Nippon Railway 2-8-2 Locomotives in Japan

Class 9700 (Locobase 2565)

Data from from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines, as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 20, p. 250. See also Brian Hollingsworth, Illustrated Encyclopedia of North American Locomotives (London: Salamander Books, 1984(), pp. 58-59. Works numbers were 15203-15222.in February 1897.

Baldwin's history notes that these "Mikados", the first of their wheel arrangement ever, responded to the need to burn "a most inferior quality of coal, requiring large grate area and a firebox of ample depth and volume." The concept proved "exceptionally successful"[]; according to Hollingsworth, more 2-8-2s were built in the 20th Century than any other wheel arrangement.

(NB: a 1907 history of the Lehigh Valley Railroad says that Alexander Mitchell's "Ant" and "Bee" decapods proved too easy to derail when they entered service in 1867. So the shops lopped off the rearmost axle and substituted a pony truck for it. Although not so called, this was a 2-8-2 in most respects.)

Baldwin's specification noted the 2 1/2% ruling grade and 4 degree compensated curves to be climbed at an average speed of 16 mph (25.8 kph).

The 9700s served into the 1920s, but no other Mikados were produced for Japan's railways until the D50.