Today the Korean people are dynamically advancing towards the building of a powerful socialist country under the wise leadership of the respected Comrade
The electric locomotive of the DPRK running towards the building of a powerful socialist country carries the glorious history of the heroic
The great leader Comrade
"We manufactured with our own efforts an electric locomotive, a thing that foreigners claimed was not within the ability of Koreans."
During the period of the great Chollima upsurge, when the whole country was making miracles and innovations and rushing ahead with high speed under the wise leadership of President
The new long-term plan urgently required more freight to be transported to all sectors of the national economy.
However, the railways at the time were not able to cope with the punctual transport of the rapidly increasing freight.
In addition, the slopes of the railways in our country were extremely steep.
Therefore the urgent solution to enhance the traction and traffic capacity of the trains was to electrify the railways.
When a government official once asked an ambassador in the DPRK to sell him the blueprint of the locomotive, he asked the official back to purchase it from his country claiming that the DPRK with weak industrial foundation could never produce the locomotive. When the official told the ambassador that they would produce the locomotive with their own efforts, he went as far as to say that he would be damned if the DPRK made the locomotive by itself.
Upon receiving this report, the great leader Comrade
It was on August 29, Juche 48(1959) that the great leader visited the then West Pyongyang Railway Factory and assigned them a task of producing an electric locomotive.
He entrusted them with the task noting that the electric locomotive should be built strong and modern with good hauling capacity deeply considering the railway situation of our country with steep slopes and high bends.
The workers of the factory got down to the production of the electric locomotive in hearty response to the trust of the great Leader.
The electric locomotive considered to be the peak of development of modern machine industry and the electric industry at that time needed as many as 180 000 pieces of 14 000 kinds of accessories which required high precision and stability.
However the factory did not have any blueprints for the machine nor the tools and jigs necessary for its production.
In fact, in those days, making an electric locomotive by Korean's own efforts was like making something out of nothing.
Some insisted upon importing from abroad the high-speed breaker and traction motor for it was impossible to produce them on their own. The high-speed breaker plays an important role for operational reliability and preventing accidents, providing and breaking power to the electric locomotive.
The high-speed breaker made up of over 3 000 accessories requiring high precision and delicacy, is considered to be the heart of the electric locomotive.
At that time there were only a dozen of countries in the world which could produce the electric locomotive all with their efforts and among them were very few which could make high-speed breakers. This clearly shows how precise and complex the production of a high-speed breaker is.
Despite this, our workers started to make small parts one by one.
Since these parts and components required high precision and delicacy, and the workers didn't even have grinding or burnishing tools, they had to grind and polish them all by hand using torn pieces of cloth and straw ropes. Eventually, they entered the assembly stage.
As instructed by the great Leader, they succeeded in manufacturing a nice, stable and precious electric locomotive.
Unfortunately, however, the high-speed breaker was burnt away in its first test.
There were dozens of tests, afterwards but none succeeded. Then the conservatives and those captivated by mysticism of technology started to make their move, saying that the high-speed breaker must be imported, clamoring "It is no flying without wings."
If the high-speed breaker considered to be the brain of the locomotive was to be imported, the workers could not say that the electric locomotive was made with their own efforts. Failure repeated 35 times. However, the workers continued the test with the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and fortitude and finally succeeded in the 36th test.
Upon receiving the report that the electric locomotive was completed, the great Leader visited the factory again on August 30, Juche 50(1961) with the Fourth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea ahead.
Looking satisfied at the gigantic and flawless electric locomotive, he expressed great contentment over its traction twice more powerful than a steam locomotive.
When the factory officials and workers asked the President to give a name to the locomotive with various suggestions like "Innovation", "Jonjin" and 《Red Star》, he said that "Red Flag" would be a good name for it.
He said that as during the anti-Japanese armed struggle, the standard-bearer had always been holding the red flag in the forefront of the ranks, the electric locomotive was like a red flag advancing in the van of the socialist construction. He then asked them to attach the fluttering red flag on its front part and said that the factory should be renamed Pyongyang Electric Locomotive Factory as it was to produce electric locomotives. Thus in Juche 58(1969), it was renamed Kim Jong Thae Electric Locomotive Factory and later Kim Jong Thae Electric Locomotive Complex.
The workers of the Kim Jong Thae Electric Locomotive Complex manufactured the "Red Flag" locomotive No.2 in a few days on the occasion of the 4th Congress of the WPK and presented it to the congress as a gift, true to the instruction of the great Leader.
Since then, it has produced locomotives one after another based on its experience and technology and manufactured twin locomotives and diesel locomotives.
The President said that the railways in our country should be oriented towards electrification and set the goal of increasing the production of electric locomotives systematically every year.
Thanks to the electrification of railways in our country, rail transport capacity increased almost twice, fuel consumption decreased to one fifth, a great deal of manpower was saved and railways became much more modernized.
It was in the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and fortitude that the workers of Korea succeeded in producing an electric locomotive claimed to be not within the Koreans in a short span of one year by their own strength, technology and design even without the blueprint, tools and gigs at hand.
