In 1952, the United States Army ordered 8 locomotives in Japan to replace locomotives lost when the armies marched back and forth over most of South Korea in 1950 and 1951. James listing shows the locomotives as being built by Mitsubishi in 1952 (with questions), but he shows #7 as being built by Nippon in 1950, #1567. #6 had a builders plate showing Wakatsu Iron Works in 1931. It is likely that the locomotives came from Japanese narrow gauge lines and were rebuilt. It is interesting that in 1953, these locomotives already looked pretty ragged as you can see from the following photos. #1 and #2 were 2-6-2T.

#1 later became a KNR locomotive.

The next 3 locomotives, #3, #4, and #5, were 0-6-0T.

And then we have 2-4-2T #6. What a beauty.

And finally, the 2-8-2's, #7 and #8. And these are only 30 inch gauge!! They, too, became KNR locomotives. How about those elephant ears?

I returned home from Korea on April 4, 1954. On April 1^st, we turned the railroads back to Korean control. I think these locomotives were turned over to the KNR at that time or shortly afterwards. Our people never worked on these engines even before, but were always used and serviced by the Koreans. The major engine houses were supervised by GI's, but Suwon was not one of these. After several months dispatching, we found we had a surplus of dispatchers and a shortage of steam people. I transferred to B Company and went to Chyongyangni. Later, after my friend Charlie Ward went home (more about him later), I followed him into Yongsan (the main engine house at Seoul). Another facility of interest was the back shops at Yongdong Po. This is where I photographed the locomotives on flat cars after (or before) rebuilding.

Next we will give you a little tour of the lines as we had our railfan trips.

AMDG

7/4/2001

Memorial of Saint Elizabeth of Portugal

Independence Day

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