The Mikai-class (ミカイ) locomotives were a group of steam tender locomotives 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. Of all Mika classes, 131 went to the Korean National Railroad in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

and 292 to 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 ...

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 Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

. Of these 423 locomotives, 356 were from Sentetsu; the other 67 were

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 ...

Mikai-class engines on loan to Sentetsu along with Mika-type locomotives which had previously belonged to the twelve privately owned railways in Korea before 1945. Not included in this number, however, are the six SMR Mikai-class locomotives that were assigned to SMR's Rajin depot for operation on SMR's lines in northeastern Korea, and the eight SMR Mikaro-class locomotives likewise assigned to the Rajin depot; these fourteen locomotives were 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.

Description

By the late 1910s, existing multipurpose locomotives were proving insufficient for the increasingly heavy freight trains being run in Korea. To fill the need for dedicated freight locomotives, in 1919 Sentetsu imported twelve Mikai-class and twelve Mikani-class locomotives from 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 1919. The Mikai class was one of the original two groups of 2-8-2 locomotives to be delivered to Sentetsu in 1919, the other being the Mikani class built 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 ...

. Built by Baldwin in 1919, the Mikai class were used primarily on the

Gyeongui Line The Gyeongui Line is a railway line between Seoul Station and Dorasan Station in Paju. Korail operates the Seoul Metropolitan Subway service between Seoul Station and Dorasan Station. History ''For the original line's history and other infor ...

. Originally numbered ミカイ701-ミカイ712, in Sentetsu's general renumbering of 1938 they became ミカイ1-ミカイ12

Postwar

After the division of Sentetsu's assets in 1948, three remained 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 ...

with the

as class 미가하 (''Migaha'') and later renumbered in the 6000 series, and nine in the South with the Korean National Railroad as class 미카1 (''Mika1''); Some of the KNR's Mika1s were rebuilt in the early 1950s by Kawasaki to use lignite as fuel, becoming the KNR Mika6 (미카6) class. Both the KNR and the Korean State Railway operated Mikai class locomotives that formerly belonged to the

(''Mantetsu''). These were very distinct from the Sentetsu Mikai class, but in both North and South they were grouped together with the Sentetsu Mikais as class Migaha and Mika1 respectively.

Construction

References

{{DPRKloco Locomotives of Korea Locomotives of South Korea Locomotives of North Korea Railway locomotives introduced in 1919 2-8-2 locomotives Baldwin locomotives