Japan's First Domestically Mass-Produced Class 230 2-4-2 Tank Engine and Technology/Skill Transfer on Steam Locomotive Construction from the United Kingdom

Abstract

The Class 860 2-4-2 tank engine, which was the first steam engine domestically built in Japan, was constructed in 1893 by engineers at the Kobe Works of the Imperial Government Railway of Japan (IGRJ) under the supervision of a British locomotive superintendent. Ten years later, in 1903, production began on the first mass-produced steam engine in Japan at the Osaka Locomotive Manufacturing Company (Kisha Seizo Kaisha), the first Japanese private locomotive manufacturing company founded by Masaru INOUE (former director of IGRJ) in 1896. It was a noteworthy technological feat that a total of 41 2-4-2 tank engines of the Class 230 were manufactured during the Meiji period. In this report, we make a technological comparison of steam locomotive design and construction between the Class 230 tank engine and the standard-type engine which was imported at that time from the United Kingdom. In addition, technology/skill transfer on steam locomotive construction and the originality of Japanese engineers and workers will be discussed. The contents of this report are as follows. 1) Introduction, 2) Standard-type engines imported during the Meiji era, 3) Establishment of Osaka Locomotive Manufacturing Company (Osaka Kisha Seizo Kaisha) and early manufacturing of steam engines, 4) Technology transfer from the U.K., and innovations by Japanese engineers.