Ryōbi Railway Class 9

Ryōbi Railway Class 9
Technical specifications
Serial number(s)	10876 – 10877
Manufacturer(s)	Orenstein & Koppel
Build date	1925
Total produced	2
Classification	0-6-0
Dimensions	6,956 mm × Unknown × 3,175 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	42.5 m²
Service information
Years in-service	1925 – 15 March 1949
Running numbers	9 – 10, later Ke 217, Ke 240
Disposition details
Preserved	None
Number operational	None
Number scrapped	5

The Ryōbi Railway Class 9 was a 0-6-0WT Switcher-type narrow gauge well tank steam locomotive operated by the Ryōbi Railway and later other railway companies from 1925 to March 1949.

History

The Class 9 was an early steam locomotive used in Japan. The locomotives were ordered by the Ryōbi Light Railway (later the Ryōbi Railway), the preceding operator of what is now the West Japan Railway Company's Fukuen Line. Two locomotives were manufactured by Orenstein & Koppel, numbered 9 and 10, in January 1925. The locomotive was a narrow gauge derivative of a standard design of locomotive manufactured by O&K; similar locomotives included the JGR Class 1275 and the Awa Electric Railway Class A 8. While similar to the Ke 200 locomotives, these locomotives were significantly more powerful and were the most powerful 2 ft 6 in gauge (762 mm) locomotives in Japan. At some point, 9 was resold to the Kandaka Railway.

When the Ryōbi Railway was nationalized on 1 September 1933 to become the Fukuen Line, the remaining locomotive on the Ryōbi Railway, 10, was acquired by the Japanese National Railways and reclassified as the Class Ke 240 and renumbered as such. Following this Ke 240 was moved to the Uonuma Railway; it was withdrawn from service on the Uonuma Line in 15 October 1944 when operations were temporarily halted on that line. It was later stored at Nagaoka Depot and withdrawn on 15 March 1949; it is said to have later been repurposed.

9, which was resold to the Kandaka Railway, was deemed to be too large for the line and was never used; it was transferred to the Sasebo Railway on 2 October 1934. When the railway was nationalized on 1 October 1936, 16 came under the ownership of the Japanese Government Railways; it would be reclassified as the Class Ke 217 and renumbered as such, and would be used until regauging works were completed in August 1944; Ke 217 would be struck from the register in September 1944. Further details are not known although it is likely the locomotive was scrapped.

No Class 9 locomotives have been preserved. Few photos exist of the locomotives.

Trivia

• The locomotives were never given classifications by the Ryōbi Railway; this naming scheme is given for consistency and convenience.

References

Ryōbi Railway rolling stock
Steam locomotive	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 (gen 1) • 4 (gen 2) • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Electric locomotive	11