It's late February already, but the maximum daytime temperature is often below 10 degrees Celsius in Tokyo. Is global warming real? There's no point thinking about it, so, I went to the suburbs to look for signs of spring. My destination was Ikuta Ryokuchi Park (Ikuta Green Park) in Kawasaki City. When I was strolling in the park, I came across an early blooming plum tree decked with light pink-colored flowers in a grove. That was just what I had been looking for. I could feel the sign of spring just a little.
I can't be written off here as this is a railway blog. Following the early blooming plum tree, I luckily found a preserved steam locomotive (SL) in front of the science museum in the park. It's unit 408 of Class D51 SL (D51 408). As I posted before, Class D51 was Japan's biggest force of locomotive fleet. 1,115 units in total were built from 1935 to 1950. It's a 2-8-2 (Whyte notation) type SL that has a tender attached. D51 408 was built in 1940 by Nippon Sharyo. Starting from Toyama Depot of Japanese Government Railways, D51 408 was moved from one depot to the next. Its primary mission was pulling freight trains. After traveling more than 1.4 million kilometers, D51 408 was retired from the track in 1970.
Please look at the picture. D51 408 is preserved in excellent condition. It's sparkling even under the weak winter sunlight. Spring is just around the corner.
