what is it?
The China Railways LD1 class steam locomotive was a class of streamlined 4-4-4T tank steam locomotives for passenger trains operated by the China Railway. They were originally built for the South Manchuria Railway (Mantetsu) in 1936. The "Dabu" name came from the English "double-ender", which was used by Mantetsu for all tank locomotives.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 90 years ago, in 1936.
- Weighs about as much as 17 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 14.6 m long: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
steam locomotive: Burns coal, wood or oil to boil water; the steam drives pistons that turn the wheels.
spec sheet
- built
- 1936
- status
- retired
- number built
- 2
- kind
- Steam
- traction
- steam
- origin
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- builders
- Kawasaki Railcar Manufacturing
- operators
- South Manchuria Railway, China State Railway Group
- top speed
- —
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- 4-4-4
- length
- 14.6 m
- weight
- 99.9 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q29075783, Wikipedia: China Railways LD1 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.