DeRoNi-class locomotive

Hitachi DeRoNi Type

A Chŏngidu class locomotive of the Korean State Railway
Type and origin
Power type Electric
Builder Hitachi
 Japan
Build date 1943-44
Specifications
UIC class 1C-C1
Gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Wheelbase:
 • Pivot centres		 9,780 mm (32 ft 1 in)
Wheel spacing
(Assymetrical)		 1-2: 2,050 mm (6 ft 9 in)
2-3: 1,880 mm (6 ft 2 in)
3-4: 2,600 mm (8 ft 6 in)
Length:
 ​
 • Overall 19,060 mm (62 ft 6 in)
 • Body 16,800 mm (55 ft 1 in)
Width 3,100 mm (10 ft 2 in)
Height 5,500 mm (18 ft 1 in)
 • Pantograph 4,750 mm (15 ft 7 in)
 • Body height 4,050 mm (13 ft 3 in)
Electric system(s) 3,000 V DC
Current collection Pantographs
Couplers AAR knuckle
Performance figures
Maximum speed 75 km/h (45 mph)
Career
Operators Japan Chosen Gov't Railway
North Korea Korean State Railway
Class CGR: デロニ DeRoNi
KSR: 전기두 Chŏngidu
Number in class 4
Numbers CGR: デロニ1 - デロニ4
KSR: 전기두1 - 전기두4

The DeRoNi-class (Japanese: デロニ) was a group of four boxcab-style electric locomotives with regenerative braking and the capability for multiple-unit control manufactured by Hitachi in 1943-44,[1] very similar to the Toshiba-built DeRoI and the Mitsubishi-built DeRoI-class locomotives.[2]

They were built for the Chosen Government Railway (Sentetsu), who designated them DeRoNi (デロニ) class, and after the partition of Korea were inherited by the North Korean State Railway, where they were known as the Chŏngidu (Korean: 전기두, "Electric 2") class.

Description

The Railway Bureau of the Government-General of Korea initiated its plan for the electrification of certain rail lines in Korea in 1938,[3] and subsequently placed orders with Mitsubishi, Toshiba and Hitachi for 26 electric locomotives.[4]

Sentetsu's order placed with Hitachi was for six electric locomotives intended for operation on the planned electrification of the Kyŏngwŏn and Kyŏnggyŏng lines - four for the former and two for the latter.[5] Of these, a total of four were delivered by war's end, 2 each in 1943 and 1944; these were designated DeRoNi class (デロニ) by Sentetsu and numbered デロニ1 through デロニ4.[6]

This class name, デロニ (DeRoNi), comes from the Sentetsu classification system for electric locomotives: DeRoNi = De, for "electric" (from 電気, denki), Ro, to indicate six powered axles (from Japanese roku, 6), and Ni (from Japanese ni, 2), indicating the second class of electric locomotive with six powered axles.[6]

Though generally quite similar in appearance to the both types of the DeRoI-class locomotives, there were a number of features that distinguished the DeRoNi class from those. These were: equally spaced side windows; a distinctive ventilator shape; a distinctive arrangement of the deck railings; three-point electrical connectors mounted vertically at the centre of the end decks like on Soviet VL19 class; they were slightly longer and slightly more streamlined than the DeRoI locomotives.[7]

After the end of the Pacific War, at the time of the partition of Korea, all four of the DeRoNi locomotives remained in the North. These were operated on the Kosan-Pokkye segment of Kangwŏn Line prior to the Korean War.[8] As the Korean War caused the destruction of the electrification of North Korea's rail lines, they sat disused until 1956, when they were reclassified Chŏngidu (전기두) class and numbered 전기두1 through 전기두4. They were then refurbished at the engine shops at Yangdŏk for use on the Yangdŏk-Ch'ŏnsŏng section of the P'yŏngra Line, which had been electrified in 1956 as the first stage of North Korea's electrification plans.[9]

No information on the subsequent disposition of these locomotives is available at present.

References

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