Japan, like many European countries, leaped straight into electric propulsion on their railroad networks from steam in the early 20th century. Since her mainlines are dominated by passenger multiple units, locomotives have not been in a big demand. Diesel locomotives are even more scarce, they only run on the relatively few miles of non-electrified mainlines.
The Japanese have attempted producing a diesel-electric locomotive before (not long after the war) but have since been using hydraulic transmission instead. Well, that was until the Kawasaki DF200 was introduced in the early/mid 1990s. To date, the DF200 remains the only diesel-electric locomotive on the JR system.
Japan Rail Freight (JRF) runs unit trains only
Like the typical Japanese electric locomotive, the DF200 is a 6-axle but not the kind we are used to. Instead of having two 3-axle trucks, Japanese locomotives have three 2-axle trucks instead. Power comes from two small high-speed diesel engines. Early variants of the DF200 have two MTU engines rated at 1,700 hp, later (and the majority) of this locomotive are equipped with two 1,800 hp Komatsu engines. The variants with Komatsu engines have been given the nickname Red Bear Eco Power (well ... don't ask me how or why ... maybe it's because the locomotive has a red nose and is used in the very north of Japan where there are probably bears? That's my best guess). On the rails, traction is provided by 6 AC motors with a combined maximum output of 2,600 hp. Braking equipment will sound familiar to us North American railfans, on board are both electronic air brake valves and dynamic brake.
Not a bad looking loco really
This Wikipedia page outlines the different variants of the locomotive, including a latest passenger version.
The train of this week is a locomotive unveiled in 2009 by the BNSF Railway. Instead of using conventional diesel fuel, it is powered by hydrogen fuel cells (I have very limited knowledge in this area, so please feel free to comment on this post if you are interested in and familiar with the topic of hydrogen fuel cells). It is called the HH20B, a hydrogen-hybrid switcher locmotive based on the GG20B Green Goat diesel-hybrid switcher built by Railpower Technologies Corp. of Brossard, Quebec (acquired by R.J. Corman Railroad Group of Nicholasville, Kentucky in 2009). The GG20B is powered by a 300 hp 4-stroke Caterpillar diesel-engine and a battery pack with a combined tractive output of 2,000 hp. On the HH20B, diesel engine is replaced by hydrogen fuel cells. Hydrogen storage is in a set of tanks installed on top of the long hood of the locomotive in a heavily vented enclosure, above the batteries. The BNSF Railway displaying its low- and ul...
Last week, we've identified the Janney coupler and briefly looked at its elegant design. This week, let's, again, very briefly, look at the different types of Janney coupler that are widely used today. I will only talk about the head of the coupler, and ignore anything that the general public may need to trespass onto railroad property and get in a unsafe situation in order to have a good look at. As far as coupler heads are concerned, there are 3 types in used today. Type E, F, and H. Types E and F are used on freight, and H used on passenger equipment. Since the withdrawal of passenger service in North America by private railroads, the Type H standard is no longer maintained by the Association of American Railroads, a trade group formed of major freight railroads, but is under the control of the APTA, the American Public Transportation Association. Now let me introduce another term, slack. Slack is an allowed gap between two coupled up couplers. In other words, when most ...
The ES44AC (successor of the AC4400CW) is a member of the family of GE's latest and greatest diesel-electric freight locomotives, the Evolution Series . Other locomotives in the Evolution Series include ES40DC, ES44DC, ES44C4 for the domestic market and ES44ACi (Kazakhstan), ES59ACi (China), and ES44DCi (Australia) for export. The direct competitor of the ES44AC is the SD70ACe developed by Electro Motive Diesel (EMD). The name ES44AC can be simply decoded as E volution S eries 4 , 4 00 horsepower AC traction (this naming scheme does not apply to EMD products or the ES59ACi which actually outputs 6,250 horsepower). However, unlike electric locomotives, the rated power of diesel-electric locomotives are measured at the prime mover (i.e. the diesel engine), not at the traction motors. The Evolution Series were developed to meet the stricter EPA Tier 2 emission standards. These locomotives use the GEVO prime movers instead of the FDL prime movers used on th...
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