The JNR Class EH50 was a proposed Japanese articulated DC electric locomotive to be operated by the Japanese National Railways.
History[]
The EH50 was developed specifically to be a faster version of the EH10 locomotives, albeit used to pull express trains instead of freight. Test results to develop this series were conducted on EH10 15, fitted with special high-speed bogies and other equipment.
The basic premise of the EH50 was a locomotive weighing 102 tons or less with a 120 km/h (75 mph) operating speed, intended to be introduced around 1956. It would later be discovered that running locomotives with high axle loads at high speeds would require frequent track reinforcement, incurring unwanted costs; it would then be decided to give priority to the then-upcoming Shinkansen project and increasing the speed of existing electric multiple units such as the 181 series and the project was shelved as a result.