Sorry for jumping from one topic to another, but today I’d like to share a follow-up about my recent visit to Miyazaki Prefecture.
I took JR Kyushu’s limited express train Hyuga from Miyazaki Airport Station and headed north. My destination was Nobeoka City in the northern part of Miyazaki Prefecture. When I got off the train at Nobeoka Station, I spotted an unfamiliar locomotive in the station yard. What was that? The answer turned out to be JR Freight’s diesel locomotive, Class DB500. JR Freight (JRF) is one of the JR Group railway companies. Unlike the others, JRF operates its freight trains nationwide using tracks owned by the other JR companies.
The Class DB500 was introduced in 2016 as a switcher for freight stations. As I mentioned in a previous post, JRF launched a hybrid switcher, Class HD300, in 2011. It’s a quiet and eco-friendly locomotive, but too large for small freight stations. To solve this, JRF developed the compact Class DB500. It’s only 7.65 meters long and weighs 26,900 kilograms. A total of four units were built by Hokuriku Heavy Industries, two of which are assigned to freight stations on Kyushu Island. In terms of technical specifications, the Class DB500 is classified as a diesel-hydraulic locomotive with an axle arrangement of A-A (JNR notation). Unit 51 (see photos) is equipped with a Volvo diesel engine and can haul up to 500,000 kilograms of container wagons within freight yards.
The Class DB500… a mini locomotive, but quite a hard worker, isn’t it?
