The Pashii class (パシイ) locomotives were a group of
steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
tender locomotive
A tender or coal-car (US only) is a special rail vehicle hauled by a steam locomotive containing its fuel (wood, coal, oil or torrefied biomass) and water. Steam locomotives consume large quantities of water compared to the quantity of fuel, so ...
s of the
Chosen Government Railway (''Sentetsu'') with
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 ...
wheel arrangement. The "Pashi" name came from the
American naming system for steam locomotives, under which locomotives with 4-6-2 wheel arrangement were called "Pacific".
In all, Sentetsu owned 144 locomotives of
all Pashi classes, of which 141 survived the war; of these, 73 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, managed ...
in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
and 68 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
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
As the 1920s approached, it became clear that Sentetsu needed more powerful locomotives than its existing
Amei-class and the five classes of
Teho-type locomotives then in service to pull its important passenger trains. Consequently, Sentetsu turned to the
Baldwin Locomotive Works
The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades t ...
once again, this time ordering passenger steam locomotives of the 4-6-2 wheel arrangement.
The first locomotives with a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement to operate on Korean rails was Sentetsu's パシイ (''Pashii'') class. This was a group of twelve locomotives built by Baldwin in the United States and delivered to Korea in 1921. They had a steel underframe, a hard link type front
bogie
A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...
and a spring type rear bogie, a Franklin injector, an automatic stoker, Gould regulator, and Westinghouse 6ET
air brakes.
Originally numbered パシ901–パシ918, they were the most American in appearance due to the arrangement of their running boards, and, like American locomotives, had the driver on the left hand side; this proved unpopular with the local crews, as they were the only left-side-drive locomotives in Korea until the arrival of the
USATC S160
The United States Army Transportation Corps S160 Class is a class of 2-8-0, 2-8-0 Consolidation steam locomotive, designed for heavy freight work in Europe during World War II. A total of 2,120 were built and they worked on railroads across much ...
class after 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 ...
.
Despite this drawback, they were considered a success, and in 1923 six copies were delivered from
Kisha Seizō.
These moved the driver to the right side, and were originally numbered パシ919–パシ924. A year later, they swapped numbers with the Pashini class locomotives that had been delivered in 1923 before the Pashii copies, becoming パシ913–パシ918, and in Sentetsu's 1938 general renumbering, the eighteen locomotives were renumbered パシイ1–パシイ18.
Postwar
The exact dispersal of the Pashii-class locomotives between North and South after the
partition of Korea
The division of Korea began with the defeat of Japan in World War II. During the war, the Allied leaders considered the question of Korea's future after Japan's surrender in the war. The leaders reached an understanding that Korea would be li ...
is uncertain, but they were used by the KNR on passenger trains into the 1960s, while they lasted into the 1970s in KSR service, though little of their lives in the North is known.
Korean National Railroad 파시1 (Pasi1) class
At least ten served with the Korean National Railroad, where they were classified 파시1 (Pasi1).
On 1 February 1954, 파시1-7 was pulling a 16-car passenger train southbound at
Osan when it was destroyed in an accident. Running tender-ahead with no lights, it hit a
South Korean Army lorry, which became wedged beneath the tender, derailing the locomotive and turning it around. The locomotive and three passenger cars were destroyed, and 57 people were killed.
None of the KNR units were preserved.
Korean State Railway 바시하 (Pasiha) class
The number of Pashii-class locomotives taken over by the Korean State Railway is unknown, but they were initially designated 바시하 (''Pasiha'') class; they were later renumbered with a four-digit serial number, but details are unknown. The service lives and subsequent fate of the Pashii-class engines that operated in the North is likewise unknown.
Construction
References
{{DPRKloco
Locomotives of Korea under Japanese rule
Locomotives of South Korea
Locomotives of North Korea
Railway locomotives introduced in 1921
Railway locomotives introduced in 1923
4-6-2 locomotives
Baldwin locomotives
Kisha Seizo locomotives