JNR C61

Tom Moungovan Wrote:
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> Interesting video, thanks Dirk.
> Anyone know if there were a lot of this class at
> one time?



As the prominent cab number indicates, it's a class C61. 33 were built. It's 3 foot 6 gauge, as with virtually all Japanese steam power**. These were 4-6-4's that were "rebuilt" (on paper, anyway) from 2-8-2 types after WW2 ended. As with so many such "rebuilds", at the end of it there was more new than old. In this case, the political situation being what it was in postwar Japan, it was difficult to get approval from the U.S. military governance for entirely new locomotives--hence the so-called rebuilds.

Slightly smaller and than the well-known C62, the C61 was a lighter machine for routes that weren't as heavily built. The Japanese passenger types were fast (the C62 owns the world speed record for narrow gauge steam, and the C61 wasn't much slower), smooth-running machines with ridiculously tall driving wheels for 3 foot 6 inch track gauge--1750mm, or just about 69 inches. By U.S. figure, and converted to conventional measurement, the C61 would've been rated at about 26,500 lbs tractive effort (the C62, something over 30,000 pounds). The sheet metal pilot might be a modern addition as they are typically not seen in 1940's/50's-era photography.

JNR as a rule preferred speed over brute force. 4-6-2's and 4-6-4's handled passenger work, and 2-8-2's and 2-8-4's took care of freight work, for the most part. Low-driver drag freight, or articulated locomotives, weren't popular.

**The standard gauge "bullet trains" get most the international publicity, but these run on purpose-built lines. Most of the JNR network still uses its traditional 3 foot 6 inch track gauge which accounts for probably 4/5 or more of the total network.