Chinese Engineering & Mining Co, Ltd 2-6-2 Locomotives in China

Class KMA No 1 (Locobase 21008)

Data from "Chinese Engineering & Mining Co, Ltd Type 2-6-2ST", Locomotives Constructed by Kitson & Co,. Ltd (Leeds: n.d.); and CE&MC advertisement in The Directory & chronicle for China, Japan, Corea, et al for the year 1912 (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Daily Press Office, MCCCCCXII [1912])., p. 40. Works number was 4675 in 1909, 5116 in 1914, and 5355-5356 in 1921.

The 1914 engine was ordered by Bolling & Lowe and did not initially bear a CE&MC number, but it was named Lanchow. Four of the seven Prairie saddle tanks designed for the CE&MC were this quartet; the other three (shown in Locobase 21007) showed very similar proportions and profiles on a smaller scale.

CE&MC's 1912 advertisement noted its collieries in Kaiping District of Chihli Province produced 1.5 million tons per year. Its detailed description (reproduced below) of the several varieties of coals on offer opens a window on one of the support structures underlying both railway and shipping operations.

Navy Lump which had "all the characteristics of the best Cardiff coal" was claimed to be "specially suited to the Far Eastern Naval requirements.

Loco. Lump was a "first quality steam coal" comparable to the best" Japanese, Australian or Scotch coals." It was mixed with slack from the same seams as bunker fuel for ships. This mixture was both "cheap and economical in consumption. "For steady steaming," claimed the ad, it gave "excellent results."

Slack came in two grades, largely in demand by the Chinese in "brick-burning and distilling industries, in bean cake factories etc., and for general domestic use."

Coke manufactured with "great care from the best coal" supplied "Government Arsenals, Mints and Dockyard" which considered it "equal in quality to the best Durham product. It is close-grained , hard, heavy and free from sulphur." (No. 2 Coke was "used for household purposes".

The company also produced firebricks of "any size and shape" came from the Tongshan Brickworks.

Linsi Lump was "most suitable for household purposes.

---

Class KMA No 4 (Locobase 21007)

Data from "Chinese Engineering & Mining Co, Ltd Type 2-6-2ST", Locomotives Constructed by Kitson & Co,. Ltd (Leeds: n.d.). See Locobase 21008 Works number was 5118 in 1914 and 5320-5321 in 1921.

Purchased by Bolling & Lowe Inc of 2 Laurence Pountney Hill, London for CE&MC. These were the small Prairie saddle tanks ordered for this industrial customer. Locobase 21008 shows the larger 1909 engine that inspired the very similar proportions and appearance of the these locomotives.