Three preserved but then scrapped. None ultimately survived.
The Class ED62 (ED62形) was a Bo-1-Bo wheel arrangement DC electric locomotive type formerly operated in Japan from 1974 until 2002 by Japanese National Railways (JNR) and later by JR Freight.
The Class ED62 locomotives were created between 1974 and 1979 by modifying the 18 earlier JNR Class ED61 Bo-Bo electric locomotives with the addition of a center non-driven axle. Rebuilding was carried out at JNR's Nagano Works. The primary aim of rebuilding was to reduce the axle load (from 15 t to 13 t) for use on the Iida Line, where the class displaced vintage JNR Class ED18[ja] (English Electric) and JNR Class ED19 (Westinghouse) locomotives, and later JNR Class EF10 locomotives.[1]
One highlight of the class's career was when ED62 15 hauled the Imperial Train on the Iida Line in May 1979 for the 30th National Tree Planting Festival. It was also not uncommon to see ED62s close to Tokyo when they worked to Shin-Tsurumi Depot for examinations.[2]
Eight members of the class were still in service in 1987 when JNR was split into separate JR Group companies, and ED62 17 was repainted into the new JR Freight livery shortly after. Regular ED62-hauled petroleum traffic on the Iida Line ended in September 1996. Freight operations on the line formally ceased in March 1997, after which the surviving locomotives were placed in storage ED62 16 and ED62 17 remained registered until March 2002.[1]
Preserved ED62 14 at Sakuma Rail Park
ED62 17 at Omiya Works in May 2008
Japanese National Railways electric locomotives
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