JNR Class 230

The Class 230 were based on the Class A8 2-4-2 tank engines imported from the United Kingdom. The 230 series has a 2-4-2 arrangement. The series was in production from 1903-1909, with all units built Osaka Kisha Seizo Kaisha (KSK). Kisha Seizo was a large private vehicle manufacturing company, with some capital raised from the central government. The Class 230 would be their second locomotive product. The Class 230 were probably designed by Shogo Hasagawa, the mechanical engineer at the Omiya railway works of the Nippon Railway Co, assisted by Heijiro Kudo. Both came from the railway to work for Kisha Seizo. The first locomotive of the Class was built in 1903 and delivered to the government-run railway.