Sapporo Streetcar D1000 series

The Sapporo Streetcar D1000 series was a Japanese diesel-powered streetcar type operated by the Sapporo Municipal Transport Bureau on the Sapporo Streetcar network from April 1958 to October 1967.
==History==
The D1000 series was a type of streetcar manufactured for the Sapporo Streetcar network. One car was manufactured in April 1958 by the Tokyu Car Corporation; this was the prototype vehicle of what would become five different series of diesel-powered streetcars. The idea for the diesel-powered streetcars was for the streetcar network to be extended to other smaller locales within Sapporo without the need for substations, such as Kotoni. However, the extensions were ultimately never built.
Operation began in April 1958; a week after commercial operation began D1001's transmission broke. Numerous failures occurred over these runs but these were quickly rectified, with the Sapporo Municipal Transport Bureau later authorizing the full-scale adoption of diesel-powered streetcars. Although the network was extended to Shin-Kotoni via an unelectrified line, from 1965 to 1967 the remainder of the unelectrified sections of the line would be quickly electrified.
With the mass electrification of the line the fleet of diesel-powered streetcars would be retired; D1001 was retired in October 1967, just before electrification of the network was complete on 1 November 1967. D1001 would later be dismantled, with its body being combined with the electronics from 550 series car 557 to create 700 series car 703, which operated until October 1985.
==Design==
The D1000 series car featured a curvy design. The car was painted in the Sapporo Municipal Transport Bureau's corporate colors of a tan body with green accents.
==Specifications==
Construction of the car was of steel. The car used a Hino DS22 inline-6 prime mover mated to a 2-speed automatic transmission with a torque converter. The engine was sourced from Hino's buses. Unlike other streetcars on the network, D1001 used a two-tone electric horn similar to a car. The car rode on Tokyu Car's TS-107 bogies.
D1001 is sometimes considered to be an improved version of the KiHa 01 series railbuses manufactured by Tokyu Car for the Japanese National Railways around the same time, featuring many of the elements the KiHa 01 series had but ironing out most of its flaws.
Category:Light rail vehicles
Category:Streetcars
Category:Tokyu Car locomotives
Category:Sapporo Streetcar trains