JNR Class D51

JNR Class D51 Soviet Railways D51 Taiwan Railways DT650 Manila Railroad 300 class (1951) KNR Mika7 (미카7)
JR East's D51 498 on the Jōetsu Line in December 2008
Type and origin Power type Steam Designer Hideo Shima Builder Kawasaki Heavy Industries Rolling Stock Company Kisha Seizo Hitachi Nippon Sharyo Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Build date 1936-1951 Total produced 1115 (Japan) 37 (Taiwan) 10 (Philippines) 2 (Korea) 30 (Soviet Union)
Specifications Gauge 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) (KNR Mika7) Length 19,730 mm (64 ft 8+3⁄4 in) Loco weight 76.8 t (75.6 long tons; 84.7 short tons)[1] Total weight 123.0 t (121.1 long tons; 135.6 short tons)
Performance figures Maximum speed 85 km/h (55 mph) Tractive effort 184.3 kN (41,400 lbf)
Career Numbers JNR : D51 1-D954, D51 1001-1161 (Japan) TRA : DT651-687 (Taiwan) Soviet Railways : D51-1-D51-30 (Soviet Union) KNR : 1701-1702 (Korea) Manila Railroad : 300-309 (Philippines) Retired 1956 (Philippines) 1965 (Korea) 1975 (Japan) 1979 (Soviet Union) 1983 (Taiwan) Disposition 174 preserved, five operational, 6 converted into JNR Class D61 (Japan) Two preserved (Russia) Four preserved (Taiwan)

The Class D51 (D51形) is a type of 2-8-2 steam locomotive built by the Japanese Government Railways (JGR), the Japanese National Railways (JNR), and Kawasaki Heavy Industries Rolling Stock Company, Kisha Seizo, Hitachi, Nippon Sharyo, Mitsubishi, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries from 1936 to 1945 and 1950 to 1951. 174 units are in preservation in Japan, including five operational examples. A further 13 are preserved in Russia and Taiwan, bringing the total number of preserved units to 187.

The design of class D51 was based on the earlier D50, introduced in 1923. Wartime production featured some substitution of wood for steel parts like running boards, smoke deflectors and tender coal bunkers. A total of 1,115 D51s were built,^[2] the largest number in any single class of locomotive in Japan. Early D51s were nicknamed Namekuji-gata ("slug-form") for their shape. The locomotive was designed by Hideo Shima. It was used mainly in freight service through the 1960s. Some D51s were fitted with the Giesl ejector in Hokkaido to conserve on fuel.^[3]

The 30 specially built D51s that were left on Sakhalin (formerly Karafuto) by the retreating Japanese at the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and after the Soviet-Japanese War (1945), were used from 1945 until 1979 by Soviet Railways. One was left outside Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk railway station, and one is in running condition and is kept at the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk railway station. Additionally two wrecks were left to the north of the city.^[4]

Two locomotives were built for the Korean National Railroad in 1950 by Mitsubishi for South Korea during the Korean War. Designated Mika7 (미카7) class, they were nearly identical to JNR class D51 except for the gauge.^[5]

According to the a journal published in 1956, ten locomotives were built by Nippon Sharyo for the Manila Railroad Company. These entered service in 1951. Numbered the 300 class, they were named after the cog locomotive class built in the 1910s for the Manila Railway. These locomotives differed from the rest of the D51 builds through the lack of smoke deflectors.^[6]

The locomotives had a short service life in the Philippines as Manila Railroad ordered the dieselization of its entire network, having all steam locomotives retired by 1956.^[7]

From 1936 to 1944, Kawasaki, Kisha Seizō and Hitachi had built 32 D51s for Imperial Taiwan Railway. After World War II, they were taken over by Taiwan Railways Administration, and were classified DT650. In 1951, Kisha Seizō built three DT650s and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries built two DT650s for Taiwan Railways Administration.^[8]

The classification consists of a "D" for the four sets of driving wheels and the class number 51 for tender locomotives that the numbers 50 through 99 were assigned to under the 1928 locomotive classification rule.

Over 173 Class D51 locomotives are preserved in Japan. D51 498 was restored by JR East and pulls special-event trains on JR East lines.^[9]

The following is a list of preserved locomotives as of July 2023.^[10]

• DT652: Preserved at Tainan Sports Park.
• DT654: Preserved at East Stone Township, Chiayi County. (The current number is DT651)
• DT668: Preserved in operational condition at Changhua Locomotive Depot.
• DT670: Preserved at Art and Literature Center, Banqiao District, New Taipei City. (The current number is DT675)

• 
  DT652 at Tainan Sports Park
• 
  DT654 at East Stone Township, Chiayi County
• 
  DT668 on a trial run in Taiwan in November 2011
• 
  DT675(Former DT670)

• D51-4: Sakhalin (Static display at the Museum of the Sakhalin Railway)
• D51-22: Sakhalin (Plinthed outside Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk railway station)

• 
  Russian D51-4 at Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Railway Station Depot Sakhalin Island, Russia
• 
  Plinthed Russian D51-22 outside Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Railway Station Sakhalin Island, Russia

• D51 146: Operated on the Mooka Railway, runs on compressed air. (Semi-operational)
• D51 200: Preserved in operational condition by JR West at the Kyoto Railway Museum, and was operating on Yamaguchi Line from November 2017 to May 2022, when a crack in one of its bogies was discovered. Restoration work and trial runs are continuing at the Railway Museum.
• D51 320: Operated at a railway museum in Abira, Hokkaido on compressed air. (Semi-operational)
• D51 498: Operated by JR East, based at Takasaki Rolling Stock Center^[9][11]
• D51 827: Operated at Aridagawa Railway Park in Wakayama Prefecture, runs on compressed air.

Built in 1938 at the JNR Hamamatsu Works, locomotive number D51 200 has been overhauled and restored to operational condition for use as SL Yamaguchi and SL Kitabiwako starting in 2017.^[12]

• 
  D51 200 at the Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum in December 2011
• 
  D51 6 in Asahikawa, Hokkaido
• 
  D51 51 ("Slug" type)
• 
  D51 125 in Funabashi, Chiba
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  D51 170 in Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto
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  D51 222 in Yogi Park, Naha, Okinawa
• 
  D51 231 outside the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo in December 2014
• 
  D51 286 in Otaru, Hokkaido
• 
  D51 452 at Ome Railway Park in Tokyo
• 
  D51 470 in Gifu
• 
  D51 745 in front of Minakami Station in October 2012
• 
  D51 774 next to the former Taisha Station in Izumo in March 2016
• 
  D51 792 in Kasugai, Aichi
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  D51 862 in Machida, Tokyo
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  D51 946 at the Coal and Fossils Museum in Iwaki, Fukushima
• 
  D51 1085 in Aridagawa, Wakayama
• 
  D51 1108 at Sendai Shinkansen Depot in July 2008
• 
  D51 1116 at The Hirosawa City in Chikusei, Ibaraki

Hiro, a character based on the Class D51 and voiced by Togo Igawa, appears in the 2009 animated film Thomas & Friends: Hero of The Rails and thereafter became one of the show’s mainstays and the first character introduced after the change to CGI.

In the anime Hikarian the character Dozilas is based on the D51 498.

The Transformers Decepticon Astrotrain transforms into a Class D51 and a space shuttle.

The Gobots aka Machine Robo character Loco(Steam Robo) based on D-51 and has the number D-5147 on the character.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to D51.

• JNR Class D50
• JNR Class D52