The China Railways PL3 (プレニ3, Pureni, "pure") class steam locomotive was a class of

2-6-2T T, or t, is the twentieth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is d ...

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

s for freight trains operated by the

China Railway China State Railway Group Co., Ltd., doing business as China Railway (CR), is the national passenger and freight railroad corporation of the China, People's Republic of China. China Railway operates passenger and freight Rail transport in Chi ...

and the

Chosen Government Railway Chosen or The Chosen may refer to: Books * ''The Chosen'' (Potok novel), a 1967 novel by Chaim Potok * ''The Chosen'', a 1997 novel by L. J. Smith * ''The Chosen'' (Pinto novel), a 1999 novel by Ricardo Pinto * ''The Chosen'' (Karabel book), a b ...

(''Sentetsu'') in

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

. 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 () is the national railway operator in South Korea. It is branded as KORAIL () and changed its official Korean name () in November 2019. Currently, KORAIL is a public corporation, managed by Ministry of Land, ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and 110 to the

Korean State Railway The Korean State Railway is the operating arm of the Ministry of Railways of North Korea (), commonly called the State Rail () and has its headquarters at Pyongyang, P'yŏngyang. The current Minister of Railways is Chang Jun-song. History 19 ...

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 borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

Description

Locomotives of this design were built for the Minami-Chosen Railway in Korea, the Chosen Government Railway, and the privately owned Gyeongchun Railway in Korea, as well as for the

South Manchuria Railway The South Manchuria Railway (; ), officially , Mantetsu () or Mantie () for short, was a large of the Empire of Japan whose primary function was the operation of railways on the Dalian– Fengtian (Mukden)–Changchun (called Xinjing from ...

Chosen Government Railway プレナ (Purena) class

The プレナ (''Purena'') class locomotive was designed by the Railway Bureau based on the experiences gained through the design of modifications leading to the Pureshi-class rebuilds, and differed considerably from the imported Pure classes. The first eight were built for the Minami-Chosen Railway, with Hitachi's Kasato factory and Kawasaki each building four units; these were bought by Sentetsu in 1936 and numbered 341-348. The design was then modified to include a superheater, but the resulting design retained the "Purena" classification; the two subclasses were thenceforward referred to as the "Original Purena" and "Bureau Purena" (局プリナ) classes. The first six Bureau Purena locomotives were built for Sentetsu in 1931 by the Gyeongseong Works; these were numbered 321 through 326. The 14 locomotives of both Purena subtypes were lumped together in Sentetsu's general renumbering of 1938, with 341–348 becoming プレナ1 through プレナ8, and 321–326 becoming プレナ9 through プレナ14. In 1938 four more were built by Nippon Sharyō and fourteen more were built at Gyeongseong. In 1939 and 1941, a total of nine were built by Kawasaki and Hitachi Kasato for the Gyeongchun Railway; these were assembled in Korea at Sentetsu's Busan shops and numbered プレナ85 through プレナ93.

South Manchuria Railway プレサ (Puresa) class

Nineteen locomotives of the Sentetsu Purena design were built for the

(''Mantetsu'') in Japan in 1935. Although under the Mantetsu classification system

tank locomotive A tank locomotive is a steam locomotive which carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender (rail), tender. Most tank engines also have Fuel bunker, bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a #Tender ...

s were generally given the "Dabu" (ダブ, from "double-ender") classification, Mantetsu instead designated these as プレサ (''Puresa'') class; eight were assigned to Mantetsu's Rajin depot for use on the North Chosen Line, whilst the other ten were assigned to depots in

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...

Postwar

After the end of the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...

, the locomotives owned by Sentetsu and the Gyeongchun Railway were divided between

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 (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

, whilst those belonging to Mantetsu were divided between North Korea and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Korean National Railroad 푸러7 (Pureo7) class

Many Purena class locomotives ended up with the

after

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 ...

, which designated them 푸러7 (''Pureo7'') class; at least 15 are known to have been operated by the KNR. All have since been scrapped.

Korean State Railway 부러치 (Purŏch'i) class/1700 series

The Sentetsu Purena class locomotives that remained in the North after the

partition of Korea The division of Korea began at the end of World War II on 2 September 1945, with the establishment of a Soviet occupation zone and a US occupation zone. These zones developed into separate governments, named the Democratic People's Republic of ...

were operated by the Korean State Railway, designating them 부러치 (''Purŏch'i'') class, and later renumbering them into the 1700 series around the early 1970s. Three examples, numbers 1709, 1718, and 1720, were operational at the steelworks in Ch'ŏngjin as of November 2019, being used for tourist events.

Korean State Railway 부러서 (Purŏsŏ) class/1300 series

The nine Puresa-class locomotives that Mantetsu had assigned to its Rajin depot were taken over by the Korean State Railway after the war. They were initially designated 부러서 (''Purŏsŏ'') class - together with the Puresa-class engines inherited from Sentetsu - and were retained in use mostly around Rajin; around the early 1970s, they were renumbered into the 1300 series, though at least one's number omitted the initial '1'. At least two have been seen operational in the 21st century; one, 1304, was seen in 2001 doing shunting work at Ch'ŏngjin, while the other, 1319, is still operational as of October 2015, kept in pristine condition for use with tourist and railfan trains. The one unit known to have omitted the initial '1', number 307, was inspected by

Kim Jong-il Kim Jong Il (born Yuri Kim; 16 February 1941 or 1942 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from the death of his father Kim Il Sung in 1994 until his death in 2011, when he was ...

as a child at Rajin Station on 6 September 1954. This locomotive has also been depicted on a commemorative stamp issued by the DPRK postal service.

China Railways PL3 class

The ten Puresa-class engines that were used by Mantetsu in Manchukuo were taken over first by the joint Chinese-

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

"Chinese Changchun Railway" (Chinese: 中國長春鐵路, ''Zhōngguó Chǎngchūn Tiělù''; Russian: Кита́йская Чанчу́ньская желе́зная доро́га, ''Kitayskaya Chanchun'skaya Zheleznaya doroga''), which took over Mantetsu operations within China in 1945. In 1952, the Chinese Changchun Railway was returned to China, and they were taken over by the

as class ㄆㄌ3. In 1959, they were designated class PL3, numbered 51–60.

Construction

References

{{Locomotives of China Locomotives of Korea under Japanese rule Locomotives of North Korea Steam locomotives of South Korea Steam locomotives of China Standard-gauge locomotives of China Rolling stock of Manchukuo 2-6-2T locomotives Gyeongseong Works locomotives Hitachi locomotives Kawasaki locomotives Kisha Seizo locomotives Nippon Sharyo locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1930