Taiwan C50→CT230 Steam Locomotives

The C50 class locomotives in Taiwan were former Japanese Government Railways C50 Nos. 1–5. They consisted of five locomotives built in 1929: four by Mitsubishi, numbered 1–4, and one by Kisha Seizō, numbered 5. In 1941, they were requisitioned by the military for use on Hainan Island, but they are said to have remained in Taiwan and to have been used by the Taiwan Government-General Railway. Reliable primary sources have not yet been confirmed regarding whether they were requisitioned by the Army or the Navy, or why their destination became Taiwan, so the details remain unclear. At the end of the war, three of them were operational as freight locomotives. After the war, all five were taken over by the Taiwan Railway Administration, became the CT230 class, and were used for shunting. A photograph taken at Kaohsiung Locomotive Depot in 1947 shows C503, and at least at that time its number plate had not yet been changed; the class-name change is therefore thought to have taken place later. One possible reason for their use as shunting locomotives is that, in addition to being regarded in Japan as relatively heavy on the axle load and therefore not especially favored, they may also have been considered too heavy in Taiwan, where rails on the Western Trunk Line were still in the 30–37 kg/m range. Perhaps because they were used mainly for shunting, they were not fitted with cowcatchers. The date of withdrawal is unknown, but they are thought to have remained in use until the late 1960s. No examples are preserved today. The C50 locomotives that went to Taiwan belonged to the first production type; however, since no first-type C50 is preserved in Japan, the reference images on this page were prepared based on the second production type.