The China Railways TH10 class

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

was a class of

4-6-0 A 4-6-0 steam locomotive, under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, has four leading wheels on two axles in a leading bogie and six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles with the abse ...

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 ...

. Originally amongst the first locomotives ordered by the South Manchuria Railway (''Mantetsu''), they were later operated by the privately owned

Jichang Jidun Railway Jichang, may refer to: Town * Jichang (Shuicheng County), a rural town in Shuicheng County, Guizhou, China * Jichang (Qinglong County), a rural town in Qinglong County, Guizhou, China Garden * Jichang Garden (Chinese: 寄畅园), a garden in Xih ...

and its successor, 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' ...

, which designated them Tehoni class. The "Teho" name came from the American naming system for steam locomotives, under which locomotives with 4-6-0 wheel arrangement were called "Ten-Wheeler". These locomotives should not be confused with the Mantetsu Tehoni class engines, which were reclassified Tehoi class in 1938.

History

After rebuilding its lines to standard gauge in 1906, Mantetsu needed new locomotives, and placed several orders with

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

builders. One of these orders was placed with ALCO for four 4-4-0 (Amei class) and two 4-6-0 passenger locomotives. These were initially numbered 100 and 101, and with the introduction of Mantetsu's 1907 classification system, they were designated class F and renumbered 600 and 601. These four locomotives were originally built for an American customer but delivered to Manchuria instead; according to Mantetsu records, the original customer was the Boston & Maine Railroad, but according to ALCO records, they were - like the Amei class 4-4-0s - originally built for the Chicago Southern Railway (later part of the

Milwaukee Road The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States, Midwest and Pacific Northwest, Northwest of the United States fr ...

. After brief use on the main line, they were used for mixed trains and goods trains on the Anfeng Line between Fengtian and

Andong Andong () is a city in South Korea, and the capital of North Gyeongsang Province. It is the largest city in the northern part of the province with a population of 167,821 as of October 2010. The Nakdong River flows through the city. Andong is a m ...

. Mantetsu found it inconvenient to operate a class of only two locomotives, so in 1918 they were both transferred to the Jichang Railway, which in 1931 merged with the Jidun Railway to form the

, where they were numbered 200 and 201. In 1933, the

was created through the nationalisation and merger of several privately owned railways, including the Jichang-Jidun Railway, and these locomotives passed on to the Manchukuo National, which classified them Tehoni (テホニ) class, numbered 5621 and 5622, becoming Tehoni 501 and 502 in 1938.

Postwar

Both were taken over by the Republic of China Railway 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 ...

. Following the establishment of the People's Republic and the current

, they were designated class ㄊㄏ十 (TH10) in 1951, becoming class TH10 (written in

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

instead of Zhuyin) in 1959.

References

{{Locomotives of China 4-6-0 locomotives ALCO locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1906 Steam locomotives of China Standard gauge locomotives of China Rolling stock of Manchukuo Passenger locomotives