The China Railways JF2 (解æ¾2, JiÃÂfàng, "liberation") class steam locomotive was a class of "Mikado" type steam locomotives for goods trains operated by the China Railway. They were originally built for the South Manchuria Railway (Mantetsu) by several American and Japanese manufacturers, as well as by Mantetsu's Shahekou Works, between 1924 and 1932.
To fill the need for powerful locomotives to haul heavy goods trains from the Fushun Coal Mines and Dalian, Mantetsu ordered the first five Mikani class locomotives from the American Locomotive Company of Schenectady, New York in 1924. After completion of the superheated three-cylinder locomotives, extensive performance tests were conducted, the results of which attracted considerable attention from the railway industry; despite a wheel diameter of only , they reached a maximum speed of . They were immediately successful, and production of copies began at Mantetsu's Shahekou Works in 1926. They were the first Mantetsu locomotives to weigh over , as well as the first to be built with automatic stokers. Although their performance was excellent, the complexity of the three-cylinder arrangement led to consideration of a superheated 2-10-2 tender locomotive design as a replacement. However, this plan was abandoned, and more Mikanis were built instead. After a number of incidents involving broken crankshafts, the Mikashi class was designed as the successor to the class in 1933.
At the end of the Pacific War, the 41 Mikani class locomotives were divided between the Dalian (35) and the Fengtian (6) depots, and all were taken over by the Republic of China Railway. Following the establishment of the People's Republic and the subsequent creation of the current China Railway, they became class ãÂÂãÂÂè²³ (MK2) in 1951, and class 解æ¾2 (JF2, jiÃÂfàng, "liberation") in 1959. Numbered in the 2501âÂÂ2550 range, they were assigned to the Wafangdian locomotive depot in Dalian and used primarily on heavy goods trains. JF2 2525 is preserved at the Shenyang Steam Locomotive Museum.This class was last seen in the 1980s. This class retired 1990.