[JAPAN] [RAILROADS] Album of Rolling Stocks Used By Japanese Government Railways by Liason Office, Osaka Railway Division, Japanese Government Railways - 1947

Osaka: Liason Office, Osaka Railway Division, Japanese Government Railways, 1947. First Edition (?). Hardcover. Fine. Quarto, 66pp., illustrated with 89 mounted photographs. A fresh, clean example, sharp and bright, with the only visible flaw being some waviness throughout due to the mounting glue. The prints themselves are universally in excellent condition; overall fine. An absolutely extraordinary visual collection of the rolling stock (locomotives and all sorts of freight cars) used by the Japanese Government Railways in the immediate post-war period. The prints are each about 4" x 6", and the developer cropped the exposiure to jst the immediate area around the trains, leaving large white borders, which give the trains themselves a real "pop."

Int he mid-19th century, Japan was an extremely isolated society, both from the rest of the world, and also to some extent internally, with different regions of the main island quite distinct culturally. The railway system, which began construction in 1872, facilitated movement throughout Japan and helped to create a more interconnected society. The railways were nationalized in 1906, and they remained under direct imperial control until 1949, when the Japanese National Railways corporation took over management of the system.

This extremely well-illustrated album, complete with details and specifications for all pictured models, is undoubtedly the most extensive record of Japanese trains for the period of World War II and at the dawn of the post-war period. In the decades since, Japan has become an undisputed world leader in train technology, particularly in terms of human (rather than freight) transportation.

OCLC records a single holding, at the Army Logistics University library.