JGR Class 1240

The JGR Class 1240 (originally the Shingu Railway Class 4) is a 0-6-0T Switcher-type side tank steam locomotive operated by the Japanese Government Railways from 1919 to 1936.
==History==
The Class 1240 was an early steam locomotive operated in Japan. The type was ordered by the Fuji Minobu Railway and Kōsaka Railway, with six locomotives built by Baldwin Locomotive Works. The locomotives was assigned the Class 1 on the Fuji Minobu Railway and numbered 1 through 3 and numbered 2 through 4 on the Kōsaka Railway; the locomotives on the Kōsaka Railway were built to 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) gauge. What would later be christened the Class 1240 was a single locomotive built for the Shingu Railway in 1919, also by Baldwin. The locomotive was classified the Class 3 and numbered 4 on the railroad.
After the Shingu Railway was acquired in 1934 by the JGR, the locomotive was reclassified as the Class 1240 and renumbered as such on documents but not on the locomotive; the locomotive did not survive for much longer and was scrapped in 1936. The remaining locomotives on the private railroads would also fall under this class but were never officially reclassified. In their later lives the locomotives were used on small industrial railroads. Today, only one locomotive, Fuji Minobu Railway 2, survives today. After retirement from the Fuji Minobu Railway, the locomotive was transferred to the Nippon Steel Works and renumbered 9. After it was retired from service there, the locomotive was transferred to the Meiji Mura museum in 1974 and restored to operating condition. The locomotive remains at Meiji Mura today in operating condition, operating alongside Class 160 locomotive 165 in its guise as Nagoya Railway 12.
==Preservation==
The following Class 1240 locomotives have been preserved:
Image	Number 	Manufacturer 	Date manufactured	Serial number	Date withdrawn 	Location 	Notes
 	Nippon Steel 9	Baldwin Locomotive Works	June 1912 	37944 	July 1936 (Fuji Minobu Railway)1973 (Nippon Steel)	Meiji-mura, Inuyama, Aichi, Japan	Under overhaul, overhaul expected to take two years; ex-Fuji Minobu Railway
==Gallery==
Shingu 4.jpg|Shingu Railway 4 (later JGR 1240) at an unknown date
==Trivia==
*Baldwin's model number for this locomotive was 6-18-D.
==References==
Category:Locomotives
Category:JR Group trains
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:0-6-0 locomotives
Category:0-6-0 steam locomotives
Category:0-6-0T locomotives
Category:Baldwin locomotives
Category:Fuji Minobu trains
Category:Shingu trains
Category:Sole survivor
Category:0-6-0T steam locomotives
Category:Japanese locomotives
Category:Japanese steam locomotives
Category:Side tank locomotives
Category:Built in 1912
Category:Built in 1919