what is it?
The China Railways MT1 class steam locomotive was a class of 4-8-2 "Mountain" type steam locomotives for goods trains operated by the China Railway. They were originally built in Japan for the South Manchuria Railway (Mantetsu) in 1936. The "Mate" name came from the American naming system for steam locomotives, under which locomotives with 4-8-2 wheel arrangement were called "Mountain".
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 21 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 26 m long: about 6 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
- 7
- kind
- Steam
- traction
- steam
- origin
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- builders
- Kawasaki Railcar Manufacturing, Hitachi
- operators
- South Manchuria Railway, China State Railway Group
- top speed
- 90 km/h
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- 4-8-2
- length
- 26 m
- weight
- 126 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q29075798, Wikipedia: China Railways MT1 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.