The JGR Class 150 was a steam locomotive operated in Meiji Era Japan from 1872. The sole member of the class was imported from Vulcan Foundry in the United Kingdom in 1871.[1]

Class 150
Locomotive No. 1
Type and origin Power type Steam Builder Vulcan Foundry, UK Build date 1871 Total produced 1
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 2-4-0T Gauge 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) Fuel type Coal
Career Disposition Preserved

History

The locomotive was one of ten different locomotive types imported from the UK in 1871, and entered service on the first Japanese railway line, which opened between Shimbashi(after-day Shiodome station) in Tokyo and Yokohama (present-day Sakuragicho Station) on 14 October 1872.[2] Initially numbered "No. 1", it was classified "Class 150" in 1909.[2]

In 1911, the locomotive was donated to the Shimabara Railway in Nagasaki, where it once again received the number "1".[2]

Because of its historical value as the first steam locomotive to operate in Japan, it was returned to the Railway Ministry in 1930.[2] In 1997, it became the first railway vehicle in Japan to be designated as an Important Cultural Property.[2]

Preservation

The locomotive is preserved at the Railway Museum in Saitama.[2]

• 
  Locomotive No. 1 preserved at the Railway Museum in January 2015

See also

• Japan Railways locomotive numbering and classification

References

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