The Mate or Mateo (Japanese マテ, Korean 마터) class locomotives were a group of steam tender locomotives of the Chosen Government Railway (''Sentetsu'') with

4-8-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels, eight powered and coupled driving wheels and two trailing wheels. This type of steam locomotive is commonly known ...

wheel arrangement In rail transport, a wheel arrangement or wheel configuration is a system of classifying the way in which wheels are distributed under a locomotive. Several notations exist to describe the wheel assemblies of a locomotive by type, position, and ...

. The "Mate" name came from the American naming system for steam locomotives, under which locomotives with 4-8-2 wheel arrangement were called "Mountain". With the development of mining operations in the northern part of Korea, traffic volumes increased significantly. Sentetsu found a need for a locomotive with strong pulling power suitable for use on mountainous lines with sharp curves and steep slopes. The locomotive designed in response to this need was not of the Mika type, which was Sentetsu's standard freight locomotive, but of the Mate type with 4-8-2 wheel arrangement. The leading bogie was designed to reduce flange wear on the wheels. The resulting Matei class locomotives became a mainstay on long-distance freight trains on mountainous lines. Jangdan_Steam_Locomotive

There were two classes of the Mate type operated by Sentetsu, called

Matei Matei is a Romanian name. It is equivalent to the English name Matthew. As a given name *Matei Balș, Romanian bacteriologist *Matei Basarab, Wallachian Voivode between 1632 and 1654 * Matei Boilă, Romanian politician and priest * Matei Călines ...

and Mateni. Fifty Matei-class and 33 Mateni-class locomotives were built by various builders in Japan, as well as by Sentetsu's

Gyeongseong Works Seoul has been known in the past by successive names, including Wiryeseong () and Hanseong (Baekje era), Bukhansangun (Goguryo era), Hanyang (North and South states period), Namgyeong (, Goryeo era), Hanyangbu (Goryeo under Mongol rule), Hanseong ...

. Only 77 of the 83 built of both classes remained in 1946; of these, 33 went to the

Korean National Railroad The Korea Railroad Corporation (Korean: 한국철도공사, Hanja: ), branded as KORAIL (코레일, officially changed to in November 2019), is the national railway operator in South Korea. Currently, KORAIL is a public corporation, manage ...

in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and 44 to the

Korean State Railway The Korean State Railway (), commonly called the State Rail () is the operating arm of the Ministry of Railways of North Korea and has its headquarters at P'yŏngyang. The current Minister of Railways is Chang Jun Song. History 1945–195 ...

in the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''no ...

. The six locomotives that remain unaccounted for were likely either destroyed during the Pacific War or were possibly taken by

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

, which during its occupation of North Korea took a large number of locomotives to the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

References

{{Sentetsu rolling stock Locomotives of Korea Locomotives of South Korea Locomotives of North Korea 4-8-2 locomotives