The China Railways SL11 (勝利11, ''Shènglì'', "victory") class steam locomotive was a class of

4-6-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. The locomotiv ...

passenger steam locomotives operated by the

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

. They were originally built for the

South Manchuria Railway The South Manchuria Railway ( ja, 南満州鉄道, translit=Minamimanshū Tetsudō; ), officially , Mantetsu ( ja, 満鉄, translit=Mantetsu) or Mantie () for short, was a large of the Empire of Japan whose primary function was the operatio ...

and 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' ...

ALCO The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...

of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1908, and have the distinction of being part of the first group of

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

locomotives to operate in northeastern China.

History

The first Pacifics to be delivered to Mantetsu were the seven class "G" locomotives built by

at their

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

works. These were part of the first group of locomotives bought by Mantetsu after conversion to standard gauge. They entered service in 1908, hauling express trains made up of Pullman cars between

Dalian Dalian () is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China. Located on the ...

and

Changchun Changchun (, ; ), also romanized as Ch'angch'un, is the capital and largest city of Jilin Province, People's Republic of China. Lying in the center of the Songliao Plain, Changchun is administered as a , comprising 7 districts, 1 county and 3 c ...

put into service that year. These trains originally ran twice weekly, but were later increased to three, then four, trips each week, though during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

service was reduced to one train per week. These locomotives were occasionally used for mixed trains on the Anfeng Line. Between 1920 and 1926 they were rebuilt with

superheater A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. There ar ...

s, but with the arrival of newer types - and the increase in passenger traffic - they came to be used on all sorts of passenger trains on the trunk lines. Immediately after the

Mukden Incident The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, known in Chinese as the 9.18 Incident (九・一八), was a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria. On September 18, 1931, L ...

four were lent out to another railway. In 1933, six were transferred to the

, where they were used on the construction of new lines, along with regular passenger duties. Due to the axleload of the Pashina class being too heavy for use on the mainline north of Xinjing (Changchun), after the extension of the

Asia Express The ''Asia Express'' ( ja, アジア号, translit=Ajia-gō, ) was a super express passenger train operated by the South Manchuria Railway (''Mantetsu'') from 1934 until 1943. This limited express, which began operation in November 1934 and was M ...

Harbin Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest ...

in 1935, the Pashii class was used on the Xinjing–Harbin section, which was formally owned by the MNR. In the 1920 classification system they were designated Pashii class (パシイ); those transferred to the MNR in 1933 were reclassified Pashiko (パシコ) class. In the unified classification scheme of 1938 they returned to the Pashii designation.

Postwar

Of the seven Pashii class locomotives, at the end of the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

six were assigned to the

Jinzhou Jinzhou (, ), formerly Chinchow, is a coastal prefecture-level city in central-west Liaoning province, China. It is a geographically strategic city located in the Liaoxi Corridor, which connects most of the land transports between North Chin ...

Railway Bureau and one was on loan to another railway. All seven eventually ended up with the

, becoming class ㄆㄒ11 (PX11) in 1951, and class SL11 in 1959.

References

{{MNR rolling stock 4-6-2 locomotives ALCO locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1908 Steam locomotives of China Standard gauge locomotives of China Rolling stock of Manchukuo Passenger locomotives