In spite of its central European appearance, the GJ was a Chinese product. Dalian Works designed the GongJian, or Construction Worker, class in 1957 and production started at Taiyuan in 1958. Taiyuan Works constructed 46 locos and Chengdu Works 76 before production ceased in 1961. The GJ was intended for industrial use. Like the American built XK2 and Polish ET7 and XK13 classes, many GJs served the steel industry, while others acted as pilots at railway workshops and other industrial locations. Although the majority of the class are no longer in service, a handful survived until very recently. At Sujiatun Locomotive Works GJ 1018 was reported as works pilot as late as March 2006 and Chongqing Iron and Steel used several to shunt its Dadukou plant until July 2004.

There is some evidence of duplicate numbering of the Taiyuan and Chengdu batches. Firstly, assuming the first member of the class was GJ 1001 then the numbers should have run to GJ 1122 but no locos numbered above GJ 1076 have ever been reported (Remember that there were 76 Chengdu built locos). Most interestingly, there were two locos each numbered GJ 1018 and GJ 1019. GJ 1018 is best known as the Sujiatun Loco Works pilot and carries a Chengdu builders plate but there was another GJ 1018 which was pilot at Nankou Engineering Works, carried Taiyuan 1959 plates and was reported scrapped in 1983. The best known GJ 1019 is the former Datong Loco Works pilot, now preserved at Beijing Railway Museum. This loco carries Taiyuan 1959 plates but the other GJ 1019, one of the Chongqing I&S fleet has been reported as a Chengdu built loco. Both these locos have been reported on several occasions over the last 25 years, so there can be no doubt that they both exist. Although few builder's plates have been reported, it is suspicious that those from locos numbered below GJ 1046 are a mixture of Taiyuan and Chengdu while those from higher numbered locos are exclusively Chengdu. It is far from proven but there is a reasonable chance that Taiyuan numbered its locos from GJ 1001 to 1046 with Chengdu independently adopting GJ 1001 to 1076. There is also the chance that the duplicate locos are just renumbered but that doesn't explain why nothing numbered above GJ 1076 has been reported.

In addition to GJ 1019 in the Beijing Museum collection mentioned above, GJ 1038 is at the Shenyang Museum and GJ 1076 is preserved at Wafangdian, near Dalian.

Vital Statistics

Class Designation GJ (工建)
Descriptive Name GongJian (Construction Worker)
Number Series GJ 1001 - 1076? (Chengdu)
GJ 1001 - 1046? (Taiyuan)
Builders Chengdu, Taiyuan
Building Dates 1958 - 1961
Number Built 122
Boiler Pressure  
Grate Area  
Total Heating
Surface		  
Superheater Area  
Wheel Arrangement 0-6-0T
Driving Wheel
Diameter		 1000 mm
Cylinders, Number 2 (outside)
Cylinders, Diameter/Stroke 480 mm x 550 mm
Valve Gear Walschaerts
Tractive Effort  
Power Output
(Wheel Rim)		 251 kW
Maximum Speed 35 km/h
Overall Weight  
Overall Length 9.7 m
Coal Capacity  
Water Capacity