The JGR Class Ke 210 was a 0-6-0T Switcher-type narrow gauge side tank steam locomotive operated by the Japanese Government Railways and its successor the Japanese National Railways from 1922 to September 1954.
History[]
The Class Ke 210 was an early steam locomotive used in Japan. The locomotives were ordered by the Japanese Government Railways in 1922; a total of five locomotives were manufactured by the Fukagawa Dockyard and Machine Works in two batches from 1922 to 1923, with three locomotives manufactured from November to December 1922 and two in September 1923. These were numbered Ke 210 through Ke 214. The 1922 locomotives cost ¥11,895 per locomotive, while the 1923 locomotives were significantly cheaper at ¥7,930; this was done to allow the company to compete with its main rival, Amemiya Seisakusho, which also manufactured similar types of locomotives.
Service records for the Class Ke 210 are hazy, with no official service records existing; they were however a very common sight near many main lines. What is known however is that Ke 212 was withdrawn in July 1929 and that some time later the remaining locomotives were regauged to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge, the only of the "Ke-class" locomotives to have this conversion performed. Ke 214 was modified by Kyōsan Kōgyō in 1948 and moved to the Tōhoku Region for river construction. Ke 213 was withdrawn in September 1953, Ke 210 in September 1954 and Ke 211 and Ke 214 some time in 1954.
No Class Ke 210 locomotives have been preserved.