What are these symbols and numbers?

[velotrain]

I have seen these "frames" on the side of the cab on a number of Japanese locomotives, although they don't always have anything in them, or perhaps just one of the two slots is filled. 

 

The possible "roof" graphic on the right makes me wonder if those numbers are perhaps related to the home base for this engine?  I don't even have a guess as to what the one on the left is indicating.

 

 

http://d51791.com/pg24kamatadd.html

 

Third photo from the bottom.

 

 

[bikkuri bahn]

The plate on the left indicates the motive power depot the locomotive is assigned to (in this case, Shinagawa).  The right side plate indicates the work assignment, numbers likely correspond to train numbers in the working timetable.

[velotrain]

Thanks for the info bb.

 

Is the motive power depot expressed in some sort of code, or do these symbols have a specific meaning in kanji, or some other language?

 

Would you know the meaning of what I interpreted as a "roof" symbol over the work assignment numbers? 

 

Are these generally only used with "smaller" engines, assigned to local jobs, or is that a decision for the railroad owning the engine?

 

Perhaps these fell into disuse around the time of privatization.

[miyakoji]

The depot assignment cards on locomotives are usually one character, in this case 品 which is the first character of Shinagawa.  On this page http://www16.tok2.com/home/asti/RAIL/faq02.html the chart at the bottom is JR Freight.  The charts above are the passenger JRs.  At the top of the JR East chart (second one) you'll find these four lines.

青森運転所      盛アオ      青
八戸運輸区      盛ハヘ      --
一ノ関運輸区   盛イチ       --
盛岡運転所      盛モリ       --

The first column is the full name of the depot.  Here it's Aomori Untensho (or Untenjo), Hachinohe Un'yuku, Ichinoseki Un'yuku, and Morioka Untensho (or Untenjo).

 

The second column is one kanji and two katakana.  These four all have 盛, the first character in Morioka, so maybe Morioka is the administrative center of the region.  Not sure.  The two katakana are then like abbrevations or acronyms for the administrative subdivision (again, guessing).  アオ is ao for Aomori, ハヘ is hahe, for HAchinoHE, イチ is ICHInoseki, and a bit confusingly モリ is MORIoka.  Designations in this format seem to be used on EMUs/DMUs.

 

The third column is the single character code for the depot.  In this case, only Aomori Depot has one, 青.  Not sure why, but the single-character codes seem to be used on locomotives, maybe only Aomori has locomotives.
 
And here are some for sale: http://www.karamatsu-train.co.jp/houkoumaku/kumeisatsu.htm .  The one used on imperial trains was a bargain at only ¥350,000, so it's been snapped up

 

As for the work assignment, I'm pretty sure I've never seen such an indicator before, thanks for the info Bikkuri :)

[velotrain]

Thanks for all of the info, Miyakoji.  I checked your first link, but don't see the code for Shinagawa, but I'm guessing there are many possible reasons for that. 

 

I think I'll have to be satisfied with just adding the engine number ;-)

[miyakoji]

Based on a quick search, Shinagawa depot was closed to make way for the shinkansen platforms. Its rolling stock was reassigned to Shin-Tsurumi Kawasaki subdepot.

[westfalen]

A few examples from my trip last September.

C57 180

 

EH800 at Goryokaku.

 

DF 200 at Goryokaku.

 

DE10 on paper train at Ishinomaki.