Nagano Works

Nagano Works (Japanese: 長野工場 Nagano Kōjō) is a rolling stock maintenance facility under the jurisdiction of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It is currently part of the Nagano General Rolling Stock Center (Japanese: 長野総合車両センター Nagano Sōgō Sharyō Sentā), having been part of it since 1991.

History[]

Nagano Works was opened as the Nagano Machine Shop (Japanese: 長野機械場 Nagano Kikai-ba) on 1 May 1888 by the Japanese Government Railways (JGR) as part of the Nagano Locomotive Depot. The Nagano Machine Shop was renamed to the Nagano Machinery Works on 16 February 1890, absorbing the Naoetsu Works in the process, before being renamed to Nagano Works in on 10 November 1893. Nagano Works completed its first steam locomotive, D51 229, on 1 November 1938; a total of nine steam locomotives, all D51s, were manufactured by Nagano, with the last steam locomotive being manufactured by Nagano being D51 550 on 19 March 1941.

Ownership of Nagano came under the Japanese National Railways (JNR) following JGR's reorganization post-war. Nagano Works took over steam locomotive maintenance operations from Hamamatsu Works in April 1964 and Mattō Works in April 1969. The last steam locomotive to be repaired at Nagano was C11 64 on 4 March 1976. Following the privatization of the JNR, Nagano Works came under the ownership of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East).

Nagano Works was merged with Kita-Nagano Depot to become the Nagano General Rolling Stock Depot on 1 July 1991 and ceased to exist; it was renamed to Nagano General Rolling Stock Center on 1 June 2004. Nagano General Rolling Stock Center today houses electric multiple units and electric locomotives and also houses a scrapping line for trains; the last limited express train based out of Nagano was 189 series set N102, struck from the roster on 25 June 2019 and the last diesel-powered train operational out of Nagano was DD16 11, scrapped on 27 December 2021.

Preserved steam locomotives[]

The following steam locomotives built by Nagano Works have been preserved:

Number	Class	Serial number	Date manufactured	Date withdrawn	Location	Disposition
D51 231	D51	3	31 March 1939	10 March 1976	National Museum of Nature and Science, Ueno Park, Tokyo, Japan	Static display
D51 260	D51	5	15 January 1940	1 March 1976	Tofukujino Natural Park SL House, Namerikawa, Toyama, Japan	Static display
D51 486	D51	6	27 March 1940	8 November 1969	Nagano General Rolling Stock Center, Nagano, Japan	Static display
D51 549	D51	8	29 October 1940	27 November 1973	The University of Nagano Gocho Campus Zozan Dormitory, Nagano, Japan	Static display

Factories operated by the JR Group
JR Central	Hamamatsu • Nagoya • Shizuoka
JR West	Gōto • Hiroshima • Suita
JR East	Kōriyama • Morioka • Nagano • Ōfuna • Ōmiya
JR Kyushu	Kagoshima • Kokura
JR Hokkaido	Kushiro • Naebo
JR Shikoku	Tadotsu
Defunct/Former	Hatabu • Hyōgo • Kobe • Mattō • Niitsu • Ōi • Shimbashi • Takatori • Toyokawa • Tsuchizaki • Yokkaichi