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I've always admired the brightly polished brass number plates on steam locos and the bright numerals of plates on diesels and electrics in Japan as well. All locomotives in Japan usually had four number plates in all on each side. Correct me if I'm wrong, but instead of number plates American locomotives usually just had their numbers painted on. They are pieces of railwayana that easily distinguish which railway a locomotive belonged to because of their distinctive design (much like how identifiable plates from British or South African locomotives are). Maker's plates I've always liked too, and there are numerous design based on the several different locomotive manufacturers who've supplied Japan with its locomotives throughout its rail history. I have just a cardboard replica of locomotive 58654's number plate in given to me by a Japanese friend who equally loves the SL Hitoyoshi. Does anyone on this forum collect full-sized replicas made of brass or indeed original Japanese locomotive number plates themselves? I'm not planning on collecting any (so far) but I'd like to hear from others. Also, why were some Japanese SL number plates red, green, blue, brown etc.? Why the difference?

I've asked small queries about smaller but still interesting railway materials and apparatus, such as tablets and numberplates, but one thing I've always like about Japanese diesels and electric locomotives (DL and EL, as I like to call them), is their supposedly unique tendency to sport air whistles that make a nice, spine-chilling shriek instead of air horns that sound like a goose with a bad frog in its throat. A classic air whistle of choice for JNR diesels and most electrics seems to be the AW-2, which is my favorite, as it's used by the DE10, including the ones owned by JR Kyushu. Did any other countries use similar warning signs on their modern locomotives? I can't think of any.

This video title is "kasoku sugee," an ASCII face, and then another "sugeeee." I'll translate it as "awesome acceleration." This is DE10-1691 in an out-of-service move from Sapporo to Naebo on August 19, 2021. Built by Nippon Sharyo, it was delivered to Obihiro Depot on February 13, 1975. It has been in Hokkaido throughout its life. Assigned to Kushiro Depot on April 1, 1987 for its first day on the JR Hokkaido roster, it was subsequently based at Hakodate, and at Asahikawa as of April 1, 2021. 1691 is part of the 1500 subseries which included 265 locomotives, numbers 1501 through 1765. The teamde10 link below lists a few interesting points in its history. At 8:06 AM on January 15, 1993, the Kushiro Oki earthquake occurred, which derailed it within the Kushiro diesel shop. Snow plows, brake and sand equipment, and stabilizer bushings were damaged. It was put back on temporary rails a few days later. On March 14, 2016, it powered the last track inspection on the Esashi Line before the line's transfer to the third sector South Hokkaido Railway Company. Its radiator fan, at the end of the long hood, has Naebo's three-leaf ornament. Obviously the main point of interest here is the acceleration and engine rpm. A Yahoo chiebukuro post puts its maximum acceleration at 2.89km/h/s on the level. All DE10s have the DML61Z engine, a 61 liter V-12. From the 1000 subseries on, they have the B variant, good for 1350 horsepower at 1550 rpm. I haven't read whether or not the engine control system will take it over that. If that's 1550 rpm in the video, I'd say it's fast enough 🙂 http://teamde10.fem.jp/rireki/de101600/de101691.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JNR_Class_DE10