JS-8284

JS-8284
China Railway character

China Railways JS-8284 is a Chinese steam locomotive currently serving as the Ambassador for the People's Republic of China in the Society of Steam. He and his class of 1,916 locomotives with a wheel arrangement of 2-8-2 were built for mainline freight service, although they were used for shunting as well. Outside of the SOS, he currently resides in the city of Luizhou.

He is just one of many preserved steam locomotives from throughout China that remind people of the days where steam was everywhere, even when diesels were the norm in other countries, especially since they were cheaper to run and ran on cheap coal; in fact, steam locomotives were still being built there until the 1980s, including the QJ class of 2-10-2 freight locomotives, the most numerous at 4,717. Steam locomotives wouldn't be phased out until mid-2022, when steam operations at the Sandaoling coal mine—coincidentally, with JS locomotives—stopped.