There are more than a few steam locomotives sitting in parks across Japan, enjoying their retirement.

I wanted to acknowledge the ones I happen across for all their hard work, so I started the Static Life Steam Locomotives Project, SLSL for short.

^{_{A map of the Static Life Steam Locomotives & more about the project is here.}}

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On a crisp winter afternoon, I cycled across Kanagawa to find this locomotive nestled away in a park, up a hill, in a little suburb of Atsugi.

It’s yet another D51, and, although its history doesn’t feature any stupendous tales of endurance or moments of grandeur, it nevertheless has a story to tell.

According to the information board, this D51 was manufactured in Showa 19 (1945) and came off the production line on the 16th August. After that, it worked the lines between Omiya and Takayama – up until Showa 37 (1962) when it relocated to Hokkaido.

In 32 years of service, it travelled 16,597,600 km. Quite a large number that, so to help you visualise it the sign explains that this is the equivalent of 41 times around the earth – or to the moon and back twice.

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Here’s a breakdown of the details about this train, taken from the 国鉄D51形蒸気機関車 entry at wikipedia.

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TYPE D51 (2-8-2 locomotive)

Built by the Japanese Government Railways (JGR), the Japanese National Railways (JNR), and Kawasaki Heavy Industries Rolling Stock Company, Kisha Seizo, Hitachi, Nippon Sharyo, Mitsubishi, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries from 1936 to 1945 and 1950 to 1951.

Axis arrangement : 1D1
Gauge : 1,067mm
full length : 19,730mm
Overall height : 3,980mm
Locomotive weight : 78.37t (operation maintenance)
Tender weight : 47.40t (operation maintenance)
Gross weight : 125.77t
Driving wheel diameter :1,400mm
Axis load : 14.30t
Number of cylinders : Single 2-cylinder
Cylinder (diameter x stroke) : 550mm x 660mm
Valve device : Walschaert style
Boiler pressure : 14.0 kg f / cm² (1.373 MPa; 199.1 psi) (when first introduced)
15.0 kg f / cm² (1.471 MPa; 213.4 psi) (all cars afterthe war)
Boiler water capacity : 6.0m³
Large smoketube (diameter x length x number) : 140mm x 5,500mm x 35
Small smoketube (diameter x length x number) : 57mm x 5,500mm x 94
Grate area : 3.27m²
Total heattransfer area : 221.5m²
Overheat heattransfer area : 41.4m²
Total evaporation heattransfer area : 168.8m²
Smoketube evaporation heattransfer area : 147.4m²
Firebox evaporation heattransfer area : 17.5m²
Fuel load : 8.0t (Unit 1-954) / 10.0t ( Unit 1001-1161 )
Watertank capacity : 20.0m³
Braking device : Automatic air brake
Security device : ATS-P / Ps (498), ATS-SW / ATS-P (200)
Maximum driving speed : 85km/h
Maximum output : 1,400 PS
Rated output : 1,280 PS
Rated output : 1,280 PS

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You can visit D51-1119 here.