Steam Locomotives of the Taiwan Government Railways and Taiwan Railway Administration

Railway construction in Taiwan began under Liu Ming-chuan, the Qing dynasty governor of Taiwan, when the Taiwan Railway Commercial Bureau was established in 1887 (Guangxu 13) and construction of a 1,067 mm-gauge railway was planned and started. The Keelung–Taipei section opened in 1891 (Guangxu 17), and the line was extended to Hsinchu in 1893 (Guangxu 19). After Taiwan came under Japanese rule in 1895 (Meiji 28) following the First Sino-Japanese War, the railway was placed under the control of the Taiwan Railway Line District Command of the Imperial Japanese Army and was initially used for military transport. As the political situation gradually stabilized, public transport services also began, and the railway was subsequently developed as the Taiwan Government Railways. In 1908 (Meiji 41), the Western Main Line between Keelung and Takao (Kaohsiung) was completed. The eastern Taitung Line (Hualien–Taitung) was also built as a 762 mm-gauge light railway, but its roadbed and related works were constructed with future conversion to 1,067 mm gauge in mind, anticipating a later connection with the main-line network. After the war, the Taiwan Railway Administration Committee, under the Transportation Department of the Taiwan Provincial Administrative Executive Office, took over the railways, and in 1948 the Taiwan Railway Administration was established. Projects that had not been realized during the Japanese period were subsequently carried out, including the conversion of the Taitung Line to 1,067 mm gauge in 1982, the opening of the North-Link Line in 1980, and the South-Link Line in 1992, completing a railway network encircling Taiwan. Steam locomotives continued to be added until the late 1950s, but dieselization and electrification then progressed, and regular steam operation had ended by the early 1980s. In 2024, the railway operating organization was reorganized as the state-owned Taiwan Railway Corporation, Ltd.; preserved operational steam locomotives, however, still run occasionally on special trains.