Power type Steam Total produced 1820 UIC class 1′D1′ | Build date 1960–1999 | |
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Builder Tangshan Railway Vehicle | ||
The SY (Chinese: 上游; pinyin: Shàng Yóu; literally: "Aiming High or Reaching Upstream") class 2-8-2 Mikado is one of the main industrial locomotives used by China Railways built mostly by Tangshan Railway Vehicle between 1960 and 1999.
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History and design
The SY class was the last major class of steam locomotives to be produced anywhere in the world with last being built in 1999. The design however is based on the earlier Japanese-built JF6 Class 2-8-2s which itself was based on a locomotive type built by the American Locomotive Company in the 1920s for use in Korea.
The SY is one of the few steam locomotives still found in active service in the 21st Century, mostly working in coal and steel industries but can also be found heading commuter trains from time to time.
The last steam locomotive built in China is SY1772, completed in 1999.
Export
The SY class were also among the few Chinese steam locomotives to be exported. In 1989 and 1991, three SYs were constructed for tourist railroads in the United States, SY1647m for the Valley Railroad, SY1658m for the Knox and Kane Railroad were built in 1989 at a cost of $300,000 with a third being built in 1991 for the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway. This third one was lost at sea during shipment in the Indian Ocean when the ship it was on sunk.
The Susquehanna later purchased SY1647m from the Valley Railroad renumbering it 142. The 142 ran throughout the NYS&W system until its transfer to the New York Susquehanna & Western Technical & Historical Society in 2003 and now operates on the Belvidere and Delaware River Railway in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. SY1658m was renumbered 58 in the mid to late 1990s. After the main draw of the Knox and Kane Railroad, the Kinzua Bridge collapsed in mid 2003, the 58 was withdrawn from service and moved with other equipment to an enginehouse in Kane, Pennsylvania. On the morning of 16 March 2008, the 58 was damaged when the enginehouse it was stored in was burned by arson. The 58 was purchased later that year by the Valley Railroad at an auction. Upon purchase, the 58 was renumbered 3025 and was given a complete rebuild which included cosmetic alterations to make it resemble a New Haven 2-8-2.