Steam locomotive NUS 5 is preserved in Chiba Park
Chiba City is located some 40 kilometers east of Tokyo, and the prefectural capital of Chiba Prefecture. The current population is about 1 million. This large city is famous for heavy industries such as the steel industry. Chiba Steelworks of Kawasaki Steel Company (present JFE Steel Company) is the representative steelwork in the city. This steelwork once had steam locomotives, named NUS 5, 6 and 7. I’m going to show you NUS 5 (the top photo) and 6 (the photo below) today.
NUS 5 and 6 are 0-6-0 (Whyte notation) type tank locomotives. They were built by Kawasaki Sharyo in 1948 for in-yard material transportation. Most notable point of these locomotives are their couplers. These locomotives have two kinds of couplers, namely automatic couplers and Willison couplers. After operating for 20 years, NUS 5 and 6 were retired from the track. Chiba City took over these locomotives in 1977. NUS 5 is currently exhibited in Chiba Park. On the other hand, NUS 6 is exhibited in Komoike Park. Two locomotives are both preserved in good condition. I would like to thank everyone involved in preserving these locomotives in Chiba City.
Incidentally, do you see any difference between the two locomotives? It might be difficult to find, but one of the answers is shape of smokestacks. NUS 5 has a smooth smokestack with a gold-colored ring. On the other hand, NUS 6 has a stepped smokestack. I hope that you will be happy to perceive this kind of fine difference among the locomotives as a trainspotter.
Steam locomotive NUS 6 is preserved in Komoike Park