The Kŭmsŏng class ( ko, 금성, "Gold Star") locomotives are an unlicensed copy of the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

-made M62-type diesel locomotive, built by the

Kim Chong-t'ae Electric Locomotive Works The Kim Chong-t'ae Electric Locomotive Works () in P'yŏngyang is North Korea's largest manufacturer of railway equipment. Established in November 1945 in Sŏsŏng-guyŏk, P'yŏngyang near the P'yŏngyang Railway University and the Korean Stat ...

in P'yŏngyang,

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

Description

Starting in 1967, the

Voroshilovgrad Locomotive Factory Luhanskteplovoz ( uk, Луганськтепловоз or Luhansk Locomotive Works), earlier known as Voroshilovgrad Locomotive Works is a large industrial company in Luhansk, Ukraine, manufacturing locomotives, multiple unit trains (both electri ...

Voroshilovgrad Luhansk (, ; uk, Луганськ, ), also known as Lugansk (, ; russian: Луганск, ), is a city in what is internationally recognised as Ukraine, although it is administered by Russia as capital of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). A ...

, USSR (now Luhansk,

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

), began production of 64 K62-class variants of the M62 for 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 ...

. The Kim Chong-t'ae works subsequently

reverse-engineered Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...

these locomotives, along with their diesel engines and other components imported from the USSR. These efforts led to the production of the Kŭmsŏng class locomotives using both copied components and Russian-made parts. In testing, the first prototype, numbered 8001, the goal of attaining a maximum speed of was achieved, and the copy of the Kolomna 14D40 engine produced . However, reliability issues prevented mass production. The second unit, 8002, has been on display at the

Three Revolutions Exhibition The Three Revolutions Exhibition ( ko, 3대혁명전시관) is a museum located in North Korea. The exhibition primarily showcases the three revolutions of Kim Il-sung: ideological, technical, and cultural. It is in the Ryonmot-dong area, and its ...

in P'yŏngyang since it was built. The first two units were both painted in a yellow and red livery, strikingly different from the blue and green scheme applied to the Soviet-made versions. 8001 is in service, pulling trains on the

P'yŏngŭi Line The P'yŏngŭi Line is an electrified main trunk line of the Korean State Railway of North Korea, running from P'yŏngyang to Sinŭiju on the border with China.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō), It is the main co ...

. There are a number of noticeable external differences between the Kŭmsŏng class locomotives and the Soviet-built M62s. The most immediately evident is the number and arrangement of the side windows, and the shape of the cab windows. Also very different are the headlights: the top light is round on the Kŭmsŏng instead of rectangular, and the main headlights are mounted in pairs, and higher up, than on the M62. Another readily noticeable difference is that the bogie frames are constructed with welded steel profiles.

Conversions to electric

Like the M62, some Kŭmsŏng class locomotives have also been converted to Kanghaenggun-class electric locomotives. Two have been seen so far - #0309 in dark green and white, and #399 in dark blue and white, but it is not known whether these were converted from existing Kŭmsŏng class locomotives originally built as diesels, or if the electrics use newly built bodies.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumsong-class locomotive Diesel-electric locomotives of North Korea Diesel-electric locomotives of the Soviet Union Co′Co′ locomotives Kim Chong-tae Works locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of North Korea