The Class D50 is a type of

2-8-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and two trailing wh ...

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

built by the

Japanese Government Railways The Japanese Government Railways (JGR) was the national rail transport, railway system directly operated by the until 1949. It was a predecessor of Japanese National Railways and the later Japan Railways Group. Name The English name "Japanese ...

(JGR), the

Japanese National Railways The , abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pre ...

(JNR) and various manufacturers from 1923 to 1931. The class name indicates that the locomotive has four sets of driving wheels (D) and belongs to one of the classes of

tender locomotive A tender is a special railroad car, rail vehicle hauled by a steam locomotive containing its fuel (wood fuel, wood, coal, fuel oil, oil or torrefaction, torrefied biomass) and water. Steam locomotives consume large quantities of water compared ...

allocated a number in the series 50 to 99 in the

Japan Railways locomotive numbering and classification This page explains the numbering and classification schemes for locomotives employed by the Japanese Government Railways, the Japanese National Railways and the Japan Railways Group. Steam locomotives Pre-nationalization Prior to the Railw ...

scheme of 1928.

Hideo Shima was a Japanese engineer and the driving force behind the building of the first bullet train (Shinkansen). Shima was born in Osaka in 1901, and educated at the Tokyo Imperial University, where he studied Mechanical Engineering. His father was p ...

designed the rest of the class until 1931. The design of the D50 was based on the JNR Class 9600 which was introduced in 1916. A total of 380 Class D50 locomotives were built. Between 1951 and 1956 78 were rebuilt to JNR Class D60

2-8-4 Under the Whyte notation, a 2-8-4 is a steam locomotive that has two unpowered leading wheels, followed by eight coupled and powered driving wheels, and four trailing wheels. This locomotive type is most often referred to as a Berkshire, thoug ...

Berkshire’s by the JNR. This class would later form the

JNR Class D51 The is a type of 2-8-2 steam locomotive operated by the Japanese Government Railways (JGR) and later by the Japanese National Railways (JNR). Designed by JGR's chief mechanical engineer Hideo Shima, they were built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries ...

Service in China

Manchukuo National Railway

In 1923, sixteen D50 class locomotives were exported to the Jichang Jidun Railway in

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

, which designated them class 500 and numbered 501 through 516. Ten were built by Kawasaki (works nos. 970−971, 1140−1170) and six by Kisha Seizō (w/n 965−970), and though very similar to the Japanese D50 class, there were some slight differences in dimensions due to the larger

loading gauge A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and k ...

on Chinese lines. After the establishment of

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...

, the Jichang Jidun Railway was nationalised along with other private railways to form the

Manchukuo National Railway The Manchukuo National Railway (Traditional Chinese and Japanese kanji: , Japanese romanization: ''Manshū Kokuyū Tetsudō'') was the state-owned national railway company of Manchukuo. Generally called the "國線" ("National Line", ''Kokusen' ...

. The MNR classified these Mikana (ミカナ) class, numbered 6540−6555, renumbered 501−516 in 1938.小熊米雄「満州のD50―吉長、吉敦鉄路の500形について」交友社『鉄道ファン』 No.22 April 1963, pp.45-47 After the establishment of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, China Railways designated them ㄇㄎ₅ (MK₅) class in 1951,中国铁道部1951年2月版《机车概要表》 and subsequently 解放₅ (JF₅) class in 1959.

Central China Railway

In 1939, D50 193 was converted to standard gauge and shipped to the

Central China Railway The Central China Railway (Japanese: 華中鉄道株式会社, ''Kachū Tetsudō Kabushiki Kaisha''; Chinese: 華中鐵道股份有限公司, ''Huázhōng Tiědào Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī'') was a railway company in Japanese-occupied China esta ...

, where it operated primarily between

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

and

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. This engine lasted in service on China Railways until 1955.中国蒸汽機車世紀集影 (Centennial Collection of Chinese Steam Locomotives), China Railway Publishing House, July 2001, (in Chinese)

China Railways

After the establishment of the

, all the railways of China were taken over by the

China Railway China State Railway Group Co., Ltd., doing business as China Railway (CR), is the national passenger and freight railroad corporation of the China, People's Republic of China. China Railway operates passenger and freight Rail transport in Chi ...

, which classified the D50s as ㄇㄎ₁₆ (MK₁₆) class in 1951, later becoming class 解放₁₆(JF₁₆).

Preserved examples

Two D50s are preserved in Japan. * D50 25: In a park in

Kitami, Hokkaido is a Cities of Japan, city in Okhotsk Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the most populous city and the commercial center in the subprefecture, although the subprefecture capital is Abashiri, Hokkaido, Abashiri. Kitami is physically in th ...

* D50 140: At the

Kyoto Railway Museum The (formerly the until 2016) is a railway museum in Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan. The original Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum opened in 1972, but was expanded and modernized in 2016, becoming the Kyoto Railway Museum. The museum is owned by We ...

File:JNR D50 25.JPG, D50 25 in Kitami, Hokkaido File:JNR SL D50140.jpg, D50 140 at Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum

References