Fuchu City is located in the western part of Tokyo Metropolis, some 30 kilometers west of the downtown Tokyo area. It has a population of 260,000, which is the third largest among 25 cities in Tokyo Metropolis. There are several famous spots such as Tokyo Racecourse for horse racing, but my favorite place is Traffic Park, where we can observe many precious vehicles.
Unit 1 of the Class EB10 (hereafter EB10 1) is my favorite exhibition in the park. The EB10 was developed in 1927 by Ministry of Railways (later the Japanese National Railways) as Japan’s first accumulator (rechargeable battery) locomotive under the name of the Class AB10, and operated on the Suka line in Tokyo. Two units were built by Kisha Seizo and Shibaura Denki. The accumulator was manufactured by Yuasa. Why was the accumulator locomotive required? Good question! Because there was a gunpower factory along the Suka line at that time. Operating steam locomotives was thought to be dangerous as there is a catching fire risk.
Although it was a state-of-the-art accumulator locomotive, the AB10 was renovated to a standard direct current electric locomotive (EL) named the Class EB10 in 1931, as the Suka line was electrified. The Class EB10 was a 1,500V direct current EL with an axis arrangement Ao-Ao. It’s 8.2 meters long, and weighs 22,640 kilograms. The maximum speed was 40 kilometers per hour. EB10 1 retired from the track in 1971, and brought to Fuchu City for preservation. Since then, this mini-EL has been maintained in good conditions.
