The Purena-class (プレナ) locomotives were a group of steam tank locomotives with
2-6-2 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 c ...
of used by the
Chosen Government Railway
Chosen or The Chosen may refer to:
The chosen ones
*Chosen people, people who believe they have been chosen by a higher power to do a certain thing including
** Jews as the chosen people
Books
* ''The Chosen'' (Potok novel), a 1967 novel by Chaim ...
(''Sentetsu'') in
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
. The "Pure" name came from the
American naming system for steam locomotives, under which locomotives with 2-6-2 wheel arrangement were called "Prairie".
In all, Sentetsu owned 227 locomotives of
all Pure classes, whilst privately owned railways owned another 52; of these 279 locomotives, 169 went to the
Korean National Railroad in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
and 110 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 Pyongyang, P'yŏngyang. The current Minister of Railways is Chang Jun Song.
History
...
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 Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...
.
Description
Locomotives of this design were built for one unidentified private railway company in Korea, the Chosen Government Railway, and the privately owned
Gyeongchun Railway in Korea, as well as 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 ...
.
Chosen Government Railway プレナ (Purena) class
The プレナ (''Purena'') class locomotive was designed by the Railway Bureau based on the experiences gained through the design of modifications leading to the
Pureshi-class rebuilds, and differed considerably from the imported Pure classes.
The first eight were built for a private railway, with
Hitachi's Kasato factory and
Kawasaki[푸러형 증기기관차(탱크식)를 알아보자.](_blank)
2 December 2012 (in Korean) each building four units; these were bought by Sentetsu in 1936 and numbered 341-348.
The design was then modified to include a superheater, but the resulting design retained the "Purena" classification; the two subclasses were thenceforward referred to as the "Original Purena" and "Bureau Purena" (局プリナ) classes. The first six Bureau Purena locomotives were built for Sentetsu in 1931 by the Gyeongseong Works;
these were numbered 321 through 326.
The 14 locomotives of both Purena subtypes were lumped together in Sentetsu's general renumbering of 1938, with 341–348 becoming プレナ1 through プレナ8, and 321–326 becoming プレナ9 through プレナ14.
In 1938 four more were built by
Nippon Sharyō and fourteen more were built at Gyeongseong. In 1939 and 1941,
a total of nine were built by Kawasaki and Hitachi Kasato for the Gyeongchun Railway;
these were assembled in Korea at Sentetsu's Busan shops and numbered プレナ85 through プレナ93.
South Manchuria Railway プレサ (Puresa) class
Nineteen locomotives of the Sentetsu Purena design were 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 ...
(''Mantetsu'') in Japan in 1935. Although under the
Mantetsu classification system tank locomotive
A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank locom ...
s were generally given the "Dabu" (ダブ, from "double-ender") classification, Mantetsu instead designated these as プレサ (''Puresa'') class; eight were assigned to Mantetsu's Rajin depot for use on the
North Chosen Line, whilst the other ten were assigned to depots in
Manchukuo.
Postwar
After the end of the
Pacific War, the locomotives owned by Sentetsu and the Gyeongchun Railway were divided between
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 ''north ...
and
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
, whilst those belonging to Mantetsu were divided between North Korea and
China.
Korean National Railroad 푸러7 (Pureo7) class
Many Purena class locomotives ended up with the
Korean National Railroad after
Liberation
Liberation or liberate may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War
* "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode
* "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode
Gaming
* '' Liberati ...
, which designated them 푸러7 (''Pureo7'') class;
at least 15 are known to have been operated by the KNR.
Korean State Railway 부러치 (Purŏch'i) class/1700 series
The Sentetsu Purena class locomotives that remained in the North after the
partition of Korea were operated by the Korean State Railway, designating them 부러치 (''Purŏch'i'') class, and later renumbering them into the 1700 series around the early 1970s. Three examples, numbers 1709, 1718, and 1720, were operational at the steelworks in
Ch'ŏngjin as of November 2019, being used for tourist events.
Korean State Railway 부러서 (Purŏsŏ) class/1300 series
The nine Puresa-class locomotives that Mantetsu had assigned to its Rajin depot were taken over by the Korean State Railway after the war. They were initially designated 부러서 (''Purŏsŏ'') class - together with the
Puresa-class engines inherited from Sentetsu - and were retained in use mostly around Rajin; around the early 1970s, they were renumbered into the 1300 series, though at least one's number omitted the initial '1'.
At least two have been seen operational in the 21st century; one, 1304, was seen in 2001 doing shunting work at
Ch'ŏngjin,
while the other, 1319, is still operational as of October 2015, kept in pristine condition for use with tourist and railfan trains.
The one unit known to have omitted the initial '1', number 307, was inspected by
Kim Jong-il as a child at
Rajin Station on 6 September 1954.
This locomotive has also been depicted on a commemorative stamp issued by the DPRK postal service.
China Railways PL3 class
The ten Puresa-class engines that were used by Mantetsu in Manchukuo were taken over first by the joint Chinese-
Soviet
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 ...
"Chinese Changchun Railway" (Chinese: 中國長春鐵路, ''Zhōngguó Chǎngchūn Tiělù''; Russian: Кита́йская Чанчу́ньская желе́зная доро́га, ''Kitayskaya Chanchun'skaya Zheleznaya doroga''), which took over Mantetsu operations within China in 1945. In 1952, the Chinese Changchun Railway was
returned to China, and they were taken over by the
China Railway as class ㄆㄌ3. In 1959, they were designated class PL3, numbered 51–60.
Construction
References
{{Locomotives of China
Locomotives of Korea
Locomotives of North Korea
Locomotives of South Korea
Steam locomotives of China
Standard gauge locomotives of China
Rolling stock of Manchukuo
2-6-2 locomotives
Gyeongseong Works locomotives
Hitachi locomotives
Kawasaki locomotives
Kisha Seizo locomotives
Nippon Sharyo locomotives