Yunnan-Kopei 0-10-0 Locomotives in China

Class 17 (Locobase 15286)

Data from DeGolyer, Volume 72, pp. 264+, Volume 78, pp. 362+, and Volume 79, pp. 451+. See also Kuo-Chin Li, "The Ling Ko Branch of the Yunnan Kopei Railway", Baldwin Magazine, Volume 8, No. 4 (April 1930), pp. 3-13; and post by Ben Isaacs, Chinarail Forum Member, "Further on the Kopei (Kopi) railway in Yunnan" 11 April 2018 on the []- Railways in China forum at [], last accessed 4 August 2019. Works numbers were 58137-58142 in December 1924, 59262-59263 in May 1926, 59280 in June, 59299-59301 in July, 61030-61033 in September 1929..

There weren't many decapods on such a narrow gauge, let alone this set of low-drivered, all-adhesion locomotives. This design had a relatively rare layout for its fuel and water. The fuel box was placed ahead of the cab on the left side, so the left side tank was shorter than the right.The whole equipage was replaced under Extra Order No. 2588-1924 by a four-wheel tender as shown above in the specs.

Located in Yunnan Province in southwestern China near the Indo-China border, the railway served the Gejiu Tin-Mining Company and had relatively sharp curves of 25 degrees (radii of 228 feet/69.5 metres). The YK's financial health depended entirely on payments required of the tin mining companies, which paid 100 taels ($55) for each chang weighing 3,325 lb (1,508 kg). As price and demand rose and fell, the number of changs varied. A good year of 6,000 changs generated bout $330,000, a bad year might only yield half that amount.

Its 45 miles (72.5 km) had seven tunnels, at least one as long as 700 metres (2,297 feet), on 33 lb/yard (16.5 kg/metre) rail. Ben Isaacs's description says that the "main line [ran] from Pichetchai (Bisezhai) on the CdeF Yunnan to Gejiu (Kokiu), a distance of 73 km [45 miles], with a branch line (Ling Ko line) from Jijie (Kikay) at 39 km [24 miles] to Jianshui (Lingon) at 103 km [64 miles]."

Baldwin's 1930 article dealt with the 1928 opening of the Ling Ko branch, which opened up "an agriculturally rich district, the development of which was hampered by lack of proper communication with the outside world." The YK asked the Kiao Tsi Railway's Chief Engineer F K Sah in Autumn 1918 to lay out the Ling Ko branch, work was suspended a year laterwhen tin prices plummeted.

These pushers obviously filled the bill as the railroad ordered several batches over a five-year period. Some remained in service until 1990, when the line was converted to the metre gauge. By then the original specification that called for them to be changeable to metre gauge "at minimal expense" retained little value.