Sentetsu Pureni-class locomotives

The Pureni-class (プレニ) locomotives were a group of steam tank locomotives with 2-6-2 wheel arrangement of used by the Chosen Government Railway (Sentetsu) in Korea. The "Pure" name came from the American naming system for steam locomotives, under which locomotives with 2-6-2 wheel arrangement were called "Prairie".^[1]

In all, Sentetsu owned 227 locomotives of all Pure classes, whilst privately owned railways owned another 52; of these 279 locomotives, 169 went to the Korean National Railroad in South Korea and 110 to the Korean State Railway in North Korea.^[2]

The Pureni class was introduced in 1905, with nine built in the United States by the Brooks Locomotive Works.^{[citation needed]} Unlike the Purei class, the Pureni had a superheated steam boiler. These, like the 1906 batch of Purei class locomotives, were delivered in knockdown form and assembled at the Incheon shops.^[3] The Gyeongbu Railway was nationalised by Sentetsu in 1906, and in 1918 they were renumbered 271 through 279.^[4] One further unit was built in 1935 by Nippon Sharyō, as a replacement for the original 276.^[3] The nine locomotives were renumbered プレニ1 through プレニ9 in the 1938 general renumbering.^[4]

After the Liberation and partition of Korea, they were divided between North and South, but the specifics of which engine went where are unclear.

At least three Pureni-class locomotives ended up with the Korean National Railroad in the South after the division of Sentetsu's motive power following the partition of the country; these were designated 푸러2 (Pureo2) class by the KNR.^[4]

The locomotives taken over by the Korean State Railway in the North were initially designated 부러두 (Purŏdu) class; they were later renumbered in the 1200 series. The total number, their service lives and subsequent fates are unknown.