The China Railways KD1 class locomotives were a class of 2-8-0 steam locomotives operated by China Railway, originally 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'') and the Manchukuo National Railway by

ALCo The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...

of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 1907 and 1908. The "Sori" name comes from the American naming system for steam locomotives, in which the 2-8-0

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 ...

is called "Consolidation".

History

After ordering two 2-8-0 tender locomotives from ALCO in 1906 which became the class H, Mantetsu returned to ALCO again for more, receiving five new engines in 1907 from ALCO's Cooke works in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Initially numbered 3 through 7, these became class H1 in the new

classification system Classification is a process related to categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood. Classification is the grouping of related facts into classes. It may also refer to: Business, organizat ...

introduced that year, under which system they were renumbered 1002 through 1006, and through the end of 1908 a total of 46 were delivered, numbered 1002–1032 and 1053–1067; they were soon renumbered 1002 through 1047. Initially used only on the mainline, from 1912 they were also used on the Anfeng Line on both goods trains and mixed trains. In 1920, another change to Mantetsu's classification system led to the H1 class becoming the Sorii class (ソリイ), whilst retaining their previous numbers. Between 1923 and 1925 they were rebuilt with superheaters, and between 1927 and 1931, seventeen were transferred to the Fushun Coal Mine. In 1931, seven were loaned to the Sitao Railway, and during the time of the Mukden Incident, some were used to pull military trains and armoured trains. In 1933, number 1002 was transferred to the

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

to be used to build a prototype for an armoured train. Between 1933 and 1936, fifteen were transferred to the Manchukuo National Railway where they were designated Sorina class (ソリナ), and between 1934 and 1936, Mantetsu assigned some to work on the North Chosen Line. With the introduction of the final new classification scheme, the Mantetsu Sorii and Manchukuo National Sorina classes were unified as the Sorii class, with the Mantetsu engines numbered 1–9, and the Manchukuo National units becoming numbers 501–515. In 1942, the engines that had been transferred to the Fushun mines were returned to Mantetsu, becoming numbers 10 through 26.

Postwar

After the end of the Pacific War, 23 Sorii class locomotives remained on the rosters of Mantetsu and Manchukuo National, with the other 18 thought to have been scrapped or transferred to other railways, including the North China Transportation Company. Of the 23, five were assigned to each of the

Jinzhou Jinzhou (, ), formerly Chinchow, is a coastal prefecture-level city in central-west Liaoning province, China. It is a geographically strategic city located in the Liaoxi Corridor, which connects most of the land transports between North Chin ...

and

Qiqihar Qiqihar () is the second-largest city in the Heilongjiang province of China, in the west central part of the province. The built-up (or metro) area made up of Longsha, Tiefeng and Jianhua districts had 959,787 inhabitants, while the total populat ...

Railway Bureaux, four to the

Mudanjiang Mudanjiang (; Manchu: ''Mudan bira''), alternately romanized as Mutankiang, is a prefecture-level city in the southeast part of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China. It was called ''Botankou'' under Japanese occupation. It serves as ...

bureau and one to the Harbin bureau, three were on loan to the Construction Office, three were on loan to other railways, with the disposition of the remaining two being unclear; these 23 were taken over by the Republic of China Railway. 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 ...

, these locomotives were designated class MK1.

References

{{Locomotives of China 2-8-0 locomotives ALCO locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1907 Steam locomotives of China Standard gauge locomotives of China Rolling stock of Manchukuo Freight locomotives