Mitsubishi Nagasaki Shipyard Class B

Mitsubishi Nagasaki Shipyard Class B
Model of Ke 702
Technical specifications
Serial number(s)	5869 – 5880
Manufacturer(s)	H.K. Porter, Inc.
Build date	1916 – 1917
Total produced	12
Classification	0-4-0
Dimensions	6,355 mm × Unknown × 2,806 mm
Rail gauge	2 ft 6 in (762 mm)
Valve gear	Walschaerts
Cylinders	2
Boiler pressure	12.0 kg/cm²
Fuel type	Coal
Heating area	25.8 m²
Service information
Years in-service	1916 – April 1944
Running numbers	Original numbers unknown, later 20, then Ke 702
Disposition details
Preserved	None
Number operational	None
Number scrapped	12

The Mitsubishi Nagasaki Shipyard Class B was a 0-4-0T Switcher-type narrow gauge side tank steam locomotive operated by the Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works and later other railway companies from 1916 to April 1944.

History

The Class B was an early steam locomotive used in Japan. A total of twelve locomotives were manufactured by H.K. Porter, Inc. as part of their B-SS model of locomotive; these were manufactured in two batches, with three locomotives built in December 1916 and the remaining nine in January 1917. These were used at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries's Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works; any information regarding service of the locomotives at the shipyards was a heavily guarded secret by the Imperial Japanese Army until the end of the Pacific War. By the conclusion of the Pacific War all records regarding the locomotives's operations at the shipyard had been destroyed or lost.

What is known however is that the Sasebo Railway received scrap parts of a locomotive of this type in 1935; at the railway's own factory the Sasebo Railway either rebuilt this locomotive or combined parts from multiple locomotives of this type, fabricated a new cab and added a trailing axle. This locomotive was numbered 20. When the railway was nationalized on 1 October 1936, the locomotive came under the ownership of the Japanese Government Railways; it was reclassified as the Class Ke 702 and renumbered as such. Ke 702 would be used until regauging works were completed in April 1944; it would be stored at Sasa Depot until May 1948 when it would be scrapped.

No Class B locomotives have been preserved.

Trivia

• The locomotives were never given classifications by the Nagasaki Shipyard & Machine Works; this naming scheme is given for consistency and convenience.