JNR Class D51

The JNR Class D51 is a 2-8-2 Mikado steam locomotive designed by Hideo Shima, an engineer who would become the driving force behind the creation of the Shinkansen.
==History==
The class was built by various manufacturers, such as the Kawasaki Locomotive Works, from 1936 to 1945 as a mixed traffic engine and was one of the most successful and most numerous types of steam locomotives produced in Japan. (Even during World War II, they were used to deliver weapons and vehicles across Japan to supply the Japanese Imperial Army troops.)
The design of class D51 was based on the earlier D50, introduced in 1923. Wartime production featured some substitution of wood for steel parts like running boards, smoke deflectors and tender coal bunkers. A total of 1,115 D51s were built, the largest number in any single class of locomotive in Japan. Early D51s were nicknamed Namekuji-gata ("slug-form") due to their skyline casing. Some others like D51 22 and 23 were called Super Namekuji due to their full skyline casing. The class was designed by Hideo Shima. It was used mainly in freight service through the 1960s. Some D51s were fitted with a Giesl ejector in Hokkaido to save fuel.
The Class D51 is iconic in Japan, comparable to American class locomotives in the US; it inspired the design of many later steam locomotives and was one of the first to use Janney couplers in Japan.
A total of 1,115 were built, with 173 surviving into preservation; two, D51 200 and D51 498, are in operational condition.
From 1936 to 1944, Kawasaki, Kisha Seizō and Hitachi built 32 D51s for the Imperial Taiwan Railway. After World War II, they were taken over by the Taiwan Railways Administration, and were classified DT650. In 1951, Kisha Seizō built three further DT650s and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries built two further DT650s for the Taiwan Railways Administration. DT668 is preserved in an operational state in Taiwan. There were many D51s were imported to Russia for the Sakhalin Railway and used until 1979. D51-22 is displayed at outside Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk railway station; D51-4 was kept in operational condition until 2020 when the rail network was regauged. Additionally, two wrecks were left to the north of the city. In South Korea, two D51s were shipped to Korea for the US Army during the Korean War in 1950s. They were converted to standard gauge. After the Korean War ended, the Korean National Railways classified them as the KNR Mika7 (미카7).
== Preservation ==
:Main article: Preservation
A total of 173 Class D51s have been preserved.
== Trivia ==
* From 7 September 1988 to 25 December 1988 D51 498 was used to pull the Orient Express in tour in Japan which became known as the Orient Express '88.
* It served as the basis of Hiro in Thomas & Friends. 
* It was also the basis of Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive from the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game series.
==See also==
* Gallery
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