JNR C55 Class Steam Locomotive

Following the C54 as a modernized and improved form of the type C51, 62 type C55 locomotives were manufactured at Kisha Seizo, Kawasaki, Hitachi and Mitsubishi between 1935 and 1937. Additionally, 8 were manufactured for the Railway of the Governor-General of Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period and used from 1935 to 1938. After the Pacific War renamed Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) CT250 class. From this locomotive, the sand box (which stores sand to increase traction between the wheels and rails) and steam dome are integrated into a single unit, the runboard (walkways mounted along the boiler sides for maintenance access) is straightened and the locomotive has a more modern appearance. Although the driving wheels were spoked, they were reinforced with webs between the spokes to increase strength. And 21 locomotives of a second form of this type (C55 20 through C55 40) were designed with a streamlined design, which was popular at the time. In reality, however, the effect was only cosmetic and made it inconvenient for inspections, so all of them were converted to the standard type in 1950. They were used until 1975. There are now a total of 4 of them preserved statically (refers to locomotives that are preserved in a way that does not allow them to be immediately operated, and/or that are simply on display) at the railway museum in Kyoto, that were used in Hokkaido and Kyushu up until the end. In Taiwan, 2 of them are also preserved.