Ryūzaki Railway No. 1

Ryūzaki Railway No. 1 was a 0-6-0ST Switcher-type narrow gauge saddle tank steam locomotive operated by the Ryūzaki Railway from August 1900 to 1936.
==History==
No. 1 was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1894; it had a serial number of 14075. The locomotive was initially intended for use on the Ōta Railway (a predecessor to what is now the East Japan Railway Company Suigun Line), but the railway's gauge was changed to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) just before the line opened; the locomotive was ultimately not used by the Ōta Railway, having never been assigned a number, but it was purchased by the Ryūzaki Railway in preparation for its opening. No. 1 was put into service on 14 August 1900 with the opening of the line, with it later becoming the railway's main locomotive due to the less than satisfactory performance of No. 2 introduced in 1902. A trailing truck was added to the locomotive later on in an attempt to prevent overhang and the cab shaking violently at high speeds, as well as a sliding door to prevent rain from entering the cab on rainy days. The locomotive was withdrawn from the Ryūzaki Railway in July 1915 when track gauge conversions were completed and stored along with other 2 ft 6 in gauge (762 mm) locomotives in operation on the railway.
No. 1 would only find a buyer in 1921, when it, No. 2 and various other freight and passenger cars were transferred to the Akoh Railway; around this time the trailing truck was removed. Due to its unique shape the locomotive was nicknamed Mr. Turtle. The issues regarding the shaking cab reoccured due to the removal of the trailing truck and as a result the locomotive was involved in numerous derailments. No. 1 would be used until about 1936 when it was stored at the Akoh Railway's depots and scrapped.
Two similar locomotives, serial numbers 14076 and 14077, were also manufactured by Baldwin around the same time. Both locomotives are believed to have been purchased by the Imperial Japanese Navy and used for construction purposes, with S/N 14077 sold off relatively quickly. S/N 14076 is said to have remained with the IJN but further operational details are scant as much remains classified information. S/N 14076 was likely resold to the Iwaki Coalmine Railway based on unearthed photos; further details about its service life during World War II remain unclear. It was later reported that after World War II the locomotive was put up for sale at a Gokai Hyakkaten store in Nipponbashi, Osaka along with a number of other locomotives; other sources have corroborated this locomotive as being S/N 14076. Whether the locomotive found a buyer is unknown, with interviews conducted in the 1970s turning up inconclusive due to the passing of the individuals involved in the transactions.
S/N 14077, after being sold off from the IJN, was purchased by the Matsuura Coal Mining Railway and numbered 3 to replace a previous locomotive with the same number which had already been scrapped. It was later fitted with a new saddle tank and cab based on a Swiss-built locomotive, giving the locomotive a "strange appearance". The locomotive was later fitted with a trailing truck. The railway would ultimately be acquired by the Sasebo Railway on 16 October 1933 after a number of ownership changes, with 3 renumbered 13 to prevent numbering overlaps. When the railway was nationalized on 1 October 1936, 13 came under the ownership of the Japanese Government Railways; it would be reclassified as the Class Ke 600 and renumbered as such and continued to be used on the railway, now named the Matsuura Line. Due to its age however the locomotive was withdrawn from service before gauge changing works on the Matsuura Line commenced.
In 1940, the Akoh Railway was suffering a shortage of locomotives, with No. 2 withdrawn and scrapped in 1940 and gasoline-powered railcars becoming virtually unusable due to fuel rations; as a result, Akoh Railway purchased Ke 600, about five years after its sister locomotive No. 1 was scrapped on the same railway, where it was reclassified as the Class C1 and renumbered 13. Around this time its trailing truck was also removed. Similar to No. 1, 13 had a tendency to derail. A new steam locomotive, manufactured by Motoe Machinery Co. Ltd., would be built to replace 13; following this, 13 was dismantled at the Akoh Railway's depot, where its underframes and numerous other parts were used by Mori Seisakushō to construct Class DLC10 diesel locomotive D102. 13's boiler would be used as a stationary boiler for the onsen at an inn named Misakikan in Akō.
==References==
Category:Locomotives
Category:JR Group trains
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:0-6-0 steam locomotives
Category:0-6-0T locomotives
Category:Baldwin locomotives
Category:Sasebo locomotives
Category:Ryūgasaki locomotives
Category:Six-coupled locomotives
Category:0-6-0 locomotives
Category:0-6-0T steam locomotives
Category:0-6-0ST locomotives
Category:0-6-0ST steam locomotives
Category:Japanese locomotives
Category:Japanese steam locomotives