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.}}

It was designed to be versatile so as to allow a bit of wiggle room in future service expansions, so it pulled both freight and passenger cars. It was better suited to flat routes though, so began life on the Tokaido and Sanyo lines, being moved from those lines over time as better models became available.

This class was the first domestically built main-line passenger locomotive – 687 units of various permutations were built by various Japanese manufacturers between 1914 and 1929.

Still, it certainly had some tenacity. Although the number of locos of this type in service rapidly decreased after electrification picked up speed in the 1960s, there were still 41 of them in operation in 1972. The last one ran on the Yumae line in Kumamoto prefecture, finally retiring in 1975.

TYPE 8620 (2-6-0 tender locomotive)

Taken from the Japanese wikipedia page, here’s a breakdown of the details about this train built by Kisha Seizo Co. Ltd.

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Axis arrangement: 1C
Gauge: 1067mm
Full length: 16765mm
Height: 3785mm
Locomotive weight: 48.83 t (maintenance) / 44.54 t (empty)
Weight on wheels: 41.46t
Tender weight: 34.50 t (maintenance) / 15.50 t (empty)
Gross weight: 83.33 t ( maintenance) / 60.04 t (empty)
Fixed wheelbase: 2286mm
Wheel diameter: 940mm
Driving wheel diameter: 1600mm
Number of cylinders: Single 2-cylinder
Cylinder (diameter x stroke): 470mm x 610mm
Valve device: Walschaert
Boiler pressure: 13.0 kg/cm2
Large smoke pipe (diameter x length x number): 127 mm x 3962 mm x 18
Small smoke pipe (diameter x length x number): 45 mm x 3962 mm x 91
Grate area: 1.63m²
Total heat transfer area: 110.9m²
Superheat heat transfer area: 28.8m²
Total evaporation heat transfer area: 82.1m²
Smoke tube evaporation heat transfer area: 72.0m²
Firebox evaporation heat transfer area: 10.1m²
Fuel load: 6.00 tons
Water tank capacity: 13.0 m³
Braking device: Vacuum brake → automatic air brake
Maximum speed: 90 km/h

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You can visit 8620 by going here.