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The Class 911 Shinkansen was a diesel locomotive operated by the Japanese National Railways and its successor the Central Japan Railway Company from 1964 to 1995.

History[]

The Class 911 was designed by the JNR as a maintenance-of-way locomotive for use on the Shinkansen network. Three locomotives, numbered 911 1 through 911 3, were manufactured by Nippon Sharyo in 1964.

The Class 911's intended use was to tow malfunctioning Shinkansen trains; due to the reliability of the Shinkansen network these were never used for their intended purpose and as such were used for other tasks. The Class 911s would instead mainly be used to pull the Class 921 inspection cars, which were unable to run on their own; with the introduction of the Class 922 Shinkansen the Class 921 cars were no longer needed and the Class 911s which pulled them were instead relegated to pulling construction trains or for inspection of the Class 922s. The Class 911 set a world speed record for diesel locomotives in 1972 on a run from Shin-Osaka to Okayama prior to the opening of the San'yō Shinkansen, recording an average speed of 165 km/h (103 mph).

When the JNR was privatized in April 1987 and split into seven different companies, 911 2 came under the jurisdiction of the Central Japan Railway Company; 911 1 and 911 3 had been retired and scrapped prior to the JNR's privatization. 911 2 was retired in 1995 and was stored at Hamamatsu Works. No Class 911 locomotives have been preserved.

Design[]

The Class 911 featured a double cab design with high roofs, with portions of the cab raked backwards. The locomotives's numbers were located on rectangular plates below the driver's door, a trait carried over to modern JR Freight locomotives.

Specifications[]

Based on the Class DD51 locomotives, the Class 911s were painted in "Bright Blue" with "Marigold Yellow" accents, similar to many of JNR's maintenance of way locomotives.

911 1 was fitted with a DML61S prime mover, while 911 2 and 3 were fitted with a more powerful DML61Z prime mover. They were fitted with a variant of the DW2 hydraulic transmission used on the DD51s known as the DW2B, which featured a dual low- and high-speed setting for different applications. Having been built with train rescue in mind, the Class 911 locomotives featured a double-headed coupler for coupling both to regular trains and Shinkansen consists. To reduce the impact of train delays caused by malfunctioning trains, the Class 911 locomotives were capable of a maximum speed of 160 km/h (99 mph) and were designed to be able to haul a full 16-car Shinkansen consist up a 20‰ gradient.

The Class 911 locomotives are fitted with a version of automatic train control, the first locomotives in the world to be so equipped. Using a similar technology to what is fitted on the 0 Series Shinkansen, the train's speed changes depending on the signals they receive; if a 70 km/h (44 mph) signal is received while the locomotive is at a high speed, the prime mover makes a loud roar and slows down.

Preservation[]

The following Class 911 locomotives were preserved in the past but have since been scrapped:

Number Manufacturer Date manufactured Date retired Last location Notes
911 2 Nippon Sharyo 1964 1995 JR Central Hamamatsu Works, Hamamatsu, Japan Scrapped circa 2000s
JR Group motive power
JNR Diesel prototype DB10DC10DC11DD10
4-axle diesel DD11DD12DD13DD14DD15DD16DD17DD20DD21DD40DD41DD42DD50DD51DD53DD54DD90DD91DD92DD93
5-axle diesel DE10DE11DE15DE50
6-axle diesel DF40DF41DF50DF90DF91 (gen 1)DF91 (gen 2)DF92DF93
Shinkansen 911912
Narrow-gauge diesel Ke DB10Ke DB11
Early 2/4-axle freight electric AB10EB10ED10ED11ED12ED13ED14ED15ED16ED17ED18 (gen 1)ED18 (gen 2)ED19ED23ED24
Early 4-axle passenger electric ED50ED51ED52ED53ED54ED55ED56ED57
Early 6-axle freight electric EF10EF11EF12EF13EF14EF15EF16EF18
Early 6-axle passenger electric EF20EF50EF51EF52EF53EF54EF55EF56EF57EF58EF59HEF10HEF50
Early 8-axle electric EH10EH50HEH50HEH150
Early Abt rack rail electric EC40ED40ED41ED42
Acquired from private railways ED20ED21ED22ED25 (gen 1)ED25 (gen 2)ED26 (gen 1)ED26 (gen 2)ED27 (gen 1)ED27 (gen 2)ED28 (gen 1)ED28 (gen 2)ED29 (gen 1)ED29 (gen 2)ED30 (gen 1)ED31ED32ED33ED34ED35ED36ED37ED38Ke ED10DeKi 1RoKo 1DeKi 501RoKo 1000
DC 4-axle ED60ED61ED62ED63ED95
AC 4-axle ED44ED45ED70ED71ED72ED73ED74ED75ED76ED77ED78ED79ED90ED91ED93ED94
DC 6-axle EF60EF61EF62EF63EF64EF65EF66EF67EF90
AC 6-axle EF70EF71
Dual-current ED30 (gen 2)ED46ED92EF30EF80EF81
Other AH100
JR Group Dual-current electric ED500EF500EF510EH500
DC electric EF200EF210EH200
DC EMU M250
AC electric EH800
Diesel DD18DD19DB500DD200DF200ENR-1000
Hybrid HD300
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