
Fuel type	Coal
Heating area	7.3 m²
Service information
Years in-service	1919 – 1953
Running numbers	Ke 100 – Ke 105
Disposition details
Preserved	None
Number operational	None
Number scrapped	6

The JGR Class Ke 100 was a 0-4-0WT Switcher-type narrow gauge well tank steam locomotive operated by the Japanese Government Railways and its successor the Japanese National Railways from 1919 to 1953.

History

The Class Ke 100 was an early steam locomotive used in Japan. The locomotives were created out of a need for small steam locomotives for industrial use, with the JGR not importing locomotives due to World War I putting a strain on imports; at the time, small steam locomotives manufactured by Orenstein & Koppel in Germany were popular.

To produce the locomotives, the Ministry of Railways presented rough specifications for the proposed locomotive, with small Japanese locomotive manufacturer Amemiya Seisakusho obtaining approval to build the locomotives; a total of six locomotives, numbered Ke 100 through Ke 105, were built from December 1919 to 1920. They are stated to be virtually identical to the Ke 90 locomotives manufactured around the same time. In 1922 a similar type of locomotive was manufactured by the Fukagawa Dockyard and Machine Works; the locomotive appears similar to this series but is otherwise unrelated apart from name.

The locomotives were stationed throughout Japan throughout their lives from Morioka to Tokyo, but all locomotives were notably stationed at Shinanogawa at some point in their service lives. They were struck off the register in 1953 although the locomotives were withdrawn from service years before; for example Ke 104 was withdrawn on 10 May 1949 after being used to transport construction materials on the Kamaishi Line and Ke 101 being resold to the Seibu Railway in 1950, although none of these were recorded until 1953.

No Class Ke 100 locomotives have been preserved.

Trivia

• Both locomotives designated Class Ke 100 feature a numbering overlap; both classes feature a locomotive numbered Ke 105, with both types of locomotives being in service at the same time. On JGR records the latter class had the locomotives numbered Ke 106 and Ke 107, although their number plates read Ke 105 and Ke 106.