JGR Class 45

The JGR Class 45 (originally the Kyushu Railway Class 1) was a 0-4-0T Switcher-type side-well tank steam locomotive operated by the Japanese Government Railways from 1889 to 1963.
==History==
The Class 45 was an early steam locomotive operated in Japan. The type was ordered by the Kyushu Railway, with three locomotives built by Hohenzollern Locomotive Works in Germany in 1889 and imported into Japan. The locomotives were assigned the Class 1 and numbered 1 to 3; these were the Kyushu Railway's first locomotives. The locomotives entered service the same year and were initially used for the construction of the line, and then subsequently for switching duties. These locomotives were ultimately chosen by the management of Kyushu Railway after consultation with pioneering railroad engineer Hermann Rumschöttel; the initial designation of Class 1 was ultimately a retrospective designation as the trains didn't need one at the time since they were the only types running on the railroad then. The locomotives featured both side and well tanks.
After the Railway Nationalization Act was passed in 1909, the locomotives were reclassified as the Class 45 and were as such renumbered 45 through 47. The locomotives were retired on the JGR between 1916 and 1917 and were transferred to the Yahata Steel Works where they saw out the rest of their careers, having been renumbered to 202 to 205, then 220, 224 and 225. The locomotives were retired on the steelworks around 1962. An effort was made to preserve Kyushu's first locomotive but it ultimately failed, with the last locomotive stranded in a rice field and scrapped on the spot. No Class 45s have been preserved. To date, these and the related Class 60s remain the only trains purchased from the Hohenzollern Locomotive Works.
==References==
Category:Locomotives
Category:JR Group trains
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:0-4-0 locomotives
Category:0-4-0 steam locomotives
Category:0-4-0T locomotives
Category:Hohenzollern locomotives
Category:Kyushu Railway trains
Category:Scrapped locomotives
Category:Japanese locomotives
Category:Japanese steam locomotives
Category:Side tank locomotives
Category:Built in 1889
Category:Scrapped steam locomotives
Category:Well tank locomotives