Seoul-Fusan 2-8-0 Locomotives in Korea

Class 14 (Locobase 12689)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 27, p. 5; and "Baldwin 2-8-0 for the Hermit Kingdom", Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume 17, No 5 (May 1904), p. 227.. See also Lt Bern Anderson, "The Development of Manchuria", United States Naval Institute Proceedings, Volume 59/5/363 (May 1933), pp 649-668, archived at [], last accessed 19 May 2024.; and The Railway Bureau of the Government-General of Chosen, The Chosen (Korean) Railway (Ruzan, Chosen: The Railway Bureau ..., August 1912). Works numbers were 23774-23777, 23799-23800 in April 1904.

The Seoul-Fusan was reported by the Anglo-Japanese Gazette (September 1902, p. 53) as requiring prodigies of effort: "The country through which the line will pass is immensely difficult, and, though only 285 miles long, will involve the construction of nearly eight miles of tunnelling, four miles of bridging, deep cuttings, and heavy embankments." The AJJ's reporter indulges in a little labour commentary as well: "As Korean labourers receive little over sixpence a day, the heavy character of the work can be better gauged from the estimated cost of +9,000 per mile." ( A sixpence equalled 1/40th of a pound sterling.).

From Seoul, a second segment beginning from Ryuzan headed northwest to the port of Antung. By the time the 1912 guide went to press, the Pusan-Antung Railway, as it was then known, had been widened to standard gauge. At that point, claimed the guide, the trunk line formed "the shortest overland rout between Japan, Chosen and Europe, and one of the most important trunk lines of the round-the-world traffic." Its operators expected it "to draw many passengers from Europe to Japan and vice versa."

Despite the implication that orders of locomotives from England proved their superiority, new motive power included these six Consolidations from Philadelphia. They were not especially big as Baldwin Consolidations went and occupied the middle of non-US-railroad 2-8-0s of the time. The R&LE's photograph showed a clean profile that suggested more of a 4-6-0 than a Consolidation.