[Bonus: Postcard included] RM Re-Library 23 Postwar private railway mechanical diesel railcars

RM Re-Library is a series of reprints of two or three of the best volumes from the long history of RM LIBRARY , which has already exceeded 280 issues. The 23rd volume in the series will be a reprint of "Private Railway Mechanical Diesel Cars Born After the War" (by Toru Yuguchi) from RM Library volumes 87 and 88 .

Mechanical diesel railcars have a structure similar to that of a manual transmission in an automobile, and the gears are changed using a clutch pedal and a shift lever. The advantage is that it is simple, but the mechanism is not suitable for centralized control, and when operating a train with two or more cars, a driver must be on board for each powered car, so there are limitations to its potential for development.

The history of diesel railcars in Japan began with small-scale operations, and while mechanical technology was almost complete by the time of World War II, diesel railcars in Japan were wiped out due to the lack of fuel during the war. During the postwar reconstruction, the government began to look into new production that was close to reproducing the prewar mechanical types, and new methods suitable for overall control such as electrical and hydraulic systems, and as a result, the last mechanical diesel railcars were manufactured in the early 1960s .

This book introduces 56 of the mechanical diesel railcars manufactured after the war that were introduced to private railways (excluding Hokkaido Railway and Sapporo City Tramway), starting from the north. There are many variations, such as those that are almost identical to the JNR type, new vehicles that were the last glimmer of the light railway, and mysterious vehicles with rather mysterious origins... and there is no end to the interest.