The Purero-class (プレロ) locomotives were a group of steam tank locomotives with

2-6-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels, six coupled driving wheels and two trailing wheels. This arrangement is commonly called a Prairie. Overview The major ...

wheel arrangement of used by the Chosen Government Railway (''Sentetsu'') in Korea. 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 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 and 110 to the Korean State Railway in North Korea.

Description

Orenstein & Koppel Orenstein & Koppel (normally abbreviated to "O&K") was a major Germany, German engineering company specialising in railway vehicles, escalators, and heavy equipment. It was founded on April 1, 1876 in Berlin by Benno Orenstein and Arthur Koppel. ...

of Germany built two superheated 2-6-2 tank locomotives in 1911 which were operated by the privately owned

Domun Railway The Tomon Railway Company (Japanese: 図們鉄道株式会社, ''Tomon Tetsudo Kabushiki Kaisha''; Korean: 도문철도주식회사, ''Domun Cheoldo Jusikhoesa''), was a privately owned railway company in Japanese-occupied Korea. History The To ...

after 1920. Both were taken over by Sentetsu after the nationalisation of the Domun Railway in 1929; after the general renumbering of 1938 they were designated プレロ (''Purero'') class and numbered プレロ1 and プレロ2.

Postwar: Korean State Railway 부러유 (Purŏyu) class

After the

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 ...

and

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 ...

, both ended up in North Korea after Liberation, and were operated by the Korean State Railway designated 부러유 (''Purŏyu'') class.

References

{{DPRKloco Locomotives of Korea under Japanese rule Locomotives of North Korea Railway locomotives introduced in 1911 2-6-2 locomotives Orenstein & Koppel locomotives Freight locomotives