Fukui Railway to retire DeKi 11

[Densha]

 

Fukui Railway has announced that it will withdrawn its DeKi 11 electric locomotive from service sometime after the next fiscal year. The DeKi 11 was built in 1927, and is nowadays mainly used for snowplough duties. Still, the vehicle has a light structure and a lack of power, which caused it to derail on multiple occasions.

 

The purchase costs of a new vehicle for snowplough duties has been included in Fukui Railway's 2018 draft budget. The fate of the DeKi 11 has yet been undecided, as neither scrapping nor conservation has been confirmed.

 

Source: https://mainichi.jp/articles/20180227/k00/00e/040/286000c

[Densha]

Looks like this will be the definite end of the 'old' Fukui Railway, as this is the last non-streetcar vehicle remaining in service at the company. The last remaining high-floor passenger equipment, the 200 series, already retired last year.

[kvp]

Actually these snow clearing cars need a big load of sandbags to work properly. Those also come handy as the car should sand the rails for more traction after clearing the snow. The Budapest units are doing this since 1927 (https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muki). Yes, they are very similar... :-)

[Densha]

The DeKi 11 locomotive was created through a conversion from the original DeWa 1 electric boxcar, as shown here. Freight could be stored not only in freight cars behind the unit, but also inside of the DeWa 1 itself. Hence the classification electric boxcar. At some point, freight transport dwindled and was abolished, after which the electric boxcar was rebuilt into the DeKi 11 that still exists to this day.

[bill937ca]

Only in Japan does a work car get a write up in a newspaper.

[katoftw]

N scale model

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10219629