kiha 58 sound

[bikkuri bahn]

Though I'm mainly a rider and photographer of trains (noritetsu and toritetsu respectively), I also enjoy the sounds of railways, so I could also be an ototetsu.  One of the most distinctive sounds of Japanese railways comes from the DMH17 eight cylinder diesel engine, which was ubiquitous in JNR and early JR days on diesel railcars.  Here is a video of the start-up and idling of a kiha 58+Kiha 28 set (express Miyoshi at Bingo Ochiai Station in Hiroshima Prefecture).  This was a common pairing, as the kiha 28, though with only one DMH17 engine (the 58 had a pair), had an auxiliary diesel powered generator to run the air con on both units.  The most interesting parts are the beginning and end of the video, the middle is basically a repetition of the beginning sequence. At 1:10 you can hear the distinctive and unmistakable knocking of the DMH at idle.