Uwajima Railway Class 1

Uwajima Railway Class 1
Replica of Uwajima Railway 1 in April 2023
Technical specifications
Serial number(s)	5826 – 5828, 9846, 10838
Manufacturer(s)	Orenstein & Koppel
Build date	1913, 1922, 1924
Total produced	5
Classification	0-6-0
Dimensions	5,492 mm × Unknown × 2,914 mm
Rail gauge	2 ft 6 in (762 mm)
Valve gear	Walschaerts
Cylinders	2
Boiler pressure	12.38 kg/cm²
Fuel type	Coal
Heating area	18.29 m²
Service information
Years in-service	1913 – 1956
Running numbers	1 – 3, 5 – 6, later Ke 220 – Ke 224
Disposition details
Preserved	None
Number operational	None
Number scrapped	5

The Uwajima Railway Class 1 was a 0-6-0T Switcher-type narrow gauge side-well tank steam locomotive operated by the Uwajima Railway and later other railway companies from 1913 to 1956.

History

The Class 1 was an early steam locomotive used in Japan. The locomotives were manufactured by Orenstein & Koppel for the Uwajima Railway, the predecessor to what is now the Shikoku Railway Company's Yodo Line; an initial batch of 3 locomotives were manufactured in 1913 for the railway and numbered 1 through 3. These were the main locomotives on the railway until they were joined by No. 4, which performed less than satisfactorily. The railway would subsequently order an additional batch of locomotives of the same type as the first three locomotives due to their reliability.

The fourth locomotive, numbered 5, was delivered in 1922, and a fifth, numbered 6, was delivered in 1924. There was apparently a sixth locomotive delivered to the Uwajima Railway originally intended for the Sanban Railway; the Sanban Railway would eventually receive this locomotive, numbered 13. When the Uwajima Railway was nationalized on 1 August 1933, the locomotives came under the ownership of the JGR, with the locomotives classified as the Class Ke 220 and renumbered Ke 220 through Ke 224; around that time, gauge change works on the Uwajima Railway commenced, with the locomotives redeployed on the Matsuura Line from 1937, starting with Ke 222. The remaining four locomotives were redeployed on 15 May 1941; they would be used until regauging works were completed in June 1944. Ke 224 would be resold to the Enshū Railway in March 1946 and renumbered 9; it was later renumbered C1921 and used until 1956.

The aforementioned Sanban Railway 13 was delivered to that railway in 1924; when the railway was closed in 1931 it was resold to the Numajiri Railway (later the Bandai Kyūkō Electric Railway) in 1935, where it was renumbered 11. The locomotive was renumbered C911 in 1941 and was scrapped in 1953. Two locomotives were also ordered by the Akoh Railway, numbered 3 and 4, built to similar specifications as Sanban Railway 13. In later years they were modified to have a coal bunker behind the cab. Both locomotives were withdrawn in 1951; 3 is said to have been sold to a rolling stock broker but any details following are not known.

No Class 1 locomotives have been preserved. Two replicas of the Class 1, manufactured by Takao K.K., are on display. One replica is located at Uwajima Station in Ehime, Shikoku and numbered 1, while the other is located at Tsutsumi Construction in Kyoto and numbered C1.

References

Uwajima Railway steam locomotives
Tank	1 – 3 • 4 • 5 – 6