JNR Class EF70

The Class EF70 was an alternating current electric locomotive of the Japanese National Railways with a Bo-Bo-Bo wheel arrangement, six driven axles in three two-axle bogies. Hitachi and Mitsubishi together built 81 of them between 1961 and 1965. They were developed for the steeply graded Hokuriku Tunnel on the Hokuriku Main Line, where they were meant to haul 1,300 tonne freight trains up a 10 per mille gradient and passenger trains at up to 100 kilometres per hour. Locomotives from number 22 onward, built from 1964, gained twin roof headlights and revised cab side windows, and seven of them became the EF70-1000 sleeping car sub-class in 1968. Most of the fleet left service by 1985, the last in March 1987, and two examples survive in preservation.