The Class E31 (E31形) is a class of DC

Bo-Bo B-B and Bo-Bo are the AAR wheel arrangement, Association of American Railroads (AAR) and British classifications of wheel arrangement for railway locomotives with four axles in two individual bogies. They are equivalent to the B′B′ and Bo′B ...

wheel arrangement

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a Battery (electricity), battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime mover (locomotive), ...

s formerly operated by the private railway operator

Seibu Railway is a conglomerate based in Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan, with principal business areas in railways, tourism, and real estate. Seibu Railway's operations are concentrated in northwest Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture; the name "Seibu" is an abbrevi ...

in Japan until March 2010 and subsequently by the

Ōigawa Railway is a railway company in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, which first opened in 1927. The company is commonly known as . The company belonged to the Meitetsu Group until 2015, when it was sold to Eclipse Hidaka, a food and hotel company headquarte ...

. Four locomotives (numbered E31 to E34) were built at Seibu's

Tokorozawa is a Cities of Japan, city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 343,298 in 168,939 households and a population density of 4761 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Tokorozawa is ...

factory between 1986 and 1987 to replace ageing first-generation electric locomotives on freight services and track maintenance train duties. The DT-20A

bogies A bogie ( ) (or truck in North American English) comprises two or more wheelsets (two wheels on an axle), in a frame, attached under a vehicle by a pivot. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transport. A bogie may remain normally ...

were reused from former

JNR The , abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pre ...

80 series

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the ...

, and the traction motors were modified from former EMU motors. File:Seibu-Railway-E31.jpg, Seibu Railway E31 File:Seibu-Railway-E31-DT20A.jpg, Closeup of the DT-20A bogie File:Seibu E33+hoki+E34-2.JPG, Seibu Railway E33･34 Electric locomotive and Hoki 81 freight car They were normally used in pairs by Seibu for top-and-tailing

permanent way Railway track ( and International Union of Railways, UIC terminology) or railroad track (), also known as permanent way () or "P way" ( and English in the Commonwealth of Nations#Indian subcontinent, Indian English), is the structure on a Ra ...

maintenance trains and to haul newly delivered rolling stock. Locomotive number E33 was withdrawn on 31 January 2009, becoming the first of the class to be withdrawn. The remaining three locomotives were withdrawn on 28 March 2010. Seibu railway E34 20140824 001

In September 2010, three of the withdrawn Class E31 locomotives (E32 to E34) were transferred to the

to replace the ageing E10 and ED500 locomotives used there. Initially they were used only for depot shunting duties, but from 2017 they underwent overhaul in preparation for use as helper locomotives on steam-hauled trains, with the first locomotive treated, E34, scheduled to enter revenue service on 15 October 2017. Occasionally, they are used to haul the EL ''Kawane michi-gō'' express. Locomotive E31 remains preserved at Seibu's Yokoze Depot.

References

External links

Seibu Railway website
{{Japanloco Electric locomotives of Japan Bo-Bo locomotives 1500 V DC locomotives Seibu Railway Railway locomotives introduced in 1986 1067 mm gauge locomotives of Japan

See also

References

External links