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

The JGR Class 150 (国鉄150形, Kokutetsu 150 gata) 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]

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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