Nangū Light Railway Class 3

The Nangū Light Railway Class 3 was a 0-6-0T Switcher-type narrow gauge side tank steam locomotive operated by the Nangū Light Railway and later other railway companies from 1916 to October 1938.
==History==
The Class 3 was an early steam locomotive used in Japan. A single locomotive was manufactured by the Kawasaki Shipyards in March 1916; it was numbered 3.
Three locomotives were initially scheduled to be manufactured, but due to budget cuts this order was reduced to two locomotives; further specification changes caused the number of locomotives to be reduced to a single locomotive. 3 was delivered in 1915 and entered service the same year. In 1916 the Nangū Light Railway was renamed the Ōsumi Railway, with the locomotive remaining in service under its new operator.
When the Ōsumi Railway was nationalized on 1 June 1935, the locomotive came under the ownership of the Japanese Government Railways, where it was reclassified as the Class Ke 270 and renumbered as such. Ke 270 was taken out of service on 10 October 1938 when the Ehime Line was regauged and withdrawn in May 1939.
Six similar locomotives were built for use in sugar companies in Taiwan; four locomotives would be used by Dainippon Sugar's Taiwanese branches (S/N 13, 14, 219, 220), one by Lin Ben Yuan Sugar Co. (S/N 251) and one, numbered 8 (S/N 398), by Taiwan Sugar; the numbers of the remaining locomotives are not known. The locomotive operated by Lin Ben Yuan Sugar Co. was brokered by Kusunoki Seisakushō back to Japan, rebuilt and resold to the Ehime Railway in 1920, where it was renumbered 4. When the Ehime Railway was nationalized on 1 October 1933, the locomotive was also acquired by the JGR, reclassified as the Class Ke 260 and renumbered as such. Ke 260 would be used until around end-1936 or early-1937 with gauge conversion works on the line completed.
No Class 3 locomotives have been preserved.
==References==
Category:Locomotives
Category:JR Group trains
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:0-6-0 steam locomotives
Category:0-6-0T locomotives
Category:Kawasaki locomotives
Category:Ehime locomotives
Category:Ōsumi locomotives
Category:Six-coupled locomotives
Category:0-6-0 locomotives
Category:0-6-0T steam locomotives
Category:Japanese locomotives
Category:Japanese steam locomotives