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#Anime on Rails: Rail Romanesque Ep. 10

#Anime on Rails: Rail Romanesque Ep. 10

Welcome back to another installment of Anime on Rails! In this episode, we meet the last Raillord of the group and fellow tourist, Suika!

Dressed in a green military style uniform, green skirt, and green cap, Suika is the Raillord for the China Railway’s DF4. A polite and curious character, she is a visitor to the fictional city of Ohitoyo, and is diligently learning about the local attractions and customs of her hosts.  

Not to be confused with the intercontinental ballistic missile of the same name, the DF4, or Dongfeng 4, is the workhorse of China’s railroad industry.  The first DF4s rolled off the production line of the Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Works in 1969. They are double-ended diesel electric locomotives, meaning they have a cab located at both ends of the train, allowing for it to easily operate in both directions without the aid of a roundtable or switching yard. Powered by the 16-cylinder 16V240ZJ diesel engine (remember this, it will be important later) and initially designed to pull freight, the DF4 is currently used for both freight and passenger service.  

There are actually several variations of the DF4. The original locomotive was plagued with mechanical and electrical problems, mostly due to insufficient component testing as a result of its rushed development. As engine design at the Dalian Locomotive Works improved, DF4s were built with newer versions of the 16V240ZJ engine. There were the DF4As with the similarly named 16V240ZJA engines in 1976, DF4Bs with V16240ZJB engines in 1984, DF4Cs with 16V240ZJC engines started production in 1985, and finally the DF4Ds with the 16V240ZJD engine and a higher top speed.  

All of these models look nearly identical, with the only major visible differences being slightly different liveries or color schemes. The most iconic of these schemes is the “watermelon”, which consists of a dark green exterior with a horizontal light blue stripe running down the side of the engine. The other common color, seen on locomotives designated for passenger use, is orange.

While the DF4 has had a long career (over 40 years!) as the face of Chinese railroading, many of the first generation of locomotives have been phased out of service in favor of newer models like the DF4C & DF4D. Dozens of these retired units are preserved in museums across China; the first one ever made, the DF4-0001, is preserved with three other DF4s at the China Railway Museum in Beijing. If you ever decide to travel to visit this noble progenitor, you might even end up on a train pulled by one of its descendants!

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