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JNR Class C57 No. C57 1

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Japanese National Railways No. C57 1 is a Class C57 4-6-2 Pacific-type steam locomotive built for the Japanese National Railways by Kawasaki Sharyō in March 1937. It is one of two Class C57 locomotives with mainline certification, the other being C57 180, and is also one of only two locomotives which have officially never been retired in Japan, alongside C56 160.

History[]

C57 1 was built by Kawasaki Sharyō; it is the lead member of the Class C57 locomotives. The locomotive was completed on 22 March 1937, with a serial number of 1769. C57 1 was one of the later Class C57 locomotives ordered but was the first completed and numbered as such per the order. Entering service on 4 April 1937, C57 1 was assigned to the Mito Depot and used to pull fast passenger trains on the Tōhoku Main Line; it was moved to Utsunomiya on 10 November 1939. C57 1 was damaged by machine gun fire during Allied air raids of the Utsunomiya area on 1 July 1945; it would be repaired by 9 July 1945 at Ōmiya Works, with many other repairs taking place at Ōmiya in the years that followed.

After World War II, C57 1 was used for a two-way traction test on 2 March 1948 in conjunction with C61 1, pulling a 500 ton (1,102,000 lbs) train to Shirakawa and an intentionally overloaded 600 ton (1,323,000 lbs) train back to Utsunomiya. C57 1 was moved to Chiba Depot on 11 October 1949 and used to pull local passenger trains on the Sōbu Main Line; it was then moved to Niitsu Depot on 7 October 1954, where the locomotive's cab was extended as a snow-proofing measure and a white line added to the running board as per Niitsu Depot tradition. The locomotive received a new Mitsubishi-manufactured boiler at Nagano Works in March 1958. On 9 February 1961 while pulling a Nihonkai train, C57 1 was hit by a landslide, derailing and overturning; C57 1 remained stuck at the accident site for some two months before it was transported to Nagano Works on 27 April 1961; its leading wheels were replaced with those from scrapped Class C59 locomotives (although later on scrapped Class C57 locomotives would supply wheels to C57 1), with the locomotive re-entering service on 28 September 1961. There are varying reasons as to why C57 1 was repaired, such as C57 1 being the lead locomotive of its class, it having its boiler replaced relatively recently and a lack of transportation capacity. Opinions of crews following C57 1's repairs are divided, some stating that "being assigned to C57 1 made them depressed" while others stated that "C57 1 had performance worthy of being the lead member of the class".

C57 1 pulled its last regular train on 14 March 1972. C57 1 was designated to pull an imperial train on the Uetsu Main Line; it was rebuilt at Tsuchizaki Works (now the Akita General Rolling Stock Center) for the purpose and pulled the train on 20 May 1972. C57 1 was briefly loaned to Sakura Depot in late 1972 for use on a special service; on 10 October 1972, the locomotive was transferred to the Umekoji Depot and displayed at the Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum; despite this the locomotive was not removed from JNR's fleet register and remains on JR West's registers today.

C57 1 was involved in a second incident on 4 September 1976 when it was pulling the SL Keihan 100th Anniversary service where it struck and killed a fifth-grade student (who was later determined to be at fault); as a result of this incident Nagano Works ceased performing maintenance of steam locomotives in 1976 and the JNR stopped using steam locomotives in major metropolitan areas. C57 1 was transferred to Takatori Depot for preparation for use on the SL Yamaguchi on 28 April 1979, pulling the first SL Yamaguchi train on 1 August 1978 in an event attended by JNR president Fumio Takagi. Notable for having numerous breakdowns during preservation, C57 1 was rebuilt in 1985 at Takatori Works using parts present at Takatori; any parts which were unable to be remanufactured were collected instead from locomotives on display around Japan. C57 1 was located at Takatori on 17 January 1995 when the Great Hanshin Earthquake struck, causing the locomotive to fall off a jack and damaging the boiler and other equipment in the process; it was fully repaired by 1 May 1995, with some parts from fellow preserved class member C57 5 used to repair C57 1. On 14 October 2006, C57 1 was designated a quasi-railroad monument, alongside other steam locomotives and related facilities at the museum.

C57 1's tender was replaced on 26 January 2009; the new tender was manufactured by JR West Technos by reverse engineering its original tender due to drawings having been lost. New parts were manufactured from 2013 to 2014. During the 2010s C57 1 was known to have malfunctioned and broken down numerous times; this culminated on 10 October 2020 when C57 1 blew a cylinder between Tsuwano and Funahirayama while pulling an SL Yamaguchi service. C57 1 was taken to Umekoji to be repaired while DD51 1043 was used to pull the remaining trains, with future scheduled trips operated by D51 200. Since then, C57 1 remains stored at the Kyoto Railway Museum with no plans for a full repair, although a general inspection was conducted in October 2023. C57 1 was dismantled some time in 2024, presumably for further repairs, with its smokebox door on display at the front of the Kyoto Railway Museum; C57 1 remains dismantled as of May 2025 although as of the same month the locomotive appears to be undergoing reassembly.

Gallery[]

Notable steam locomotives of the Japanese National Railways
Class 10 17
Class 110 110
Class 150 150
Class 160 165
Class 230 233
Class 400 403
Class 860 860
Class 1275 1275
Class 1290 1292 Zenkō
Class 2100 2109
Class 7100 7101 Benkei • 7105 Yoshitsune • 7106 Shizuka
Class 7150 7150 Taishō
Class 8620 8620 • 8630 • 58654
Class 9600 9608 • 9633 • 49671
Class 9850 9856
Class B20 B20 10
Class C10 C10 8
Class C11 C11 1 • C11 64 • C11 123 • C11 171 • C11 190 • C11 207 • C11 227 • C11 312 • C11 325
Class C12 C12 66 • C12 164
Class C51 C51 5 • C51 239
Class C53 C53 43 • C53 45
Class C55 C55 1
Class C56 C56 31 • C56 44 • C56 135 • C56 160
Class C57 C57 1 • C57 135 • C57 180
Class C58 C58 1 • C58 239 • C58 363
Class C59 C59 1 • C59 164
Class C61 C61 2 • C61 20
Class C62 C62 2 • C62 3 • C62 17 • C62 48
Class D50 D50 140
Class D51 D51 1 • D51 146 • D51 200 • D51 498 • D51 827
Class D52 D52 1 • D52 468
Class E10 E10 2
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