KiHa 38 series

The KiHa 38 series is a low-capacity commuter diesel multiple unit operated initially by the Japanese National Railways and later the East Japan Railway Company from 1986 to December 2012, mainly on rural lines.
==History==
In the 1980s, the KiHa 35 series cars ran on the Hachikō Line, and had been doing so since the 1960s. However, it had been about 25 years since the cars were originally manufactured, and JNR felt it was high time to replace the cars. The cars were also noted to have no air-conditioning, with the JNR feeling that it was undesirable to continue using non-air-conditioned cars on the Hachikō Line; as such, a new air-conditioned railcar had to be developed for use.
JNR thus decided to replace KiHa 35 series cars in particularly poor condition by taking various KiHa 35 series cars and rebuilding them to modern standards. The task of rebuilding the cars was assigned to JNR's Works in Nagano, Hatabu, Kōriyama, Takatori and Ōmiya; from 1986 to 1987, a total of 7 cars were converted, with KiHa 35 152, 161, 513, 515, 153, 201 and 516 becoming KiHa 38 1 through 4 and 1001 through 1003 respectively. Parts removed from the KiHa 35 series cars from the conversion were reused on bogies, transmissions and buses.
The trains began service on the Hachikō Line in 1986. When the JNR was privatized, ownership of all 7 cars was transferred to JR East. The cars were then removed from service on the Hachikō Line when the KiHa 110 series cars were introduced on that line; the cars were then subsequently moved to the Kururi Line, where they remained until December 2012, when they were replaced by KiHa E130-100 series cars and withdrawn from service.
All seven cars ended up in different forms of preservation. KiHa 38 1 is preserved at the Poppo-no-oka farm resort on static display. KiHa 38 1003 was sold to the Mizushima Rinkai Railway, where it was renumbered KiHa 38 104 and entered service in March 2014. The remaining five cars were sold to the Myanmar State Railways, where they currently see service today.
==Design==
The KiHa 38 series use a squared-off design similar to many other railcars of the time; these however feature more modern cabs more akin to those of the 211 and 213 series cars. The cars were initially painted in Cream No.10 "Ivory White" with red accents and black highlights; these were later changed to the standard Kururi Line livery of a white base coat with green, yellow and blue accents.
==Specifications==
Construction is of steel. The cars feature bench seating and can be found with or without toilets, although in later years the toilets were sealed off. The cars feature door pockets unlike the older KiHa 35 series which provides a slightly cleaner appearance, but due to the door pockets a number of windows had to be deleted. The KiHa 38 series cars are equipped with a 207 HP (210 PS) DMF13S prime mover. The windows are of a two-tiered design which can open. The cars were installed with air conditioning from new, although a fan helps to supplement the air conditioning as the cooling capacity of the air conditioning units is noted to not be that great. The cars are used in two-car formations at minimum as the cars have only one cab end.
==Preservation==
The following KiHa 38 series cars have been preserved:
Car number	Manufacturer 	Date manufactured	Date retired	Previous sets	Location 	Notes
KiHa 38 1 	Fuji Heavy Industries	February 1966 	January 2009	N/A 	Poppo-no-oka, Chiba, Japan	Ex KiHa 35 152, displayed outdoors; horn demonstrations sometimes performed
Category:JR Group trains
Category:Diesel trainsets
Category:Hatabu Works locomotives
Category:Kōriyama Works locomotives
Category:Nagano Works locomotives
Category:Ōmiya Works locomotives
Category:Tsuchizaki Works locomotives