Taiwan 80→C38→CK80 Steam Locomotive

The origins of the 80 class can be traced to locomotives built in 1890 by Dübs of Britain for use on graded sections. They later belonged to the Japanese Government Railways B6 family. Before 1892 they were known as the AC class, and after 1909 they were divided into the 2100, 2120, 2400, and 2500 classes. During the Russo-Japanese War, large numbers of this family were added for wartime transport in northeastern China. The builders included not only Dübs and the various works of the North British Locomotive Company in Britain, but also Schwartzkopff, Hanomag, and Henschel in Germany, Baldwin in the United States, and the Kobe Works of the Railway Agency. In all, more than 500 locomotives were built.
Taiwan's 80 class consisted of 15 locomotives built between 1902 and 1905: one by Dübs of Britain, four by the Hyde Park Works of the North British Locomotive Company, two by its Queens Park Works, one by its Atlas Works, and seven by Baldwin of the United States. Except for one locomotive, they had originally been supplied by the Japanese Government Railways for Army use, and were later sent to Taiwan between 1908 and 1911 by transfer of custody or by formal assignment.
No. 91, later CK92, was built in 1908, two years later than the other B6-family locomotives. In Baldwin order records it appears as ordered for the “Imperial Govt. Rys. (Japan),” indicating that it was formally ordered by the Japanese Government Railways. However, it was not actually incorporated into the Japanese Government Railways. Another source gives the purchaser as “Shibata Bunsky.” This refers to Shibata Bunsuke (柴田文助), a Yokohama trading merchant who had worked as the chief clerk of Sale & Co. before establishing his own firm, Shibata Bunsuke Shoten. It is likely that his name appears in the records because he acted as the agent. Even so, the reason why this locomotive was not accepted by the Japanese Government Railways and was instead incorporated into the Taiwan Government Railway two years after completion remains unclear.
In the 1938 reclassification it became class C38, and after the war it was used by the Taiwan Railway Administration as class CK80. In the specifications, the overall length differs slightly; the figures in parentheses apply to Nos. 87–90. No locomotive of this class is preserved today.