DD51 Retirement

[Das Steinkopf]

The end of an era has well and truly begun with the retirement from service of the remaining DD51-800's from March next year, there are only 6 of them left in active service these days with all based at Inazawa. It will be sad to see them go as they showed that they were still a valuable asset not that long ago when the Sanyo Honsen was cut from typhoon damage and the DD51's were used to run freight services via the Obama line. If a similar event happened in the future I don't know what JRF would do as the DF200-200's are too heavy to be used along the line and I am not sure how many DD200's are being built to replace the DE10's that are used for working freight services on non electrified lines.

 

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/8e91b4fc3fb04824c12a85b9dbb5de67d7a63fd8

[miyakoji]

The last time I looked there were only about 10 DD200s.  I’ve seen a few EF210-300s coming out of Kawasaki but nothing about DD200s.   A pair of DE10s could take the place of a DD51 I’d guess.  I assume they’ll work in MU operation.

[Das Steinkopf]

16 hours ago, miyakoji said:

The last time I looked there were only about 10 DD200s.  I’ve seen a few EF210-300s coming out of Kawasaki but nothing about DD200s.   A pair of DE10s could take the place of a DD51 I’d guess.  I assume they’ll work in MU operation.

 The production of the EF210-300's have really picked up pace of late, when I first went to Japan in 2015 they were relatively new to service and there was only a few of them around and given they were designed to replace the EF67's I thought that they would be produced in relatively small numbers, from what I can see there is about 29 of them in service now and with them reaching further up the Tokaido Honsen I can see the days are numbered for the EF64-1000's, EF65-2000's and even the EF66-100's.

 

 With regards to the DD200's it's hard to see how many of them are going to be produced as the writing is on the wall for the DE10's as well, there is well over 30 odd HD300's in service now which are progressively replacing the DE10's in the shunting role, the DD200's will be used to replace the remaining DE10's that are used for freight services on the non electrified lines, I dare say after initial trials of the HD300's in that role that they proved to be unsuitable for that and hence why they went for a straight diesel locomotive instead of a hybrid.

Edited December 19, 2020 by Das Steinkopf

[miyakoji]

5 hours ago, Das Steinkopf said:

the writing is on the wall for the DE10's as well

It's for this reason, plus your point about the HD300s, that I thought there would be more DD200s.  DE10s seem to be used for work trains and all sorts of other random utility purposes, I thought maybe even the passenger JRs would buy some.

 

This article is from December 18, 2020 https://tetsudo-ch.com/11018794.html it says JR Freight will order 11 EF210s, 1 HD300, 6 DD200s, and 99 forklifts.  I don't know what the time frame for this is.  In the last paragraph it's talking about station facilities upgrades in Morioka and Gifu, which are expected to be completed in March 2021, but I don't think that relates to the rolling stock purchases.

[roadstar_na6]

59 minutes ago, miyakoji said:

I thought maybe even the passenger JRs would buy some.

I wish loco hauled passenger service would have a comeback

[miyakoji]

5 hours ago, roadstar_na6 said:

I wish loco hauled passenger service would have a comeback

Yeah, some operational variety really appeals to my inner tetsudo maniac.  Unfortunately I don't think we'll see it.  Additionally, what will they use for conversion to joyful trains and such?  When there's no more JNR-era equipment left, will that be the end of that?  JR West built those five 35-4000 coaches for the SL Yamaguchi service, maybe the other JRs will do the same, if the interest and funds are there.  Somehow I think this means only JR East.  Maybe JR Kyushu.

 

Anyway, your comment reminded me to post this video from a few weeks ago on JR East's YT channel:

 

[Das Steinkopf]

13 hours ago, miyakoji said:

It's for this reason, plus your point about the HD300s, that I thought there would be more DD200s.  DE10s seem to be used for work trains and all sorts of other random utility purposes, I thought maybe even the passenger JRs would buy some.

 

 The other JR divisions have very little interest in them due to their age and have been slowly running their numbers down over the years, JR Central inherited 13 at the break up of JNR and rid themselves of them in 2008, JR Kyushu have 8 units from 19, JR Shikoku 1 unit from 37, JR West 18 units from 49, JR East 26 units from 68 and JR Hokkaido 10 units from 23, JR East also had 33 DE15's of which 14 were sold to JRF and became the DE10-3000/3500 subvariant, 9 of them are still in service mainly around Toyama, Sendai and Niigata.  

 

13 hours ago, miyakoji said:

This article is from December 18, 2020 https://tetsudo-ch.com/11018794.html it says JR Freight will order 11 EF210s, 1 HD300, 6 DD200s, and 99 forklifts.  I don't know what the time frame for this is.  In the last paragraph it's talking about station facilities upgrades in Morioka and Gifu, which are expected to be completed in March 2021, but I don't think that relates to the rolling stock purchases.

 

 Thanks for the article, this pretty much confirms the gradual process of modernizing the fleet with standard types of locomotives replacing a wide variety of older locomotives, this will also provide economic benefits to JRF with a reduction in running costs due to having brand new locomotives that don't require deep level maintenance for a while compared to the current fleet, not to mention the reduction in spare parts holdings, a number of which are interchangeable between the new classes. By the looks of it the HD300's are probably coming to the end of their production run as there is at least 35 in service now and the numbers procured would probably be enough for shunting duties, the DD200's will more than likely go to at least 20 units as the 6 to be added next year will take the fleet to at least 15, as for the EF210-300's with a class strength of at least 40 locomotives I can certainly see them to move further afield and will more than likely start appearing on the Chuo Honsen at the expense of the EF64-1000's. It's good to see that there will be some money spent on infrastructure which indicates that there has been some growth in rail freight, the new forklifts are probably replacements for some of the current fleet as the FD115's will probably be nearing the end of the life and they will move to a low emission vehicle, more than likely the replacements will either be electric or hybrid. The yard improvements are of real interest as the yard at Nishi Gifu was the prototype of the modern E & S style yard and I am curious as to what they are going to do with it as there is very little room to expand it, I am not also sure if they could build another freight terminal in the area as there are no real massive spaces of spare land that could be used for a decent sized freight depot.  

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/日本貨物鉄道（株）+岐阜貨物ターミナル駅駅長事務室/@35.4011015,136.7119588,18.06z/data=!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x600174ece1b10c2d:0x8bccbbd569908646!2sOtsu,+Shiga,+Japan!3b1!8m2!3d35.0178929!4d135.8546074!3m4!1s0x6003ae87db82fb63:0x5dc8284016b34960!8m2!3d35.4010701!4d136.710725

 

 There is two terminals in Morioka one based at Mizusawa that can only handle 12' containers and the other at Iwate Iioka that is a rather large terminal that also has a fuel storage depot alongside it, it will be interesting to see what happens here on whether they consolidate all the container services in the area into the main yard at Iwate Iioka or if they modernise the yard at Mizusawa and expand it's capabilities, that said I can't really see the space for them to be swinging toploaders with 31' containers around in that yard with ease.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/ＪＲ貨物+盛岡貨物ターミナル駅/@39.6438083,141.1441966,410m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x600174ece1b10c2d:0x8bccbbd569908646!2sOtsu,+Shiga,+Japan!3b1!8m2!3d35.0178929!4d135.8546074!3m4!1s0x5f85833206cfffff:0x9130773039a65ab!8m2!3d39.6447507!4d141.1445372

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/日本貨物鉄道（株）+岐阜貨物ターミナル駅駅長事務室/@39.2668829,141.1493115,32015m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x600174ece1b10c2d:0x8bccbbd569908646!2sOtsu,+Shiga,+Japan!3b1!8m2!3d35.0178929!4d135.8546074!3m4!1s0x6003ae87db82fb63:0x5dc8284016b34960!8m2!3d35.4010701!4d136.710725

Edited December 20, 2020 by Das Steinkopf

[miyakoji]

17 hours ago, Das Steinkopf said:

The other JR divisions have very little interest in them due to their age and have been slowly running their numbers down over the years

 

Right, I meant the DD200s.  As the DE10 fleet decreases, I thought the passenger JRs might buy a few DD200s just to handle the random task here and there.  Could they contract out such movements to JR Freight?

 

17 hours ago, Das Steinkopf said:

as for the EF210-300's with a class strength of at least 40 locomotives I can certainly see them to move further afield and will more than likely start appearing on the Chuo Honsen at the expense of the EF64-1000'

 

Yeah they're already being based far away from Hiroshima where I thought they were just going to replace those EF67 pushers.  Several are based at Shin-Tsurumi, including 326 through 329 according to Japanese wikipedia.

 

[Das Steinkopf]

9 hours ago, miyakoji said:

 

Right, I meant the DD200s.  As the DE10 fleet decreases, I thought the passenger JRs might buy a few DD200s just to handle the random task here and there.  Could they contract out such movements to JR Freight?

 

 

 It would be good if the other JR divisions order DD200's to replace their aging fleets of DE10's, as far as permanent way is concerned a lot of the companies are using small locomotives such as the TMC 400's, MR 786's and a host of other rail tractors for hauling ballast hoppers and rail bolsters, JR East has also recently purchased a decent number of KiYa E195's which are based on the JR Central KiYa 97 Rail Carriers.

 

 As far as JRF being contracted to provide such services I am not 100% sure as to that happening as each operating division tries to be as independent as possible, JR East being a prime example where they have retained a small fleet of locomotives such as some EF64-1000's to haul new rolling stock from the manufacturers, there has also been some bad blood in the past between JRF and the other operating divisions.

[GWR]

DD200-11 was delivered today.

Edited February 9, 2021 by GWR

[GWR]

DD200-12 has been delivered.

[GWR]

DD200-13 has joined the JRF fleet

[Das Steinkopf]

Here is some footage of the retirement ceremony and last train to run, I hope Tomix brings out a Sayonara set as it will be an interesting train looking at the assortment of KoKi's and containers that the final consist ran with.

 

 

[Kiha66]

Wow, hard to believe they're gone.  Wonder if any of the last few will be preserved.

[Das Steinkopf]

Just now, Kiha66 said:

Wow, hard to believe they're gone.  Wonder if any of the last few will be preserved.

JR West and JR East still have a few and there are a number of them preserved such as DD51-756 in the Kyoto Railway Museum, as for the JRF units it would not surprise me if the get hit with the gas axe as they don't want to be paying any taxes on equipment that is no longer used, the destruction of EF64-77 early last year was a prime example despite its history of hauling the imperial train.