JNR Class ED78

The Class ED78 was a Bo-2-Bo AC electric locomotive type operated in Japan from 1968 until the 1990s, of which Hitachi built 14 between 1967 and 1980 in Mito, Ibaraki. The locomotives were introduced for the steeply graded Ou Main Line between Fukushima and Yonezawa, which was converted from 1,500 V DC to 20 kV AC electrification in October 1968, and they often worked in multiple with Class EF71 locomotives. A prototype first classified ED94 1 was delivered in 1967 and renumbered ED78 901 in 1968, with full-production locomotives delivered from 1968 until 1980. After the Ou Main Line was converted to standard gauge for the Yamagata Shinkansen in 1992, the class moved to the Tohoku Main Line and Senzan Line before it was withdrawn. ED78 1 is preserved, and in 2015 it went to Hitachi's Mito factory, where it was cosmetically restored in 2016.