Seibu Class E31

Class E31

Seibu Class E31 electric locomotive No. E34 on display at Minami-Iriso Depot Open Day, September 2007

Type and origin Power type Electric Builder Seibu (Tokorozawa) Build date 1986-1987 Total produced 4

Specifications UIC class Bo-Bo Gauge 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) Electric system(s) 1,500 V DC Traction motors DC

Performance figures Power output 520 kW

Career Operators Ōigawa Railway Disposition 3 transferred to Ōigawa Railway

The Class E31 was a class of four DC Bo-Bo wheel arrangement electric locomotives operated by the private railway operator Seibu Railway in Japan until March 2010 and subsequently by the Ōigawa Railway.

Four locomotives (numbered E31 to E34) were built at Seibu's Tokorozawa factory between 1986 and 1987 to replace ageing first-generation electric locomotives on freight services and track maintenance train duties. The DT-20A bogies were reused from former JNR 80 series EMUs, and the traction motors were modified from former EMU motors.

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  Closeup of the DT-20A bogie

They were normally used in pairs by Seibu, top-and-tailing permanent way maintenance trains and to haul newly delivered rolling stock.

Locomotive number E33 was withdrawn on 31 January 2009, becoming the first of the class to be withdrawn.^[1] The remaining three locomotives were withdrawn on 28 March 2010.^[2]

In September 2010, three of the withdrawn Class E31 locomotives (E32 - E34) were transferred to the Ōigawa Railway to replace the ageing E10 and ED500 locomotives used there.^[3]

Locomotive E31 remains preserved at Seibu's Yokoze Depot.

See also

• Seibu Class E851

References

Gotō, Fumio (January 2009). 西武鉄道 電気機関車小史２ [Short History of Seibu Electric Locomotives]. Japan Railfan Magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 49 no. 573 (Japan: Kōyūsha). pp. 138–143.

1. 私鉄車両のうごき [Private Railway Fleet Movements]. Tetsudō Daiya Jōhō (in Japanese) (Japan: Kōtsū Shimbun) 38 (303): 124. July 2009.
2. "西武鉄道　「E31形電気機関車 さよならイベント」を開催" [Seibu to stage "Class E31 Sayonara Event"]. Hobidas (in Japanese). Neko Publishing. 15 March 2010. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
3. "大井川鉄道が西武E31形電機を導入！" [Ōigawa Railway introduces Seibu Class E31 Electric Locomotives]. Japan Railfan Magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 50 no. 596 (Japan: Kōyūsha). December 2010. p. 143.

External links

• Seibu Railway website (Japanese)