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JGR 7100 Pack

Ello Workshop. Forney here, again! I'm here today with a Japanese engine, the Japan Government Railway 7100 Class!




The JGR 7100 class was built from 1880 - 1889 by H.K Porter, inc. where they were then shipped to Japan.

The 7100s were named after major people from history and literacy, much like american engines! The class included Yoshitsune, Benkei, Hirafu, Mitsukuni, Nobuhiro, Shizuka, and the last 2 were unnamed.

Service began between Sapporo and Temiya on 28 November 1880, via Yoshitsune and Benkei.

The following year, on 30 August 1881, Emperor Meiji rode the line, called Kaitakushi-gō (開拓使号, "Settlement Envoy"). Pulling nine cars in poor weather, the train arrived late, but this was said to be acceptable; it is not clear which locomotive was used. The line was extended in 1882 to connect Sapporo with Horonai, and Hirafu and Mitsukuni were obtained. Nobuhiro and Shizuka were purchased soon afterwards, and in 1887 a Baldwin Locomotive Works 1-C tender engine was also purchased, which was given the class number 7170. When the last of the H.K. Porter locomotives were purchased, the trains' ordinals were rearranged to group the Porters together.

The railway company changed ownership in 1889, the Hironai Railway being sold to the Hokkaidō Colliery and Railway Company. Under this company, the locomotives were rebuilt, their smokestacks, cowcatchers, and other features changed or removed. Ten years later, the seventh train (number 1009) was purchased by the Hokkaidō government railway and repaired; but it barely saw service, and was only used to aid in construction and to plow snow.

The Hokkaidō Colliery and Railway Company, and thus all the Class 7100 locomotives, came under the control of the government in 1906, with the passage of the Railway Nationalization Act, which incorporated it into the Japanese Government Railways. The numbering of train series was standardized and formalized in 1909, officially establishing these eight locomotives as the Class 7100 (7100-7107). The engines' names were dropped, and some changes were made to the vehicles, in particular the one purchased by the government in 1899, which was made to have two separate repeat-transferring boilers. Three vehicles were left entirely unaltered. At this point, No. 7103 was traded away, while the other seven entered service under the Hokkaidō governmental construction bureau.

In 1915, efforts were made by a Hakodate factory to reunite the eight locomotives, but 7103 was experiencing hunting oscillation problems; information regarding its condition, as well as repair reports, cannot be found, and thus its fate remains uncertain today. Beginning in 1917, the eight were scrapped or sold. Japan Steel Works, Ltd. purchased 7106 in that year. The Hokkaidō governmental construction bureau purchased 7100, 7102, and 7107 in 1923, and the Imperial Railway Company, then known as Baihatsu Steel, bought 7104 and 7105 two years later. Baihatsu would later sell 7104 to the Kōchi Railroad Company (now Tosa Electric Railway) which used it for construction and then destroyed it. Locomotive 7101 was initially left intact and shipped to Tokyo, and was placed in storage.




CygnusOX - USRA 0-6-0 wheels (Heavily modified by Jeranios)

Random video on YouTube - Whistle and Bell

Wikipedia - Locomotive history (Paraphrased for the first 2 paragraphs)


I only included Yoshitsune and an add on member because having to trace the engine's names was too hard to do for all 5 named members of the class.



Other than that, have a good night, an- *Disintegrates*...