JNR Class EF13

The JNR Class EF13 was a Japanese DC electric locomotive operated by the Japanese National Railways from 1941 to February 1979.
==History==
The EF13 was an improved version of the EF10 locomotives with more powerful traction motors. The locomotive was developed based on the EF12 locomotives, which were becoming difficult to produce due to wartime material shortages, so the EF13 was designed to use as many existing materials as possible for low-cost production. 
Despite the measures taken to make the locomotives as cheap as possible, only seven locomotives were produced during World War II; production would pick up after the end of the war, with thirty-one locomotives manufactured. The locomotives were known to be reliable runners and liked by crews. Mainly used to pull freight trains, the locomotives were also used for towing jobs and passenger trains; they operated mainly on the Chūō Main Line and Jōetsu Line. From 1953 to 1957, the locomotives's bodies were replaced, with the old steeplecab bodies replaced with the bodies from the EF58 locomotives due to a surplus of old bodies; the first 31 EF58s would have their bodies donated to the EF13s, with the numbers from the donor EF58s not necessarily matching up to the EF13s (only EF13 5 and EF13 26 received bodies from the EF58 with a matching number).
Despite being a wartime design with the expectation that the locomotives would be quickly withdrawn and scrapped, the locomotives were used for many years due to constant modifications to ensure they were up to date. Withdrawals began in 1977 with the introduction of the EF60s, with the locomotives being used in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area pulling freight trains; the last locomotive was withdrawn from service on 17 February 1979. EF13 3, which had been stored at Niigata for many years, was scrapped in November 1979.
No EF13s have been preserved.
==Design==
The EF13s featured a steeplecab-like design reminiscent of the Swiss Ce 6/8II locomotives; the reaction to this design was overwhelmingly negative, the locomotive being described as "strange". The locomotives adopted a more conventional appearance after their bodies were changed with that of the EF58s.
==Specifications==
The EF13s used a nose suspension drive system. MT39 traction motors were used on the locomotives.
==Gallery==
EF13 5 1950s.png|EF13 5 in the 1950s with old body design
Category:JR Group trains
Category:Electric locomotives
Category:1-C+C-1 locomotives
Category:Narrow-gauge
Category:Narrow-gauge locomotives
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Category:Japanese locomotives
Category:Scrapped electric locomotives