Kusatsu Light Railway No. 7

Kusatsu Light Railway No. 7 was a 0-6-0WT Switcher-type narrow gauge well tank steam locomotive operated by the Kusatsu Light Railway and later other railway companies from 1920 to August 1943.
==History==
No. 7 was manufactured in September 1920 by Amemiya Seisakusho, a locomotive manufacturer based in Tokyo specialized in the manufacture of tank locomotives. Its serial number is unknown. No. 7 was manufactured for the Kusatsu Light Railway, a predecessor of the Kusakaru Electric Railway; it was of a standard design by Amemiya Seisakusho. It featured a similar design to the Ke 237 and 239 locomotives but with a shorter boiler.
The Kusakaru Electric Railway withdrew this locomotive from service in January 1934. It was then acquired by the Sasebo Railway and renumbered 16; in between that time Amemiya Seisakusho performed some repair works on the locomotive. When the railway was nationalized on 1 October 1936, 16 came under the ownership of the Japanese Government Railways; it would be reclassified as the Class Ke 216 and renumbered as such, and would be used until regauging works were completed in August 1944. The locomotive would be stored and struck off the register in September 1945. Following this Ke 216 was likely scrapped.
Few photos exist of the locomotive.
==References==
Category:Locomotives
Category:JR Group trains
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:0-6-0 steam locomotives
Category:0-6-0T locomotives
Category:Amemiya locomotives
Category:Sasebo locomotives
Category:Six-coupled locomotives
Category:0-6-0 locomotives
Category:0-6-0T steam locomotives
Category:0-6-0WT locomotives
Category:0-6-0WT steam locomotives
Category:Japanese locomotives
Category:Japanese steam locomotives