1/6「Asia Express」By Neill Jamesfrom「Trains」April, 1942Vol. 2 No. 6Some readers may think it out of place, but we devote our lead article this month to the railways of our enemy, Japan, and Japanese puppet state, Manchoukuo. I believe the biggest mistake of this war is that we know too little about our enemies. We need a more widespread knowledge of the strength as well as the weakness of the Japanese, and if there is any time when the railroads of a foreign country should be of vital interest to Americans, it is when Americans are fighting against that country. . . . この記事は、米国婦人記者が1940年に体験した「あじあ号」に関する記事である。この米国婦人記者のように当時の日本の鉄道に精通したアメリカ人であれば、1964年に開通した東海道新幹線など、戦後の日本における著しい鉄道の発展は、決して、驚かされる、予想外のものではなかっただろう。この記事は、当時の鉄道状況の他にも、“I found Japan spy-conscious.” (p. 6)と、日米間の戦争が始まる以前に、スパイがいるかと非常に敏感になっていた状況が記されている。電車内にも、私服の “traveling police” による執拗な検査がある事が書かれている。While the train stood in Fusan Station at 7 a. m., a siren sounded, the signal for every employees and passengers to stand, face in the direction of Tokyo, and bow in silent prayer for one minute. (pp. 7 – 8)On a visit to the Fushun coal mine in Manchoukuo, a largest open-cut coal mine in the world, owned in part by the South Manchuria Railway, I noticed the employees bowed, but not in the direction of their own capital in Hsinking where Emperor Kang Teh lives. They too bowed in the direction of Tokyo. (p. 8)など、徹底した大日本帝国主義による統治に関しても記されている。これは、記事「BarbieとPost-Occupationの世代」の為の参考文献。http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/drmusou/folder/1795550.htmlこの事に関しては、下記で触れている。http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/drmusou/58294569.html1から6まである。
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https://blog-001.west.edge.storage-yahoo.jp/res/blog-57-6a/drmusou/folder/1795547/63/58292763/img_1?1265989384
It should probably be noted that top speed for this class of locomotive was 75mph, with peak speed of the train being given as about 83mph and average speed (with a restricted number of stops on what is probably a comparatively unrestricted line) only slightly above 50mph, which is well below anything using 'streamlining' scientifically in the West in that era, but of course well above anything domestic Japan could provide, then or later, before the advent of Old Man Thunder's completely new railroads.
The South Manchuria company (abbreviated 'Mantetsu') is an interesting thing to examine. Here's the route (the extension to Harbin coming after the sort of heroic regauging effort we periodically saw in the United States in the era of gauge consolidation, from Russian to standard, in 1935):
A bit more somberly, the company and the train were associated with the Manchukuo puppet state, and I have to wonder if at least some of the enthusiasm for it on the part of Japanese railfans represents nostalgia for the failed co-prosperity sphere for which it was a flagship into 1943. Considering how advanced the railroad was said to be, as early as 1913, by a knowledgeable and 'neutral' railroad source, I would leave the politics out of assessing the value of the train just as we do for, say, the Henschel-Wegmann-Zug.
I do think the claim made for this being the 'first' production lightweight sealed-window-air-conditioned train could be substantiated. Absent seeing the detail design of the three-axle trucks (which probably provided stable riding on low-axle-load tolerant track) I cannot say whether these trains actually bore out any kind of high-speed promise; they are certainly nothing like either the engineering or the outcome provided by, say, Nystrom on Milwaukee in this era, or the strange 'throw engineers at it' development of high-speed trucks on Union Pacific's early Streamliners.
I do think the train deserves better recognition and understanding, particularly in demonstrating how the Japanese conducted an important project supporting their imperialist interests in this era. Presumably there are Japanese 'enthusiast' histories that look at things like the the rolling-stock and streamlining design in the right ways, and since one of the very few decent 'public' versions of Google Translate is "Japanese" to English there is some hope that Japanese-language railfan pages could be read by us essentially firsthand for both the detailed information and the attitude.
The 'dabusa' (meaning double-ended; the Japanese word for tank engines) 500 and 501 deserve more attention than you're giving them. Perhaps someone here knows why they were not produced with larger bunker and tank capacity on the 'originally specified' six-wheel trailing truck, and how much of the design was natively done by Kawasaki vs. derived from Henschel plans.
These are a real-world illustration of problems with oil co-firing or adaptation; they were initially intended for shale-oil overfiring (Mantetsu being involved in shale-oil production) but thermal distortion in the firebox was said to be an insoluble issue. (it would be highly interesting to see exactly how this was done, and why the problems were deemed insurmountable at that relatively advanced time) -- I do not recall any sort of difficulty with the original streamlined light tanks on LBE in the early Thirties, which were set up to burn oil.
The LD1s were said to persist in (communist) China quite late, references to them having their number Romanization changed as late as 1959. I would be highly interested if one has survived.
One of the reason I started this post was because I found quite a lot of railfan in Japan brag and boast about this train a lot, I have seen a tweet, probably written by someone who know nothing about train outside Japan, saying that this is the "fastest train" at the time, more advanced than US and Europe blah blah blah, a lot of "hometown proud" stuff. So I dig deeper on its historical background and found some suspicious thing. It is just a sharing post, don't expect too much.
(The consist)Another example: South Manchuria Railway ダブサ500, this one is too obvious.
Jones 3D Modeling Club https://www.youtube.com/Jones3DModelingClub
Background history, quote from wiki: "the Asia Express (Japanese: あじあ号, translit. Ajia-gō, simplified Chinese: 亚细亚号; traditional Chinese: 亞細亞號; pinyin: Yàxìyà hào) was an express passenger train operated by the South Manchuria Railway (Mantetsu) from 1934 until 1943. This limited express, which began operation in November 1934 and was Mantetsu's most iconic train, operated in Manchukuobetween Dalian and Xinjing, and was extended to Harbin in 1935.
Comparable to the fastest express trains in Europe and the United States, the Asia Express featured several world firsts, such as fully enclosed, air-conditioned carriages......"
Another version of the engine, note the overall design of the streamlining shrouding, the metal wing decoration behind the headlight, the running board, looks like a scuffed replica of Milwaukee Road Hiawatha Class A)
At least two engines (SL 7 Pacific) of Asia Express preserved in a museum in China, these trains keep serving China after the war until the 1980s. Note the color (light blue) and the streamline shrouding of the engine and the tender looks very similar to New York Central's Mercury.
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