JGR Class 150

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The JGR Class 150 (国鉄150形, Kokutetsu 150 gata), also known in Japan as Locomotive No. 1 (1号機関車, Ichi-gō kikansha), is a British-built tank steam locomotive of 2-4-0T wheel arrangement, imported in 1871 by Meiji-era Japan for its first railway between Tokyo and Yokohama which opened in 1872. Locomotive No. 1 was Japan's first locomotive to run in regular service, operating on the Japanese Government Railways from 1872 to 1911 and on the private Shimabara Railway in Nagasaki Prefecture from 1911 to 1930, when it was retired and preserved for its historic importance. In 1997 it became Japan's first railway vehicle to be designated as a national Important Cultural Property. Today it is preserved in the Railway Museum in Saitama. Like the other locomotives first ordered for the Tokyo-Yokohama line, Locomotive No. 1 is a tank locomotive with side tanks, a rear coal bunker, and a wheel arrangement of 2-4-0T, with modest-sized coupled driving wheels of 1,321 mm (52.0 in) in diameter. This configuration was popular at the time in Britain, Europe, and elsewhere for locomotives that would haul either passengers or freight over short runs, and also for shunting. No. 1 is a typical steam locomotive for its era, having two cylinders with no compounding or superheating, and equipped with the widely used Stephenson valve gear and a Salter-type spring balance safety valve for the boiler. During its long career, this locomotive was heavily modified, and for most of that time it looked considerably different from when it was first built. Japan's first railway line was between Tokyo's original Shimbashi Station (later renamed to Shiodome Station) and the original Yokohama Station (today's Sakuragichō Station). For this line, ten locomotives of five different types were ordered in 1871 from builders in the United Kingdom, including one from Vulcan Foundry.