The Mika (Japanese ミカ, Korean 미카) type was made up of four distinct classes of
steam 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, s ...
s of the
Chosen Government Railway
Chosen or The Chosen may refer to:
The chosen ones
*Chosen people, people who believe they have been chosen by a higher power to do a certain thing including
** Jews as the chosen people
Books
* ''The Chosen'' (Potok novel), a 1967 novel by Chaim ...
(''Sentetsu'') with
2-8-2 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 ...
. The "Mika" name came from the
American naming system for steam locomotives, under which locomotives with 2-8-2 wheel arrangement were called "Mikado" in honour of the
Emperor of Japan
The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his position is derived from "the ...
, as the first 2-8-2 locomotives in the world were built for
Japan.
There were four classes of the Mika type built for Sentetsu:
*
Mikai
*
Mikani
*
Mikasa
Mikasa ( ja, 三笠) may refer to:
Businesses
* Mikasa Sports, a sporting goods manufacturer
* Mikasa & Company, a brand of tableware and food utensils
Places
* Mikasa, Hokkaido, Japan
* Mikasa Park, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan
* Mount Wakakusa ...
*
Mikashi
Of these, the Mikasa class was by far the most numerous. The Mikasa class was also used by the privately owned
West Chosen Central Railway in Korea, and some were also exported to the
Central China Railway, which after the war were used by the
China Railway. Following the
partition of Korea, these locomotives were all divided between the
Korean National Railroad in the
South and 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 Pyongyang, P'yŏngyang. The current Minister of Railways is Chang Jun Song.
History
...
in the
North
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north ...
;
In addition to the four classes built for Sentetsu, Sentetsu also operated around 54
Mantetsu Mikai-class locomotives taken on loan from 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
Of all Mika classes in Korea, including the 54 on loan to Sentetsu from Mantetsu and 13 owned by private railways, 131 went to the KNR and 292 to the Korean State Railway.
[Korean National RR_MIKA-1 2-8-2_Don's Rail Photos](_blank)
/ref> Note that this number does not include the 14 Mantetsu Mikai and 8 Mikaro-class locomotives that were assigned to Mantetsu's Rajin depot in 1945 and were subsequently taken over by the Korean State Railway.
Despite the DPRK government's extensive anti-Japanese propaganda, the railway nevertheless continues to use the "Mika" name officially for these locomotives even though it refers to the Japanese emperor.
References
{{Sentetsu rolling stock
Locomotives of Korea
Locomotives of South Korea
Locomotives of North Korea
2-8-2 locomotives