Hd300-2

[keitaro]

so Jr recently took delivery of the 2nd full production unit.

 

They will also be receiving several others in the next few months.

 

This model is currently replacing de-10 in yards only, however they are already in design stage of a full blown replacement for regular freight service on main lines.

 

No indication on the rumoured name or number. will do some more digging

 

Funnily enough it's being delivered by the loco in which it is replacing 

 

Can't wait for a few models of this I'll be snapping several up.

 

[Densha]

I find it funny how someone in the HD300 opens the window and puts his arms out of the train while the train is riding.

 

But honestly I don't like these locos. The look just doesn't appeal to me, they looks so modern/European(rather Swiss) to me, and I'm not a fan of that with (diesel) loco designs.

[cteno4]

yeah i see what you mean. not horrible, but not the classic more clean curves. looks like they had to try to max the volume for batteries and thus a bit more blocky form with little on the finessing on edge curves. interesting how just some little edge curves can make a big difference on the look!

 

jeff

[miyakoji]

good find keitaro.  I remember seeing 901 always being pulled around by DE10s, and then finally HD300-1 appeared.  Then I kinda forgot about them .  Number 2 took a while.  Do you know how many they've ordered?

[Densha]

@jeff

Yeah, European diesel locos with a cab in the middle are blocky since already a few decades ago so I'm used to it but don't like it. No wonder I prefer older diesel locos, there's no design in the current ones.

What I do like about the HD300 is how there's still a number plate placed on the loco! You will only see some sticker with a number on it over here since the 80s.

[keitaro]

jr never officially said but it's a minimum of 12 from what i have read.

 

i think it's going to be a slow roll out and they maybe waiting for the next gen there working on to be a more mass produced prototype.

[Nick_Burman]

 

And here we have a "locomotive which isn't a locomotive" (the small 4-axle unit) handing over HD300-2 to it's bigger brother. The freshly-repainted MU units in the back are interesting, there is even an baggage/express car - museum pieces?

 

For me, I find it quite the opposite - I quite like the HD300s. I wish there was something like this pottering around someone's yard or siding here in Brazil, it would break the monotony of the deluge of second-hand ex-USA EMD and GE units (the "rolling scrapyards") which has arrived here over the past decade (we fairly drained the US of GE C30-7 locos...those which remain in the USA in good condition are fetching premium prices). One wonders who is the "winner" of the license to produce the loco in N scale after World Kougei was forced to cancel their release...

 

Cheers Nb

[KenS]

For me, I find it quite the opposite - I quite like the HD300s.

 

I second that.  Although I agree that it looks "European" in terms of the cab, it's still a very interesting look, and a mix of that and the iconic DE10 in yard environments would make things interesting.

 

The JRF DE10s were made over a number of years, but they're all pretty old.  I expect they'll be replaced with the new model as they individully get to the point where they'd need major overhauls or just have something significant fail and need an expensive repair.  They could be more proactive, given the improvements in fuel use and routine maintenance costs these promise, but JRF has a lot of other things to spend money on, and it's not an unlimited resource.

 

The passenger companey members of the JR group might more quickly replace theirs, since they have fewer of them and there's certain to be a benefit to no longer having to support the model at all.

[miyakoji]

Ken, interesting about how many DE10s the passenger JRs have--they've got a lot.  Fewer than JRF, but still a lot.  Based on wikipedia:

 

JR Freight - 151

 

JR Hokkaido - 23

JR East - 68

JR Central - 13

JR West - 49

JR Shikoku - 37

JR Kyushu - 19

 

Compared to the DD51s:

 

JR Freight - 68

 

JR Hokkaido - 13 and 1 in storage

JR East - 4

JR West - 9

 

It will certainly be interesting to see how the passenger JRs replace their DE10s.  I'm not sure what they do with them--mostly yard switching?  Maybe someone else can elaborate on this, and based on that, what kind of priority they'll be given for replacement.  I wonder if a few will need to have steam generators and other equipment for passenger service.

 

Some of us here wondered if JR West would get any EF510-500s to replace their EF81s like JR East did.  Of course they didn't, although with the recent construction of EF210-301, it seems that Kawasaki at least can retool and build an existing type for an economically practical amount.  Maybe the passenger JRs will get HD300s, but several years down the road.  If production is slow, Toshiba could be building these for quite a long time just to supply JRF.  Another interesting matter is improvement in the technology; 5 years from now, hybrid technology will probably be significantly better than it is now.  Maybe HD300 will become HD350.

[keitaro]

Jr have stated that the hd-300's are not suited to pulling any form of service on a main line.

 

It would be great due to being more quiet and "cheaper to run" for passenger services, however i really don't think this was suited to have the traction of a de10, plus a fair few of those de10's listed are of the painted variety.

 

You most certainly would not be seeing this pulling a cassiopeia or similar variant.

 

de10-1000 and onwards = 1000kw ~ or 1350 HP

HD300-1 = 500Kw or 670 HP~

 

A e233 emu has a combined out put of 3,360 kW (6M4T)

 

i just don't see the hd300 ever having any part except as a helper in any main line service.

 

It's future brother though will! I'm awaiting info on this eagerly.

[Densha]

HD300-3:

 

[Nick_Burman]

Jr have stated that the hd-300's are not suited to pulling any form of service on a main line.

 

Not surprising, the batteries simply don't have the stamina for sustained tractive effort at line speed.

 

Some time ago I read in an magazine ("Trains"?) that in the US a switcher spends half of its lifetime stopped idling, waiting for "something" to happen. In this situation a hybrid loco makes sense, as the batteries would only be used on demand.

 

You most certainly would not be seeing this pulling a cassiopeia or similar variant.

 

Only to and from the coach yard...

 

 

Cheers NB

[Nick_Burman]

HD300-3:

 

 

Sounds very quiet. Folks who live next to freight yards will surely appreciate the loco...

 

 

Cheers NB

[Jace]

Some time ago I read in an magazine ("Trains"?) that in the US a switcher spends half of its lifetime stopped idling, waiting for "something" to happen.

 

Or worse. We were sizing the oil cooling system (filter sizes, capacity) on a switcher a couple years ago. The unit is mainly used for maintenance of way support but it does spend a fair amount of time doing classic switcher work in getting its train together. We had the oil replacement intervals but needed to know the duty cycle to size the system. I took some throttle position data from a test and then used engine assignment sheets to ballpark the percent of time the unit will typically spend in each setting. What I found was that 75% of the time the unit was at 10% power or less and that was after adding in some margin! This ended up being very close to the US EPA's switcher duty cycle standard (used in setting emissions levels - see page 2 of this UP report for details).

 

It's no wonder hybrids and gensets are so attractive despite their typically much higher up-front costs. The unit I was working on is also sort of a genset - it has a single main engine but it also has an auxiliary engine to run things like lights, HVAC, radio and of course the crew's DVD player while at a work site.

[KenS]

Ken, interesting about how many DE10s the passenger JRs have--they've got a lot.  Fewer than JRF, but still a lot. 

 

I had no idea they had so many. In videos and photos I've only seen a few around JR East's Tokyo yards.  I know some get used for passenger trains (and in particular some Joyful trains) on more rural lines. And I've seen a few JRE units in maintenance/ballast trains in videos. But I thought it was a much smaller number.

 

Now I have an excuse to buy more DE10 models...