Nangū Light Railway Class 1

The Nangū Light Railway Class 1 was a 0-4-0WT Switcher-type narrow gauge well tank steam locomotive operated by the Nangū Light Railway and later other railway companies from 1915 to 1941.
==History==
The Class 1 was an early steam locomotive used in Japan. Two locomotives were manufactured by the Fukagawa Dockyard & Machine Works in 1915 in Ōkawa, Fukuoka for the Nangū Light Railway; these were numbered 1 and 2. It is believed that the Nangū Light Railway initially placed an order with a German manufacturer (believed to be Hanomag) but due to the effects of World War I this order was not followed through and domestic production was instead sought. It is however suspected that the Fukagawa Dockyard and Machine Works was chosen to build this locomotive due to a likely conflict of interest; one of the major shareholders of the Nangū Light Railway was Tadayoshi Fukagawa, a member of the Fukagawa family which owned and operated the Fukagawa Dockyard and Machine Works.
Three locomotives were initially scheduled to be manufactured, but due to budget cuts this order was reduced to two locomotives. These were delivered in 1915 and entered service the same year. The locomotives were designed by Masumi Egami. In 1916 the Nangū Light Railway was renamed the Ōsumi Railway, with the locomotives remaining in service under their new operators. The locomotives were notoriously unreliable when first built, although performance steadied with time. Both locomotives were rebuilt in June 1933 by converting their coal bunkers into water tanks and building a new coal bunker at the rear of the locomotives.
When the Ōsumi Railway was nationalized on 1 June 1935, the locomotives came under the ownership of the Japanese Government Railways, where they were reclassified as the Class Ke 145 and renumbered Ke 145 and Ke 146; these were the second class of locomotives to be given the Class Ke 145 designation, with the previous class being a group of two 0-4-2 steam locomotives initially operated by the Chiba Prefectural Railway. Both classes are not related apart from name. Both locomotives were transferred to the Matsuura Line in 1937 and 1939; both were withdrawn in 1941 after seeing little use.
No Class 1 locomotives have been preserved.
==Trivia==
*These were the only locomotives used by the JGR with Baker valve gear. There were a few locomotives used on the Yahata Steel Works which also used Baker valve gear but this type of valve gear was not adopted in large numbers in Japan.
==References==
Category:Locomotives
Category:JR Group trains
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:0-4-0 steam locomotives
Category:0-4-0T locomotives
Category:Fukagawa locomotives
Category:Ōsumi locomotives
Category:Four-coupled locomotives
Category:0-4-0 locomotives
Category:0-4-0T steam locomotives
Category:0-4-0WT locomotives
Category:0-4-0WT steam locomotives
Category:Japanese locomotives
Category:Japanese steam locomotives