10 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. JNRDF50 573 MAN: Spaceaero2· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. JNR DF50 65 DF50 1 hikyou go kawaguchi: Spaceaero2· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 3. DF50 tsuyama: K1012031746· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 4. JNRDF50 1 sul: Spaceaero2· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 5. JNRDF50 65 sul: Spaceaero2· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 6. JNR df50 18 43 togano senyou: Spaceaero2· CC BY 3.0
- 7. Kato N-Gauge DF50 with 12 series: Lik19961221· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 8. JNR DF50 1 DF50 65 Tosaji near Awa-Kawaguchi Station in 19830925: spaceaero2· CC BY 3.0
- 9. JNR DD13 and DF50 exhibited at the Osaka Modern Transportation Museum 2011-08-05: Manuel Menal· CC BY-SA 2.0
- 10. JNR df50 43 18 togano senyou: spaceaero2· CC BY 3.0
what is it?
The Class DF50 (DF50形) is a class of Bo-Bo-Bo wheel arrangement diesel–electric locomotives operated by Japanese National Railways (JNR) in Japan from 1957 until 1983.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 69 years ago, in 1957.
- 895 kW is about 11 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 14 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 16.4 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 26 years (1957–1983).
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1957–1963
- in service from
- 1957
- retired
- 1983
- status
- retired
- number built
- 138
- kind
- Diesel–electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- builders
- Hitachi, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Kisha Seizo, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nippon Sharyo, Toshiba
- operators
- Japanese National Railways
- top speed
- 90 km/h
- power
- 895 kW
- gauge
- 1,067 mm Cape gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Bo'Bo'Bo'
- length
- 16.4 m
- weight
- 85.1 t
- Dutch name
- JNR DF50
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q677307, Wikipedia: JNR Class DF50 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.