The Purei-class (プレイ) locomotives were a group of steam tank locomotives with

2-6-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels, six coupled driving wheels and two trailing wheels. This arrangement is commonly called a Prairie. Overview The major ...

wheel arrangement used by the Chosen Government Railway (''Sentetsu'') in Korea. The "Pure" name came from the American naming system for steam locomotives, under which locomotives with 2-6-2 wheel arrangement were called "Prairie". In all, Sentetsu owned 227 locomotives of all Pure classes, whilst privately owned railways owned another 52; of these 279 locomotives, 169 went to the

Korean National Railroad The Korea Railroad Corporation (Korean: 한국철도공사, Hanja: ), branded as KORAIL (코레일, officially changed to in November 2019), is the national railway operator in South Korea. Currently, KORAIL is a public corporation, managed ...

in South Korea and 110 to the Korean State Railway in North Korea.

Description

The first 18 Prairie-type locomotives delivered to Korea were built for the

Gyeongbu Railway The Gyeongbu Line (''Gyeongbuseon'') is a railway line in South Korea and is considered to be the most important and one of the oldest ones in the country. It was constructed in 1905, connecting Seoul with Busan via Suwon, Daejeon, and Daegu. ...

by the

Baldwin Locomotive Works The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades t ...

of the United States,푸러형 증기기관차(탱크식)를 알아보자.
2 December 2012 (in Korean) with the first units arriving in 1901; they were numbered simply 1 through 18. A further 52 were delivered in 1906 to the

Temporary Military Railway The Temporary Military Railway Office ( Japanese: 臨時軍用鐵道幹部, ''Rinji Gun'yō Tetsudōkanbu''; Korean: 임시 군용 철도감부, ''Imsi Gunyong Cheoldoganbu''), was a pseudo-corporate entity established by the Imperial Japanese ...

, of which 48 were assigned to the Gyeongui Line and four to the Masan Line. These were delivered from Baldwin in knockdown form, and were assembled in Korea by the Gyeom-ipo and Incheon Shops. The Gyeongbu Railway was nationalised to create the Chosen Government Railway on 1 July 1906, and the Temporary Military Railway was absorbed by Sentetsu on 31 August 1906, and all 70 of these locomotives entered service with Sentetsu. Seven were subsequently transferred to private railways, though all but one eventually returned to Sentetsu. They were used by Sentetsu on both passenger and freight trains all over Korea. From 1925, a number were rebuilt to Pureshi class for operation with domestic

lignite Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

. 24 Purei-class locomotives remained unrebuilt, and these were numbered 221 through 254. Only 23 were left in service at the time of Sentetsu's 1938 general renumbering; these were renumbered プレイ1 through プレイ23 at that time.

Postwar

After the

Liberation Liberation or liberate may refer to: Film and television * ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War * "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode * "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode Gaming * '' Liberati ...

and

partition of Korea The division of Korea began with the defeat of Japan in World War II. During the war, the Allied leaders considered the question of Korea's future after Japan's surrender in the war. The leaders reached an understanding that Korea would be li ...

, they were divided between North and

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

, but the specifics of which engine went where are unclear.

Korean National Railroad 푸러1 (Pureo1) class

At least four Purei-class locomotives ended up with the

in the South after the division of Sentetsu's motive power following the partition of the country; these were designated 푸러1 (''Pureo1'') class by the KNR.

Korean State Railway 부러하 (Purŏha) class/1100 series

The locomotives taken over by the Korean State Railway in the North were initially designated 부러하 (''Purŏha'') class; they were later renumbered in the 1100 series. The total number, their service lives and subsequent fates are unknown.

References

{{DPRKloco Locomotives of Korea Locomotives of North Korea Locomotives of South Korea Railway locomotives introduced in 1901 2-6-2 locomotives Baldwin locomotives Locomotives of Korea under Japanese rule