JNR Class D51

Class D51
File:JRN D51 SteamLoco Double header at okoba loop.jpg D51 on Hisatsu Line, March 1970
Type and origin Power type Steam Designer Hideo Shima Builder Kawasaki Heavy Industries Rolling Stock Company etc Build date 1936-1951
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 2-8-2 Mikado Gauge 1,067 mm Length 19,730 mm Loco weight 31 t Total weight 78.4 t
Performance figures Tractive effort 184.3 kN
Career Retired 24 December 1975

The Class D51 (D51形) is a type of 2-8-2 steam locomotive built by the Japanese Government Railways, the Japanese National Railways and various manufacturers from 1936 to 1951. The name consists of a "D" for the four sets of driving wheels and the class number 51 for tender locomotives that the numbers 50 through 99 were assigned to under the 1928 locomotive classification rule.

The design of Class D51 was based on the earlier Class D50, which was introduced in 1923. A total of 1,115 D51 locomotives were built, the largest number of locomotives in a single class in Japan. Early D51s built were known as "Namekuji type" (or "slug"). The Class D51 is popularly called "Degoichi" in Japanese.

The specially built D51s that were left on Sakhalin (formerly Karafuto) by the retreating Japanese at the end of World War II were used until 1979 by Russian Railways. One was left outside Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk railway station, and one is in running condition and is kept at the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk railway station. Additionally two wrecks were left to the north of the city.

Preserved examples

Over 170 Class D51 locomotives have been preserved in Japan. D51 498 has been restored by JR East and hauls special event trains on JR East lines.

The following is a partial list of preserved locomotives.

• D51 1 – Preserved at Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum in Kyoto
• D51 2 - Preserved at the Modern Transportation Museum in Osaka
• D51 187 – Preserved in front of JR East's Omiya Workshops, Saitama, Saitama
• D51 200 – Preserved in operational condition by West Japan Railway Company at Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum in Kyoto
• D51 222 – Preserved in Yogi Park, Naha, Okinawa
• D51 254 – Preserved in Suginami Jidō Kōtsū Park, Suginami, Tokyo
• D51 272 – Preserved in Setagaya Park, Setagaya, Tokyo
• D51 296 – Preserved in Fuchū Transport Park, Fuchū, Tokyo
• D51 408
• D51 426 - (Front end only) Preserved at JR East Railway Museum, Saitama, Saitama (Cab section is used as a driving simulator)
• D51 451 – Preserved in Akishima Park, Akishima, Tokyo
• D51 452 – Preserved at Ōme Railway Park, Ōme, Tokyo
• D51 498 – Operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East)
• D51 502 – Preserved in Kamichiba Sunahara Park, Katsushika, Tokyo
• D51 853 – Preserved in Asukayama Park, Kita, Tokyo

Russian Class D51

Plinthed Russian D51-22 outside Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Railway Station Sakhalin Island, Russia

• D51-1: Niigata Prefecture
• D51-2: Hokkaido
• D51-4: Sakhalin (Working order, but faces uncertain future due to re-gauging of the Sakhalin Railways to the Russian gauge)
• D51-22: Sakhalin (Plinthed outside Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk railway station)
• D51-23: Hokkaido
• D51-25: Hokkaido
• D51-26: Hokkaido
• D51-27: Hokkaido
• D51-28: Sakhalin (Dumped at Tomari)
• D51 ? : Sakhalin (2 D51s Dumped north of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk at Dalny)

See also

• Media related to D51 steam locomotive at Wikimedia Commons