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.}}

There were only 5 of these built; they were named after the fifth letter of the alphabet because they had 5 drive wheels.

The E might lead you to think that they were electric but they were, instead, a kind of a stop-gap measure. They were intended as a replacement for the 4110 series on the Ou main line ( way up in Tohoku) but only until that line became electrified.

Introduced in 1948, they were shuttled around almost instantly; they were reassigned from their original purpose in 1949, when they were allocated to the Hisatsu line – but they turned out to be large for this purpose and by 1950, they were now on the Hokuriku main line. Thus began their longest bout of service, until they were moved to Maibara in 1957.

They were only here for another 5 years before being retired in 1962.

Kind of a sad story – 14 years of being shunted about from place to place, never really finding a niche to settle down in and then just being forcibly retired.

I think they’re pretty handsome looking chaps though, so I mean, they’ve got that going for them at least.

TYPE E10 (2-10-4 T locomotive)

Here’s a breakdown of the details about this train, taken from the Japanese wikipedia page.

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Built by Kisha Seizo Co. Ltd in 1948. A total of only 5 Class E10 locomotives were built – and they were the last steam locomotives made for the national railway system in Japan.

Axis configuration: 1E2
Gauge: 1,067 mm
Full length: 14,450 mm
Height: 3,982 mm
Locomotive weight: 102.1 t (during operation and maintenance)
Driving wheel diameter: 1,250 mm
Number of cylinders: Single 2-cylinder
Cylinder (diameter x stroke): 550 mm × 660 mm
Valve device: Walschaert
Boiler pressure: 16.0 kgf/cm2 (1.569 MPa; 227.6 psi)
Fire grid area: 3.30 m 2
Fuel: coal
Braking device: auto air brake
Maximum operating speed: 65 km/h
Rated output: 1,340 PS

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You can visit E10-2 by going here.