Sunday 22 January 2017

Heritage Electric Car on the Jomo Line

Electric car DeHa101 of the Jomo Electric Railway DeHa100 series

Jomo Electric Railway is a small local company in Gumma Prefecture. The company has the Jomo Line, which connects Chuo-Maebashi, the main city of the prefecture and Nishi-Kiryu, the city well known for its textile industry. The route length of the Jomo Line is 25 km. The track is single and electrified. The gauge size is 1,067 mm. The electric system is 1,500 V DC overhead.

Jomo has two kinds of passenger cars. One is the EMU 700 series, come from the Keio-Inokashira-Line. The other one is an electric car, DeHa101 of the DeHa100 series, which has been operated on the line since 1928. What a longevity car it is! Because of advanced age, DeHa101 usually sleeps in Oogo Rail Yard. We seldom see it, when it is running.

Celebrating the New Year, a special operation of DeHa101 was conducted on January 3rd. I rushed over to Oogo Rail Yard, and observed this classic car for the first time. The chocolate colored body with a rounded roof, three front windows and a large single front light was very cool. The trucks were classical, but looked very sturdy. They were so-called KO-type bogies with advanced coil springs built by Kawasaki-sharyo. DeHa101 left Oogo Station at 12.34, and headed to Chuo-Maebashi. I was proactive to move to the main track, and shot the running DeHa101 in the falling light. That was a great success.

DeHa101 is designated Modernization Heritage by Gumma Prefecture, and is a great prefectural asset.

Electric car DeHa101 (left) and DeHa104 (right, preserved car, not for commercial operation)

Official information about Jomo Electric Railway:
Official information about DeHa 101 (in Japanese):