Breakthrough in Japanese Railways 3

A Short History on Training Railway
Engineers in Meiji Japan
Ichiro Tsutsumi

Overview

established at Osaka Station in 1877 by the Railway Bureau.

This article describes the training of railway engineers from a

job to become railway engineers and instructors involved

human resources development (HRD) perspective, especiallyin construction and rolling stock manufacture at railways.

foreign railway engineers hired as instructors and Japanese

The Vocational Training School gradually lost its mission as

trainees who learned railway construction and rolling-stock

graduates of the Imperial College of Engineering, an institutemanufacturing in rail’s early days in Japan. It also mentionsof higher learning affiliated with the Ministry of Public Works,

Japanese railway engineers who received special overseas

entered the Railway Bureau but it succeeded in producing 24

education and training. First, we look at railway engineers

graduates by the time it closed in 1882.

Here trainees acquired railway knowledge and skills on the

involved in the manufacture of rolling stock and how they wereFive of the many foreign instructors in railway rolling stock

trained. Then, we cover foreign railway engineers who were

manufacturing are described below; four were British andactive in the Japanese Imperial Government Railways during

one was German.

the early Meiji era (1868–82) as well as Japanese railway

Foreign Railway Engineers at Government
Railwaysengineers who trained at government works to develop theirown skills.

Training Railway Rolling Stock Engineers

Walter Mackersie Smith (1842–1906)

When railway lines were first built in Japan from 1870, foreign

Engineer (CME) for Japanese Government Railways wasrailway engineers were hired to give direct instruction to

Walter Mackersie Smith. Born in Scotland, Smith wasgovernment and private railways. British engineers provided

apprenticed as a machinist and machine installer after leaving

instruction for government railways in Honshu, Americans forschool in 1858. After gaining experience working in a factory,

government railways in Hokkaido (Horonai Railway under the

he joined Neilson & Co., a steam locomotive manufacturer

control of the Hokkaido Colonization Office), and Germans for

in Glasgow. In 1866, Smith became engineer in charge ofthe private Kyushu Railway and Sanuki Railway in Kyushu androlling stock design for the Great Eastern Railway (GER).

The Locomotive Superintendent and Chief Mechanical

Shikoku, respectively. The number of these foreign advisors

Smith arrived in Japan in 1874 and was appointed the first

who were referred to as oyatoi gaikokujin (officially hired

CME of Kobe Works of Imperial Government Railways (IGR).

foreigners) peaked at 119 in 1874 and then dropped as they

He imported many machine tools from England to build

gradually returned to their homes when their contracts withfactories that could manufacture rolling stock and various

the Japanese government expired. Many resumed working

railway items, installing the machines at the works in Kobe

as railway engineers in their own countries.

and Shimbashi. Under his instruction, a 100-passenger,

When Japan began modernizing in the early Meiji era,

four-wheel bogie, third-class, wooden coach was built inJapanese railway engineers were trained by two methods.

1876 (Fig. 1). He also instructed Japanese engineering

The first method used mostly in the pre-Meiji Edo era (1603–

trainees in techniques to convert freight steam locomotives

1868) and into the early Meiji era was to send handpicked men

into passenger train locomotives to solve the problem of ato study abroad where they could gain a technical education

shortage of steam locomotives for passenger trains on theand experience before returning to Japan. These returnees

Kyoto section of the Osaka–Kobe line opened in 1874.

included railway engineers who entered the Ministry of Public

In 1883, Smith returned to England, where he was in

Works established in 1870 as technical officials involved incharge of optimizing the rolling stock production line at therailway policymaking and construction and in rolling-stock

Gateshead Railway Works of North Eastern Railway (NER).

manufacture. The second method was to enter the Vocational

The works built many famous British steam locomotives,

Training School for Training Japanese Railway Engineers

such as the NER 4-4-0 tender locomotive No.1619 in 1885

Japan Railway & Transport Review No. 54 • Dec 200934

Breakthrough in Japanese Railways 3

based on his experience and ability. He also made greatin charge of the factory. Japanese trainees who received

contributions in technical areas such as inventing a driving

training from foreign supervisors perform all assembly andmechanism for steam locomotives.

disassembly along with iron beam manufacture and forging.

While a great railway engineer, Smith suffered fromJapanese assembly engineers have also been in charge ofvarious chronic illnesses and died in 1906. His grave is at St.

major repair of locomotives for some time.’

Andrews Cemetery in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Richard Francis Trevithick (1845–1913)
Frederic Wright (?–1888)

The third Locomotive Superintendent and CME of Kobe

The second Locomotive Superintendent and CME of theWorks was Richard Francis Trevithick, a grandson of Richard

Kobe Works was B. Frederic Wright. He was commissioned

Trevithick (1771–1833) the inventor of the high-pressure steam

as CME of the IGR Shimbashi Works in 1878, and transferred

engine and a steam locomotive incorporating a smaller version

to Kobe Works in 1883 where he worked for 5 years beforeof that engine on a bogie. Trevithick was born in Crewe where

dying in Japan in 1888. There are few records about Wright,

there was a factory of the London and North Western Railway

but the following anecdote about Japanese engineering(LNWR). After completing his apprenticeship, he started

trainees provides valuable information on their progress.

work at the LNWR Crewe Works where he improved his skills

He wrote, ‘The improvement in skills of Japanese engineer

before moving on to take charge as CME of construction attrainees is remarkable. All of the work currently being done at

the Central Argentine Railway and Ceylon National Railway.

Kobe Works, except that for one foreign assembly engineer,

When he took up his post at Kobe Works in 1888,is performed by Japanese engineer trainees. At the start inTrevithick first instructed Japanese engineer trainees on

1878, there was a foreign painter and a passenger carriages

converting freight steam engines to passenger locomotives.

assembly engineer/boiler engineer and six foreign assembly

In 1892, he instructed trainees in the manufacture of a two-

engineers. But now, two foreign foremen oversee all work.

cylinder, compound engine of his own design. CompletedThis year (1878), all passenger, goods, and other cars werein June 1893, this was the first domestically manufactured

assembled under the supervision of the Japanese foreman

steam locomotive built by Japanese. Initially named No.

Figure 1 100-passenger, Four-wheel Bogie, Third-class, Wooden Coach Built by IGR Kobe Works in 1876

CJ

KOBE.
THIRD CLASS LONG DOUBLE BOGIE.

9’ 10”

12T. 18C. 0P. 0L.
100.
45.

3’ 0”

47’ 0½”

7’ 4¼”

7’ 4¼”

29’ 6”
44’ 2½”

4’ 0”

7’ 0”

6’ 6½”

WEIGHTPERSONSN O_

43’ 9”

Source: 100 Year History of Japanese National Railways, Vol. 2

35

Japan Railway & Transport Review No. 54 • Dec 2009

221, the locomotive series was renamed No. 137, which wasFrancis Henry Trevithick (1850–1931)

subsequently changed to class 860 by the Railway Agency

Francis Henry Trevithick came to Japan in 1876 before

in 1909 (photo below). The wheels were arranged in the Meiji

his brother Richard. He worked as boiler superintendent

2-4-2 standard. Some springs, boiler injectors, pressure

at Kobe Works, and after a stint as Assistant Locomotive

gauges, vacuum gauges, ejectors, and main-frame steel

Superintendent CME at Shimbashi Works, was appointed

plates were imported from England, but the left and right

CME in 1878. Some Abt rack-and-pinion steam locomotives

cylinders, wheel sets, boiler, and other major components

built by Esslingen in Germany had been imported for thewere manufactured at Kobe Works.

Usui Pass section on the Naoetsu Line (now Shin’etsu main

Trevithick returned to England in 1904 but he had made aline and Shinano Railway) in 1893, and Trevithick confirmed

great contribution to training engineers at Kobe Works and his

the safety of these locomotives (later class 3900 with 0-6-0

standardized manufacturing system was handed on to Japanesearrangement) on the steep pass.

engineers building steam locomotives, passenger carriages andAfter teaching the manufacture of four-wheel bogie

wagons for many years. He died in England in 1913.

wooden coaches, Trevithick returned to England in 1897

His younger brother Francis Henry Trevithick, worked atwhere he died in 1931. Trevithick had many achievements,

the IGR Shimbashi Works.

but he is most famous in Japan for his Japanese Railways
Locomotives Carriages Wagons and Crossings & C. & C.
1893 that he used to teach the Trainee Draftsmen Group at

First domestically manufactured compound engine No. 221 built by IGR Kobe Works in 1892

Japan Railway & Transport Review No. 54 • Dec 2009

36

(The Railway Museum)Breakthrough in Japanese Railways 3

Shimbashi Works. His drawings are a valuable resource for

metric system in 1885. With the nationalization of 17 mainlearning about railway rolling stock at the time.

line railways, the units on Kyushu Railway were changed tofeet, yards, and pounds. But the Ministry of Railways officially

Hermann Rumschöttel (1844–1932)

adopted the metric system in 1930, returning Kyushu Railways

Hermann Rumschöttel was born in Trier, Germany, nearto the metric system.

Luxembourg. After graduating from the Prussian TechnicalTraining Master Japanese Railway
Engineers at Government Works

University, he worked for the Berlin City Railway Department,
German Railway Construction Company, and Prussian
National Railway where he was CME.
Rumschöttel was invited to take the post of CME at the

Who were the Japanese engineer trainees who contributed to

private Kyushu Railway (today’s Kagoshima Line) in 1887 andthe improvement in technical levels in the Meiji era when Japanordered steam locomotives from Hohenzollern and Krauss

was just starting to develop its own railway engineering? The

Maffei, passenger carriages and wagons from Van der Zypen

principle men were Hikozo Mori and Kichimatsu Ota of Kobe

und Charlier, and railway materials from Dortmund Union.

Works and Hiroshi Hiraoka of Shimbashi Works. They were

Rumschöttel also gave a lot of valuable advice on railway

instructed by Richard Francis Trevithick and Francis Henry

management, contributing generously to Kyushu Railway.

Trevithick, and are famous names in the history of Japanese

A four-wheel third-class, wooden coach built by Kyushu

railway engineering.

Railway’s Kokura Works in 1897 is still preserved at the redbrick Kyushu Railway History Museum (former head office ofHikozo Mori (1867–1958)

Kyushu Railway) next to Mojiko Station in Kita-Kyushu (photo

Hikozo Mori was born in Okayama Prefecture. After graduatingon pp 38). The Works manufactured it entirely domestically,

from the Imperial College of Engineering in 1881 he joinedmodelled on four-wheel bogie wooden carriages imported

IGR. In 1888, when Richard Francis Trevithick became thirdfrom Germany to deal with the severe shortage of passenger

Locomotive Superintendent and CME at Kobe Works, Mori

carriages and wagons following the expansion of rail lines.

studied rolling stock engineering and mechanical engineering

Louis Garland (mechanical engineer) and Carl Duissung

under Trevithick, participating in and completing the work to(locomotive engineer), both from Germany, provided instruction

convert two 0-6-0 tender class 7010 freight locomotives

on the manufacture. They both assisted Rumschöttel, with

to 4-4-0 tender passenger locomotives. In 1893, he was

Garland probably instructing Japanese engineering trainees

part of the team with Kichimatsu Ota building Japan’s firstin passenger carriage and wagon manufacturing.

domestically manufactured two-cylinder, compound, tank

Rumschöttel was also involved in construction of Sanuki

locomotive No. 221 (later renamed 2-4-2 class 860) making

Railway (today’s Yosan main line) and the Besshi Mine Railway

his mark in history in 1894 when running tests proved No.

in Shikoku. The Sumitomo family who owned Besshi copper

221 had comparable performance and economy to the 2-4-

mine managed the lower mining line to Niihama but the upper2 tank locomotive imported from Great Britain at the time.

track (762 mm, steam traction) was built under Rumschöttel’sMori was appointed CME of the Railway Works

directions. Louis Garland provided instruction on locomotive

Department at Kobe Works in 1900, later becoming plant

driving on the upper track. Rumschöttel also had a hand inmanager for Shimbashi Works in 1904. He moved as CME

the elevated tracks in Tokyo City, proposing the elevatedto the South Manchurian Railway in 1912 teaching rolling

line connecting Ueno Station of the private Nippon Railway

stock design and manufacturing. In 1920, he became

to the IGR’s Shimbashi Station. It later became the elevatedProfessor and Head of Nagoya Technical College (nowsection between Tokyo and Ueno of the Tohoku main line.

Nagoya Institute of Technology) where he taught engineering

Rumschöttel returned to Germany in 1897 to again work forstudents. His magnum opus is the three-volume Steamthe Prussian National Railway, later becoming president andLocomotive Engineering co-authored with Chikatsu Matsuno

chairman of the Berliner Maschinenbau Aktien-Gesellschaft(9th Shimbashi Works factory manager who succeeded(BMAG, formerly L. Schwarzkopf). He died in Berlin.

Mori in 1912). This work incorporated much English steam

Most early railways in Japan were based on technology

locomotive design and manufacturing engineering learned

from Great Britain, so the units of measurement were naturally

from Trevithick. Mori died in 1958 and his grave is at Kodairafeet, yards, and pounds. Kyushu Railway and Shikoku’s Sanuki

Cemetery in Kodaira City, Tokyo.

Railway introduced technology from Germany, but were
special cases. German railway technology was based on the

Kichimatsu Ota (?–1927)

metric system, and its introduction coincided with Japan’s

Kichimatsu Ota was from Hyogo Prefecture. During his days

adoption of the metric system when the Meiji Government

as a trainee, he honed his skills under Trevithick along withsigned the Metre Convention and officially adopted theMori, improving to a level where he could stand on his own

37Japan Railway & Transport Review No. 54 • Dec 2009

Four-wheel, third-class wooden coach built by Kyushu Railway’s Kokura Works in 1897

(Author)as a mechanical engineer through activities such as building

in steam reservoir, fed through superheater tubes in boiler

locomotive No. 221. In 1904, he transferred to the Railway

tubes where reheated, and supplied to cylinders). Six class

Works Department of Shimbashi Works where he assisted

6750s were manufactured by Kawasaki Shipyard and were

Mori. Next he transferred as an engineer to the Rolling Stock

eventually improved to become the superheated-boiler class

Manufacturing Division of Kawasaki Shipyard Company in

6760. Ota became CME at Kawasaki Shipyard in 1916, taking

1910 where he designed and manufactured the class 6700 4-

on a key role in steam locomotive design and manufacturing

4-0 passenger steam locomotive along with Railway Agency

to specifications by the Railway Agency.

Rolling Stock and Mechanical Engineering Department Chief

At the Railway Agency, Rolling Stock and MechanicalEngineer Yasujiro Shima (1870–1946) and Engineer Kiichi

Engineering Department Chief Engineer Yasujiro Shima’s

Asakura (1883–1978). The class 6700 was manufactured topolicy was for railway rolling stock repairs to be done at

replace aging 4-4-0 tender passenger locomotives imported

railway works and rolling stock manufacturing to be done atfrom Great Britain and elsewhere at the start of Japanese

private railway rolling stock manufacturers. This policy was

railways. It was a standard saturated boiler (high-temperature

introduced directly from the Prussian National Railway wheresteam generated in boiler collected in steam reservoir andShima studied at his own expense from 1903 to 1904. It was

fed directly to cylinders), using Walschaerts’ valve gear fora measure to improve private sector industrial capabilities.

the first time on the tender type locomotive in Japan. He built

The president of BMAG when Shima was studying there, wasa total of 46 locomotives at Kisha Seizo Company in Osakanone other than the famous Hermann Rumschöttel.

founded by Masaru Inoue (1843–1910) the former head of

In 1912, Ota and Kiichi Asakura designed the class 9550

the Railway Bureau and at Kawasaki Shipyard. In 1913, the2-8-0 tender freight steam locomotive. Ota also workedclass 6700 evolved into the class 6750 with superheatedon the design for the class 9580 with the same wheel

boiler (high-temperature steam generated in boiler collectedarrangement using a superheated boiler and the mass-

Japan Railway & Transport Review No. 54 • Dec 200938

Breakthrough in Japanese Railways 3Class 9600 mass-produced tender locomotive for freight transport(Author)produced class 9600 (photo above). Those designs were

the next 13 years, with a total of 770 built. It was the mainstay

based on tender steam locomotives delivered by European

freight locomotive until the mid-20th century. The design wasand American builders to Railway Agency specifications.

packed with the fruit of Ota’s years of locomotive design andFamous locomotives are the 4-6-0 class 8800 from BMAG

manufacturing engineering, and it was the pinnacle of his

in 1911 and the 4-6-0 class 8850 from Borsig. Both models

career. Ota died in 1927.

were superheated by a Schmitt superheater. The main driving
wheels of locomotives with six wheels are normally theHiroshi Hiraoka (1856–1934)

second wheels (sometimes flangeless), but the class 8850

Hiroshi Hiraoka was born in Edo (now Tokyo) as the eldest

locomotive used the first wheels for driving. The astounding

son of the Tayasu clan chief retainer Shoshichi Hiraoka.

ability to build a class 8850 in just 2 months from order to

He went to the USA in 1871 where he interned at Baldwin

delivery was talked about for generations.

Locomotive Works and elsewhere, returning to Japan in

The first class 9600 was completed in 1913. This 2-8-0

1874. In 1876, Hiraoka started to work in railway rollingsuperheated boiler locomotive has a wide fire box locatedstock manufacturing as a third-class assistant engineer atover the driving wheels, effectively making the height of thethe Shimbashi Works under Francis Henry Trevithick. He

boiler centre 102.1 inches (2594 mm) above the rails, thewas in charge of four-wheel bogie passenger carriage andlargest ever for narrow gauge. With narrow gauge, a higher

wagon design and manufacturing, learning hands-on English

locomotive centre of gravity leads to easy derailment, butpassenger carriage and wagon engineering techniques fromthis locomotive cleared the issue without problems. The

Trevithick. Based on that experience, he established his

origin of the design was the class 8850 tender locomotive

unique Japanese rolling stock manufacturing engineering,

imported from Germany. The class 9600 tender locomotive

completing the first four-wheel third-class wooden coach

was mass produced by Kawasaki Shipbuilding and others forat Shimbashi Works in 1879. Imported steel was processed

39

Japan Railway & Transport Review No. 54 • Dec 2009

for the running gear, the body was built by woodworking

Meiji Period, Transactions of the Mechanical Engineers C, Vol. 74, No. 746,
JSME, 2008.

methods in use since the Edo era (highly refined skills related

Japan Transportation Association, Short History of Railway Officers andEngineers, 1972.

to building, furniture, and Japanese boat manufacturing),
and was assembled on-site.

Ichiro Tsutsumi and Hiroshi Ikemori, Construction of the Kyushu Private Railway
in Japan and Technology Transfer from Germany, The 3rd International
Conference on Business and Technology Transfer (ICBTT2006), 2006.

With a reorganization in 1883, Hiraoka became the firstJapanese plant manager at Shimbashi Works, a position he

Yukiyoshi Kawakami, New History of Japanese Railways, Vol. 2, Tetsudo
Tosho Kankokai, 1968.

held until 1890. Further expansion of government railways
and nationalization of private railways increased demand for

Head office of Sumitomo Mine Co., The 250th History of Besshi Copper Mine,
1941.

carriages and wagons, forcing railway works to handle both
repairs and manufacturing. To accomplish the task, templatesHideo Shima, The Birth of Tokyo Central Railway Station, Kashima Publishing,1990.

needed to be standardized along with design requirements.

Ichiro Tsutsumi and Yoichi Muranaka, Some Examples of Technology Transfer
between Japan and Germany in the Meiji Period of Japan, The Journal of
Education for History of Technology, Vol. 9, No. 1 and 2, 2008.

Standardization of major components and parts was alsoessential. English-style design specifications were modified
for Japan, and passenger carriages and wagons were built

Compilation Committee of 90th History of Ohi Works of JNR, The 90th Historyof Ohi Works of JNR, JNR, 1963.

based on these specifications at government works andprivate rolling stock manufacturers.

Hikozo Mori and Chikatsu Matsuno, Steam Locomotive Engineering, Vol. 1-3,
Okura Publishing, 1910.

Hiraoka resigned his position at Shimbashi Works in1890 to establish Hiraoka Works within the Tokyo Arsenal in
Koishikawa for manufacture of both railway rolling stock andmachinery. Passenger carriage and wagon manufacturing
technology amassed over the years at Shimbashi Works
was applied rigorously to his designs and manufacturing,which became famous for originality and creativity, earning
him membership of Great Britain’s Institute of MechanicalEngineers (I.Mech.E.) in 1897. Hiraoka is buried at Honkyuji
Temple in Sumida Ward, Tokyo.

Notes on Locomotive Designs andTechnical Terms
Steam locomotive wheel arrangement is expressed as
the number of leading wheels, driving wheels, and trailingwheels in that order from the front of the locomotive. Wheel
arrangement is used in this article, but another method is axle
arrangement. Axle arrangement is expressed as the numberof leading axles, driving axles, and trailing axles in that orderfrom the front. For example, a 2-4-0 wheel arrangement is
a 1-2-0 axle arrangement. Steam locomotives are either
tank or tender type. Tank locomotives have a water tankand coal bunker in the locomotive body, with the water tankon both sides of the boiler (side tank), on top of the boiler(saddle tank, pannier tank), between the main frames (welltank, bottom tank), or behind the cab (rear tank). Some

Ichiro Tsutsumi

locomotives have combinations. The coal bunker is on both

Dr Tsutsumi is a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Vocational
Training, Polytechnic University of Japan. Prior to his current position,
he was a Senior Researcher at the Japan Institute of Labour (JIL). He
earned a doctorate degree in the history of technology from Ashikaga
Institute of Technology in 2009. His major publications include: Railway,
An Ensign of Japanese Modernization, Yamakawa Publishing, 2001,
JSHIT, Cyclopaedia of History of Japanese Industrial Technology,
Shibunkaku Publishing Co. 2007, and Wooden Carriage Manufactureof Japanese Imperial Government Railway Works and Japanese
Railway Engineer Cultivation in the Meiji Period, Transactions of the
JSME (C),Vol.74, No.746, (2008).

sides of the boiler or behind the cab. Tender locomotives
have a tender for water and coal behind the locomotive.

Further Reading
Ichiro Tsutsumi, Railway, An Ensign of Japanese Modernization, Yamakawa
Publishing, 2001.
Ichiro Tsutsumi, Wooden Carriage Manufacture of Japanese Imperial
Government Railway Works and Japanese Railway Engineer Cultivation in theJapan Railway & Transport Review No. 54 • Dec 200940