The Toyokawa Railway Class 50 and the related Horaiji Railway Class Denki 51 are Japanese DC electric locomotives operated by the Toyokawa and Horaiji Railways and later other railway companies since 1925.
History[]
The Class 50 is an early electric locomotive used in Japan. Two locomotives were built by English Electric, with one locomotive going to the Toyokawa Railway and another to the Horaiji Railway, an affiliated railway operator; both locomotives are identical apart from designations, with the Toyokawa locomotive being classified the Class 50 and the Horaiji locomotive the Class Denki 51. The locomotives were reclassified on their respective railways in October 1930, with Toyokawa's locomotive reclassified the Class DeKi 50 and Horaiji's the Class DeKi 100; a further reclassification on 18 January 1938 led to Horaiji's DeKi 100 being reclassified as the Class DeKi 50 and the previous DeKi 50 locomotive operated by Toyokawa reclassified as the Class DeKi 51.
With the Toyokawa and Horaiji Railways's nationization in 1944, the locomotives were acquired by the Japanese National Railways; they initially operated with no changes in number. They were reclassified as the JNR Class ED28 with vehicle naming regulations coming into force in 1952 and renumbered ED28 1 and ED28 2 respectively. ED28 1 was withdrawn from JNR service on 1 February 1956, while ED28 2 was withdrawn in 1959. ED28 1 was resold to the Ohmi Railway while ED28 2 was resold to the Enshū Railway, both with no changes in number. ED28 1 was resold again to Seibu's Tokorozawa Works in 1963, where it was reassigned to operate on Yamagata Kōtsū's Takahata Line, renumbered ED2 and given voltage step down modifications. ED2 operated until 18 November 1974 when the Takahata Line closed; it was later moved to the Lina World theme park for display along with another Yamagata Kōtsū railcar, MoHa 2. Both were removed from the park in 2012 and were presumably scrapped.
ED28 2 still operates on the Enshū Railway. While the locomotive was initially given similar voltage step down modifications as ED28 1 to step down its voltage to 600 V DC, its voltage was later boosted to 750 V DC with the Enshū Railway's voltage boosts for their overhead lines. It is mainly used to haul construction trains at night.
Specifications[]
The Class 50 used a nose suspension drive system. DK-36 traction motors were used on the locomotives.
Preservation[]
The following Class 50 locomotives were preserved in the past but have since been scrapped:
Number | Manufacturer | Equipment manufacturer | Date manufactured | Date retired | Last location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ED28 1 | English Electric | English Electric | 1925 | 1 February 1956 (JNR) 1963 (Ohmi) 18 November 1974 (Yamako) |
Lina World, Yamagata, Japan | Ex-Horaiji 51, displayed under shelter as Yamagata Kōtsū ED2 next to MoHa 2; removed November 2012, presumably scrapped |
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