JGR Class Ke 145

The JGR Class Ke 145 (originally the Chiba Prefectural Railway Class 3) was a 0-4-2T Olomana-type narrow gauge side-well tank steam locomotive operated by the Chiba Prefectural Railway and later other railway companies from 1912 to May 1941.
==History==
The Class Ke 145 was an early steam locomotive used in Japan. This class of locomotive was manufactured by Orenstein & Koppel for the Chiba Prefectural Railway in 1912, with two locomotives manufactured; these were classified as the Class 3 and numbered 1 and 2. A similar class of three locomotives were manufactured for the Yabakei Railway in 1913; these were numbered 1 through 3. It is stated in O&K's documents that the initial two locomotives were delivered to the Yabakei Railway; this is likely because the importer transferred the locomotives for use on the Chiba Prefectural Railway due to a last-minute order, with the Yabakei Railway ordering three additional locomotives of the same type as a result.
The Chiba Prefectural Railway locomotives were used mainly on the Kururi Line (now the East Japan Railway Company Kururi Line); when the Chiba Prefectural Railway was nationalized on 27 August 1923, the locomotives came under the ownership of the Japanese Government Railways, with both locomotives reclassified as the Class Ke 145 and renumbered Ke 145 and Ke 146. Both locomotives were used on the Kururi Line until 20 August 1930 with the completion of regauging works on the Kururi Line; they were soon after stored at Chiba Locomotive Depot before being struck off the register on 16 September 1931 and scrapped at Shin-Koiwa Works.
The three Yabakei Railway locomotives would also be transferred to other companies. 3 was scrapped in 1927 following a rockfall accident, 2 was resold to the Toyoshū Railway (later Ōita Kōtsū's Toyoshū Line) in 1933 and renumbered 10 and 1 to the Sasebo Railway in March 1935, where it was renumbered 21; when 21 was transferred it was damaged and new side tanks were built. When the railway was nationalized on 1 October 1936, 21 also came under the ownership of the JGR; it was reclassified as the Class Ke 703 and renumbered as such. Ke 703 would be used until May 1941 before regauging works were complete.
No Class Ke 145 locomotives have been preserved.
==References==
Category:Locomotives
Category:JR Group trains
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:0-4-2 steam locomotives
Category:0-4-2T locomotives
Category:O&K locomotives
Category:Chiba Prefectural Railway locomotives
Category:Sasebo locomotives
Category:Yabakei locomotives
Category:Four-coupled locomotives
Category:0-4-2 locomotives
Category:0-4-2T steam locomotives
Category:Japanese locomotives
Category:Japanese steam locomotives