XK2 Class 0-6-0Ts
A number of US Army Transportation Corps S100 0-6-0 tanks were sent to China by UNRRA after World War II. US builders Porter, Vulcan Ironworks and Davenport built 382 of these locos for the USATC between 1942 and 1944. They were intended to support the US war effort in Europe before and after after the D-Day invasion. To enable this, they were built to fit the restrictive British loading gauge. After the war, a number were bought by various railways in the UK and Europe. Jugoslavia was notable for taking 120 and then building many more to a similar design in the 1950s and 1960s. A few are still operational in industrial service in the former Jugoslav republics. Project 62, a UK based group which has preserved one of the JZ locos, has more information on its website https://www.project62.co.uk.
XK2 28 was still in use at Benxi Steelworks in March 1992. The loco is no longer in traffic but is preserved at the steelworks.
According to Chinese sources, the XK2s first saw use on the Hangzhou - Nanchang Railway in eastern China but many later found their way into industrial service, especially in the steel industry in the north-east. The last locos reported in service were at Anshan and Benxi steelworks in the early 1990s.
It isn't known how many XK2 went to China although it has been suggested that 20 were sent. The locos reported had numbers in the range XK2 21 to 102 but there were large gaps and most locos seen were clustered in the 21 - 31 and 50 -57 ranges. The steel industry was notorious for renumbering locos, so none of this can be taken as a reliable indication of the class size. Some renumbering definitely occurred as two XK2 28s were reported with plates from different builders. The first loco reported was a VIW engine seen at Zhuzhou and the second a Porter at Benxi Steelworks. It isn't known which was the real XK2 28.
Two locos are thought to have been preserved. XK2 28 is stored indoors at Benxi Steelworks and XK2 51 is plinthed at Heping bridge in Anshan.
