This came through on my Flickr rss feed. I see a lot of bullet holes and wonder if they went through the boiler as well.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chanmelmel/4023827513/

Tom;

Thanks for sharing. I knew of this engine, but have not seen it since it was recently preserved. A Japanese built Mikasa 2-8-2, if memory serves me right.

James- it looks like a 4-8-2 to me; main rod is connected to the second driver. Interesting engine at any rate.

Here is a link to an article in the Stars & Stripes when the locomotive was locomotive was recovered from the DMZ in 2006:

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?sect ... icle=41655

The location is easily reached from Seoul by taking a commuter train north to the Imjingang station. At the time of my May 2009 visit, the locomotive was still stored inside a temporary building, but about a month or so later it was moved outside for permanent display. It's about a five-minute walk from the station and you can't miss it.

Imjingang is one of the northernmost stops on the line. From there you cross over the Imjin River and go to Dorasan, and then the line crosses into the North.

Certainly a very Baldwin or Alco appearing locomotive I know the Japanese built some 4-8-2s in the 1950s based on Baldwin designs for the national railway of Chile several of which are preserved in Chile

There were two classes of 4-8-2, or MATE locomotives in Korea prior to the war.

One was the MATE-1. According to Don Ross' website,



His webpage, with pictures, is here:

http://web.archive.org/web/200406302339 ... /dr156.htm

Quoting his website further about the second class, or MATE-2:



Compare the picture in the Stars and Stripes article to the picture below; looks like it could be a Japanese built MATE-1 class. I have a picture of a Mitsubishi built 4-8-2 from 1952 perserved in a museum in Chile. The remains do look similiar to it as well; the MTR-1 class had an integral steam/sand dome, while the EFE locomotive in Chile has seperate domes. But, there is not much left of this machine to go by.

But you are certain, it's not an Erie, Pacific????

Erie, No. Looks pretty eerie to me.

Pacific, Yes.

:)

They must have some good roads over there to move a 4-8-2 on a two axle trailer.

Roads, heck. They must have some reeeaaallly good tires!

After my Korean trip in May, I sent this link showing the Erie 2524 to the curator of the Korean Railroad Museum in Uiwang.

http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?f ... ie2524.jpg

He wrote back that he did not think it still existed anywhere in the country.

By the way, Uiwang is a great place to go railfanning. During my 2005 visit, a young volunteer at the museum told me the stretch going past the museum, a few blocks south of the station, is the busiest on the entire KORAIL system. Click on the picture at this link to enlarge it and see how many tracks are at the station.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uiwang_Station

To answer the question about the DMZ locomotive having any connection to the nebulous Erie Pacific, the DMZ locomotive was severely damaged at the very start of the Korean War in June 1950, while the Erie Pacific didn't even leave the US and depart for Korea until 1954.

I beleive the July 1954 issue of Trains has an ad from the Erie RR regarding their donation of this locomotive to the Korean Railways

A roster of surviving South Korean steam formerly posted online included these locomotives:

(No #), MIKA-3, 2-8-2, KNR, derelict, DMZ, South Korea

244, MIKA, 2-8-2, KNR, Plinthe, Native Korean War Memorial, Imjin, South Korea (Japan)

(No #), (K-1), 4-6-2, (Erie), Visitors Center, (gone), Freedom Bridge, Imjim River, South Korea, Rogers, 1906

The first is the derelict locomotive recovered from the DMZ and recently put on display at Imjingang.

The second is a Japanese-built locomotive that has been on display at Imjingang for many years. I first saw it in late 1987 and, during my May 2009 visit, employees at the site said it had been there since some time in the 1970s. When the rail link between the North and South was restored, it was moved from display on the old right-of-way (which now has tracks again) on the west side of the Imjingang visitor center to the east side, and it has some very old, poorly painted coaches serving as a restaurant. (There are other dining options available within the multi-level Visitors Center.)

The third listed is the Erie locomotive that some believe to be #2524. I believe someone mistook the Japanese-built locomotive for the Erie locomotive some time in the past, fueling speculation that the Erie locomotive still existed. If you don't visit the location personally, you might not realize that the Freedom Bridge Visitors Center and Imjingang are the same place. In fact, the station is adjacent to the Visitors Center building. I asked long-time employees if there had ever been another locomotive on display that had been removed and they had no knowledge of any other locomotive being there, particularly one that disappeared with no apparent trace.

Tim;

Thank you for your careful research into a topic which I unfortunately started based on an e-mail I recieved.

Here is my old page on surviving steam locomotives in North and South Korea; courtesy of the Internet Archive. I assume this is the page you were referring to:

http://web.archive.org/web/200604271200 ... /korea.htm

An update; as shown there was also a Chinese built SY 2-8-2 that used to pull tourist trains between Seoul and Uijongbu on Sundays and holidays. My understanding is that it is now out of service.

There are also stuffed and mounted steam locomotives in parks and other locations across South Korea; I do not know if the list in the above page is complete.

North Korea sent most of their steam locomotives to scrap in China since 2000; little is known about what is now left.