The Class D50 is a type of

2-8-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and two trailing wheel ...

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 ...

built by the

Japanese Government Railways The Japanese Government Railways (JGR) was the national railway system directly operated by the Japanese Ministry of Railways ( ja, 鉄道省, Tetsudō-shō, ) until 1949. It was a predecessor of Japanese National Railways and the later Japan Rai ...

(JGR), the

Japanese National Railways The abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pref ...

(JNR) and various manufacturers from 1923 to 1931. The class name indicates that the locomotive has four sets of driving wheels (D) and belongs to one of the classes of

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 ...

allocated a number in the series 50 to 99 in the Japan Railways locomotive numbering and classification scheme of 1928.

Hideo Shima was a Japanese engineer and the driving force behind the building of the first bullet train (Shinkansen). Shima was born in Osaka in 1901, and educated at the Tokyo Imperial University, where he studied Mechanical Engineering. His father was p ...

designed the rest of the Class until 1931. The design of the D50 was based on the

JNR Class 9600 The is a type of 2-8-0 steam locomotive built by Japanese Government Railways (JGR, after-day Japanese National Railways (JNR)) from 1913. The Class 9600 was the first type of locomotive to be mass-produced by Japanese manufacturers. The Class ...

which was introduced in 1916. A total of 380 Class D50 locomotives were built. Between 1951 and 1956 78 were rebuilt to Class D60 2-8-4 Berkshire’s by the JNR . This class would later form the

JNR Class D51 The is a type of 2-8-2 steam locomotive built by the Japanese Government Railways (JGR), the Japanese National Railways (JNR), and Kawasaki Heavy Industries Rolling Stock Company, Kisha Seizo, Hitachi, Nippon Sharyo, Mitsubishi, and Mitsubi ...

Service in China

Manchukuo National Railway

In 1923, sixteen D50 class locomotives were exported to the Jichang Jidun Railway in

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

, which designated them class 500 and numbered 501 through 516. Ten were built by Kawasaki (works nos. 970−971, 1140−1170) and six by Kisha Seizō (w/n 965−970), and though very similar to the Japanese D50 class, there were some slight differences in dimensions due to the larger loading gauge on Chinese lines. After the establishment of

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...

, the Jichang Jidun Railway was nationalised along with other private railways to form 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' ...

. The MNR classified these Mikana (ミカナ) class, numbered 6540−6555, renumbered 501−516 in 1938.小熊米雄「満州のD50―吉長、吉敦鉄路の500形について」交友社『鉄道ファン』 No.22 April 1963, pp.45-47 After the establishment of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, China Railways designated them ㄇㄎ₅ (MK₅) class in 1951,中国铁道部1951年2月版《机车概要表》 and subsequently 解放₅ (JF₅) class in 1959.

Central China Railway

In 1939, D50 193 was converted to standard gauge and shipped to the

Central China Railway The Central China Railway (Japanese: 華中鉄道株式会社, ''Kachū Tetsudō Kabushiki Kaisha''; Chinese: 華中鐵道股份有限公司, ''Huázhōng Tiědào Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī'') was a railway company in Japanese-occupied China est ...

, in the mainland Republic Of China where it operated primarily between

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. This engine lasted in service on China Railways until 1955 in the

PRC China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

.中国蒸汽機車世紀集影 (Centennial Collection of Chinese Steam Locomotives), China Railway Publishing House, July 2001, (in Chinese)

China Railways

After the establishment of the

, all the railways of China were taken over 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 ...

, which classified the D50s as ㄇㄎ₁₆ (MK₁₆) class in 1951, later becoming class 解放₁₆(JF₁₆).

Preserved examples

Two D50s are preserved in Japan. * D50 25　Park in

Kitami, Hokkaido is a city in Okhotsk Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the most populous city and the commercial center in the subprefecture, although the subprefecture capital is Abashiri. Kitami is physically in the middle of Okhotsk Subprefecture. Th ...

* D50 140 At the

Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum The (formerly the until 2016) is a railway museum in Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan. The original Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum opened in 1972, but was expanded and modernized in 2016, becoming the Kyoto Railway Museum. The museum is owned by We ...

in Kyoto File:JNR D50 25.JPG, D50 25 in Kitami, Hokkaido File:JNR SL D50140.jpg, D50 140 at Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum

References