Power type Electric Build date 1986-1987 UIC class Bo-Bo | Builder Seibu (Tokorozawa) Total produced 4 Gauge 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) | |
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The Class E31 was a class of four DC Bo-Bo wheel arrangement electric locomotives operated by the private railway operator Seibu Railway in Japan until March 2010 and subsequently by the Ōigawa Railway.
Four locomotives (numbered E31 to E34) were built at Seibu's Tokorozawa factory between 1986 and 1987 to replace ageing first-generation electric locomotives on freight services and track maintenance train duties. The DT-20A bogies were reused from former JNR 80 series EMUs, and the traction motors were modified from former EMU motors.
They were normally used in pairs by Seibu, top-and-tailing permanent way maintenance trains and to haul newly delivered rolling stock.
Locomotive number E33 was withdrawn on 31 January 2009, becoming the first of the class to be withdrawn. The remaining three locomotives were withdrawn on 28 March 2010.
In September 2010, three of the withdrawn Class E31 locomotives (E32 - E34) were transferred to the Ōigawa Railway to replace the ageing E10 and ED500 locomotives used there.
Locomotive E31 remains preserved at Seibu's Yokoze Depot.