The Last JNR-Type Steam Locomotives Built

The E10 class is generally regarded as the last steam locomotive class newly built for Japanese National Railways. Five E10 locomotives, E10 1 to E10 5, were completed by Kisha Seizo in March 1948. At that time, Japan was still under the severe fiscal restrictions that followed the end of the Second World War, and the construction of new locomotives was, in principle, not permitted. The E10 class, however, was approved as a special-purpose locomotive intended for steeply graded lines. It therefore became the last steam locomotive newly built for use by the national railway. The C61 and C62 classes, which appeared around the same period, were not entirely new locomotives, since they were rebuilt as passenger locomotives using surplus boilers from the D51 and D52 classes. The later D60, D61, and D62 classes were also rebuilds, mainly intended to reduce axle load, and were not newly constructed locomotives. In practice, however, JNR-type steam locomotives continued to be newly built for export even after the E10 class. In 1949, thirty D51-class locomotives were built for the Soviet Railways on Sakhalin, formerly the Japanese territory of South Sakhalin. Locomotives corresponding to the JNR D51 and C57 classes were also built for Taiwan, which had been under Japanese rule before the war. The DT650 class, corresponding to the D51 class, was built for Taiwan in 1951, while the CT270 class, corresponding to the C57 class, was built in 1953. Thus, the E10 class was the last steam locomotive newly built for use by Japanese National Railways, but if JNR-type steam locomotives built for export are also included, the final examples were the CT270-class locomotives built by Hitachi for Taiwan in 1953.

Before the Second World War, South Sakhalin was Japanese territory. Industries such as paper manufacturing, pulp production, and coal mining were well developed there, and a railway network had been constructed to link cities and industrial areas. After the war, the region came under de facto Soviet administration. However, the railways of former South Sakhalin had been built to the Japanese 1,067 mm gauge, which meant that rolling stock and parts for the 1,524 mm broad gauge used on the Soviet mainland could not be used directly. In the immediate postwar years, many locomotives and freight cars were out of service, and the island's transport network faced the danger of paralysis. For this reason, the Soviet Council of Ministers authorized the Ministry of Foreign Trade to place orders in Japan for railway equipment for the Ministry of Transport and Communications of South Sakhalin, within a limit of six million dollars. Using these funds, thirty D51-class steam locomotives were manufactured in 1949 by five Japanese builders: Nippon Sharyo, Kawasaki Sharyo, Hitachi, Kisha Seizo, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. They were then exported to Sakhalin. By the end of the 1960s, they had largely been replaced by diesel locomotives. After withdrawal, six of them returned to Japan, but most were later scrapped. Today, only two survive: D51-23 at Biratori, Hokkaido, and D51-27 at Betsukai, Hokkaido.

American aid to Taiwan, known in Chinese as “Meiyuan” (U.S. aid), originated with the China Aid Act of 1948 and the Sino-American Economic Aid Agreement. After a temporary suspension in 1949, aid to Taiwan began in earnest after the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. In 1951, it was continued under the Mutual Security Act, and although the names of the U.S. implementing agencies changed over time, the program lasted until 1965. On the Taiwan side, the Council for U.S. Aid (CUSA), under the Executive Yuan, played an important role in coordinating aid projects, procuring and allocating materials, and managing funds. As Taiwan was then facing a serious shortage of foreign currency, U.S. aid became an important source of funding for the import of materials, machinery, and rolling stock. Transportation was also treated as part of public works and economic reconstruction, and the aid was used for the expansion of rolling stock and improvement of facilities by the Taiwan Railway Administration. The eight CT270-class passenger steam locomotives added in 1953 were likewise built by Hitachi using these funds.

Some sources state that these locomotives were built by both Hitachi and Kawasaki Sharyo, but this appears to be a confusion with the prewar CT270-class locomotives, namely the former C57 class of the Taiwan Government-General Railway. The postwar batch, CT277 to CT284, was entirely built by Hitachi, as can also be confirmed in the contemporary issue of Hitachi Hyoron. At the time of their introduction, a mark indicating that the locomotives had been supplied through U.S. aid was displayed on their smoke deflectors. Since Taiwan already had prewar C57-class locomotives of the Taiwan Government-General Railway, later classified as the CT270 class, the postwar locomotives were built to match those specifications. Although the C57 class in Japan had already reached its fourth production type by that time, the Taiwan locomotives were intentionally built broadly in accordance with the second-type design. They were completed between June and July 1953 and became the last JNR-type steam locomotives built in Japan. Today, CT278 is preserved at Ershui Park in Ershui, and CT284 is preserved at the Chung Hsing Cultural and Creative Park in Luodong.

To cope with the increase in postwar traffic, the Taiwan Railway Administration added five DT650-class locomotives in 1951. They were built by Kisha Seizo and Mitsubishi Mihara Rolling Stock Works and were introduced to Taiwan as DT683 to DT687. This group represents the last newly built locomotives of the D51 type. Since Taiwan was suffering from a shortage of foreign currency in 1951, it is possible that these locomotives were also acquired using some form of foreign-currency funding or aid funds. However, no reference to these locomotives has been found in the U.S. aid-related sections of the Yearbook of Communications of the Republic of China, Combined Volume for 1950–1960. Nor has any photograph so far been found showing a “U.S. Aid” mark on the smoke deflectors, as was the case with the CT270 class. For this reason, the source of funding for the introduction of DT683 to DT687 cannot be determined at present. The locomotive shown in the photograph, DT685, was not the final numbered locomotive, but it was completed by Kisha Seizo on May 24, 1951, and may be regarded in practical terms as the last D51-class locomotive built.

The Chinese-language Wikipedia article on the D51 class describes the postwar additional DT650-class locomotives as having been supplied through “United Nations aid,” but it does not cite the source for this statement. One possible organization that might be meant by “United Nations aid” is UNRRA, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. UNRRA was established in 1943 to provide relief and reconstruction assistance to areas damaged by the Second World War. In the Republic of China, the Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (CNRRA) was established in January 1945 to receive, distribute, and coordinate UNRRA supplies. Although UNRRA projects in China did include some items related to Taiwan, the main focus was relief and reconstruction in mainland China immediately after the war. Moreover, the UNRRA China Office ended its activities at the end of 1947, and the remaining administrative work was completed by 1948. The introduction of DT683 to DT687 took place in 1951, which does not correspond to the main period of UNRRA/CNRRA activity. Therefore, if the “United Nations aid” mentioned in the Chinese-language Wikipedia article refers to UNRRA, the timing makes that explanation difficult to sustain.

Furthermore, post-UNRRA United Nations assistance shifted toward technical assistance by specialized agencies such as UNESCO and the ILO, while large-scale assistance through the United Nations Special Fund began only in 1958. These developments also do not match the timing of the DT650-class introduction. For these reasons, although the possibility remains that DT683 to DT687 were introduced using some form of aid or foreign-currency funding, no primary source has yet been confirmed that identifies the funds as U.S. aid, United Nations aid, or UNRRA aid. Further investigation will be necessary in Taiwan-side records of the Ministry of Communications and the Taiwan Railway Administration, as well as in Japanese export-permit documents, records of Kisha Seizo and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and materials related to the Chinese Mission in Japan at the time.

Before these D51-class locomotives, in 1946, a group of D51 locomotives had already been shipped to Taiwan. These locomotives had been built in 1944 for the Taiwan Government-General Railway, but because Japan had lost control of the sea lanes during the war, they could not be transported to Taiwan and were instead used in Japan. After shipment to Taiwan, they became DT678 to DT682. Although they had been built during the war, they were designed for use in the overseas territory, and their external appearance was therefore similar to that of the second-type D51 class. However, perhaps because they were affected by wartime material conditions, they appear to have been withdrawn relatively early.