Taiwan 800→D98→DT580 Steam Locomotive

The 800 class was a 2-8-0 tender locomotive for freight service. A total of 39 were built between 1922 and 1939: 16 by Kawasaki, 9 by Kisha Seizo, 4 by Nippon Sharyo, 7 by Hitachi, and 3 by Mitsubishi. The class was essentially the same type as the Japanese Government Railways 9600 class, but the Hitachi- and Mitsubishi-built examples were produced only for the Taiwan Government Railways and had no counterparts in the JGR fleet. Electric headlights were fitted from No. 816, built in 1928, and air brakes were fitted from No. 821, built in 1929, at the time of construction. Earlier locomotives were later retrofitted with this equipment, although their external appearance differed, particularly in the position of the air tanks. In principle the class was not equipped with smoke deflectors, but photographs show that DT613 and DT615 had them fitted. In the 1937 class-name revision the class became D98, and 39 locomotives were still on hand at the end of the war. The Taiwan Railways Administration later inherited 38 locomotives as class DT580, so it appears that one locomotive was withdrawn during the intervening period. There are various theories concerning the correspondence between the D98 and DT580 numbers, and this remains a subject for future clarification. Today, DT609 is preserved at the Hamasen Railway Cultural Park in Kaohsiung (高雄).