The Saebyŏl-class ( ko, 새별 ''Saebyŏl'', "New Star") is a medium-duty diesel-hydraulic

shunting locomotive A switcher, shunter, yard pilot, switch engine, yard goat, or shifter is a small railroad locomotive used for manoeuvring railroad cars inside a rail yard in a process known as ''switching'' (US) or ''shunting'' (UK). Switchers are not inten ...

built by the

Kim Chong-t'ae Electric Locomotive Works The Kim Chong-t'ae Electric Locomotive Works () in P'yŏngyang is North Korea's largest manufacturer of railway equipment. Established in November 1945 in Sŏsŏng-guyŏk, P'yŏngyang near the P'yŏngyang Railway University and the Korean Stat ...

for 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 P'yŏngyang. The current Minister of Railways is Chang Jun Song. History 1945–195 ...

. The Saebyŏl-class locomotives have a centrecab body design, with a full-width cab offset from the centre towards the rear of the locomotive and external walkways along the engine compartment hoods, and are slightly larger than the

Red Flag Red flag may refer to: * Red flag (idiom), a metaphor for something signalling a problem ** Red flag warning, a term used by meteorologists ** Red flag (battle ensign), maritime flag signaling an intention to give battle with no quarter (fight to ...

-class shunters. They are powered by a

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

with a

hydrokinetic transmission A torque converter is a type of fluid coupling that transfers rotating power from a prime mover, like an internal combustion engine, to a rotating driven load. In a vehicle with an automatic transmission, the torque converter connects the power ...

, and have a Bo-Bo wheel arrangement. Numbered in the 3000 series, they are painted overall dark green with a yellow stripe. Possibly over 200 have been built; they are used primarily for shunting works in mainline stations 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 Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

, and can frequently be seen on the

P'yŏngŭi Line The P'yŏngŭi Line is an electrified main trunk line of the Korean State Railway of North Korea, running from P'yŏngyang to Sinŭiju on the border with China.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō), It is the main co ...

and other mainlines. The class name, if written in

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

, is 新星. In this case, these hanja are read as ''saebyŏl'' (새별, "New Star"; however, the Soviet-built K62 (M62)-class locomotives have the class name ''Sinsŏng'' (신성, "Nova"), which are written with the same hanja. In practice this is not an issue, as the use of Chinese characters to write Korean is officially discouraged in the DPRK.

Electric shunters

An unknown number of Saebyŏl-class diesel shunters have been converted to 3,000 V DC electric operation by the removal of the diesel engine and the addition of pantographs and other necessary equipment; this work was carried out at the Kim Chong-t'ae Works. The rebuilt units retain their original number and paint.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saebyol-class locomotive Standard gauge locomotives of North Korea Kim Chong-tae Works locomotives Bo-Bo locomotives Shunting locomotives