Steam locomotive Unit 7 of Seibu Railway is preserved in Higashi-Shinagawa ParkI recently found a precious steam locomotive (SL) in Shinagawa Ward of Tokyo Metropolis. It was being displayed in a public park, named Higashi-Shinagawa Park, within an apartment complex. I'm going to introduce you to this SL today.
The SL Unit 7 of Seibu Railway was built by Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works, the United States, in 1897 as the product number 1,711. It was ordered by Iga Railway, but the inauguration of that railway had failed to obtain the shareholders' approval. The SL was then taken over by Hankaku Railway (later the Ministry of Railways) under the name of Unit 3 of the Class A1. After being operated by several railways, it was transferred to Seibu Railway in 1943 under the new name of Unit 7. After 22 years more, this SL was eventually retired from the track in 1965, and stored and displayed in Higashi-Shinagawa Park in 1969.
Unit 7 is a 2-6-0 (Whyte notation) type tank locomotive. It's 8.967 meters long, and weighs 27,350 kilograms. This SL was quite unique, because it doesn't have trailing wheels. As you know, standard tank SLs have trailing wheels (for example 2-6-4). It implies that the rear part of this SL was too short to put a water tank and a coal storage box with appropriate sizes. Unit 7 SL may have been lacking in terms of usability. It's fun to learn technical specifications of railway vehicles. I fully enjoyed to observe this precious preserved SL on that day.
