Class C57 (The Lady) Coloring Pages

The Steam Locomotive Called "Class C57 (The Lady)"

The Class C57 (The Lady) is a steam locomotive built to pull passenger trains filled with people.
People started building them in 1937, and made 201 locomotives in total.
It has a thin, slender boiler and big, beautiful wheels. Because it looks so lovely, people warmly call it "Class C57 (The Lady)"!
Sometimes people also call it "Shigonana" based on its type name.

The "C" Means 3 Sets of Driving Wheels

The "C" in Class C57 (The Lady) means it has 3 sets of driving wheels.
Driving wheels are the big wheels that turn with steam power to push the locomotive forward.
Count the big driving wheels in the first coloring page! You can see 3 of them lined up on one side.
In front of the driving wheels are 2 small leading wheels, and behind them is 1 trailing wheel to help support the locomotive.

The Driving Wheels Are Super Big

The driving wheels on Class C57 (The Lady) are 1 meter and 75 centimeters across!
That is about as tall as a grown-up.
Big wheels can travel a long way with just one turn, so they are great for running fast.
The D51, which pulls freight trains, has 4 sets of driving wheels and is super strong. It is fun to compare them!

Parts Around the Face

The big round door at the front is the smokebox door.
Above it, you can see the light and the smokestack. On the stand below the door, there is a wide pipe that warms up water.
The big standing plates on the left and right sides are smoke deflectors. They use the wind from running to push the smoke up into the air!
The plate on the door shows each locomotive's own number, like "C57 1" or "C57 180".

Two Class C57 (The Lady) Locomotives Still Run Today

Even today, two Class C57 (The Lady) locomotives still run on real train tracks!
C57 1 pulls the "SL Yamaguchi-go" on the Yamaguchi Line between Yamaguchi and Shimane prefectures.
C57 180 pulls the "SL Banetsu Monogatari" on the Ban'etsu West Line between Niigata and Fukushima prefectures.
The first and second coloring pages show C57 1, and the third coloring page shows C57 180!

The Tender Connected Behind

Right behind the locomotive, there is a tender loaded with coal and water.
Inside the cab, the fireman uses a shovel to toss coal into the fire to keep making steam!

Color the Black Body Dark Gray

The steam locomotive's body is black.
If you color it all in solid black, you won't be able to see the fine detail lines.
If you color it dark gray and make the top of the boiler a little lighter, it will look rounded and cool!

Add Highlights with Gold and White

The license plate frame, its letters, and the smoke box door handle are gold.
Coloring the chimney and the bands around the front horizontal pipe gold gives Class C57 (The Lady) a lovely, elegant look.
The thin strip along the side of the body is white, so leave it uncolored.

Color the Big Driving Wheels Carefully

For the driving wheels, color the spaces between the spokes one by one.
If you make the wheel rims silver or light gray and the rods connecting the driving wheels silver, the lower body will look super sharp!

Passenger Cars and Scenery

The passenger cars pulled by Class C57 (The Lady) 1 on the second page have a retro look in dark brown or deep green.
If you color the rice field on the left yellow-green, it becomes the Yamaguchi Line in summer!
Try coloring the passenger cars for Class C57 (The Lady) 180 on the third page navy blue and cream, and the iron bridge green.

Smoke and Sky

Color the smoke from the chimney gray, and leave the white steam at the bottom white.
On the third page, if you color the sky light blue and leave the clouds white, the fluffy smoke will really stand out!
The round headmark on the front is blank, so try drawing your favorite picture in it!

Class C57 (The Lady) No. 1 Has Been Running for a Very Long Time

Class C57 (The Lady) No. 1 is the very first locomotive of Class C57 (The Lady), built in 1937.
It started running as the "SL Yamaguchi" in 1979, so it has been working hard for over 40 years!
It was damaged by a landslide accident and by a big earthquake in 1995. But every time, people fixed it up, and it came back to the tracks.

Class C57 (The Lady) No. 180 Was in an Elementary School Front Yard

After Class C57 (The Lady) No. 180 stopped running, it was kept in the front yard of an elementary school in a town called Niitsu in Niigata Prefecture for nearly 30 years.
Local people kept taking good care of it, so it stayed in great shape.
The people in town said, "We want to see it run again!" So in 1999, it started running again as the "SL Banetsu Monogatari."

Big Wheels to Run Fast

Locomotives that pull passenger trains have big driving wheels so they can run fast.
Locomotives that pull freight trains have smaller driving wheels and more of them so they can be strong.
When you look at the size and number of the wheels, you can tell what kind of job that locomotive is good at!

Getting Ready Before Running

After you light the fire, it takes many hours before a steam locomotive is ready to run.
It waits patiently until the water boils enough and builds up lots of steam power.