Interruptions to the Development Phase Developing contemporaneously with the Cultural Revolution, the Dongfeng diesel locomotive had a prolonged development phase that lasted from 1958 until 1984, with significant technical difficulties as a result of material scarcity and a lack of technical expertise following the “Down to the Countryside” campaign. In 1969, the Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Works began to trial produce the Dongfeng 4 diesel locomotive. Unlike the standard DF4 design, the first DF4 protype featured a three-panel windshield rather than the standard two-panel and displayed an emblem of Mao Zedong on the nose of the driver’s cab. Despite being publicized in September of 1969, it was not until the mid 1970s that the DF4 locomotive was integrated into mainline operations. Despite some success with the application of the locomotive, unstable conditions in the general production of the DF4 resulted in frequent mechanical and electrical malfunctions during operations. At this time, the Kunming Diesel Locomotive Depot wrote in the journal Diesel Locomotives that, “Improving locomotive quality is necessary to ensure the continuation of railway transportation, to meet national defence needs, and to accelerate socialist construction. Improving locomotive quality is the shared responsibility of factories, research institutions, maintenance personnel, and locomotive crews.” The DF4 became fully operational in 1984.
Revolutionary Naming System Following the broader trend of revolutionary namesakes, individual DF4 locomotives could be seen taking on the personas of various Chinese Communist Party figures such as
Mao Zedong,
Zhou Enlai, and
Zhu De.
People’s Liberation Army veterans also had locomotives named in their honour, as can be found with the “
Huang Jiguang” and “
Lei Feng” locomotives. These locomotives often display an emblem of the revolutionary figure to whom they are named and, in some cases, feature specialized model numbers. The namesakes are often transferred to new locomotive models to emphasize China Railway’s continued development.
Mao Zedong Locomotive After the retirement of the original 1946 “Mao Zedong” locomotive, DF4-0002 took on the namesake in 1976. When the DF4B was released the name “Mao Zedong” was then transferred onto the upgraded model. This DF4B also had a specialized model number, 1893, in correspondence with the year of Mao’s birth. The final Dongfeng “Mao Zedong” locomotive was a DF4D in the mid-2000s.
Zhou Enlai Locomotive On January 5, 1978, the Ministry of Railways, with the permission of the
Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council, named DF3-0058 of the Shanghai Locomotive Depot of the Shanghai Railway Bureau, “Zhou Enlai.” In 1984, the Zhou Enlai namesake was passed along to DF4-2106 until 1997 when the DF11-1898 took on the tradition.
Zhu De Locomotive Alongside the “Mao Zedong’ and “Zhou Enlai” locomotives was the “Zhu De.” The first and only Dongfeng type locomotive to be named in honour of Zhu De was DF4B number 1886. The locomotive number, 1886, stood for the year of Zhu’s birth.
Huang Jiguang Locomotive In 1986, the Huang Jiguang locomotive namesake was placed on DF4B-1220, continuing the tradition that had begun in 1956. This locomotive was named after the Chinese soldier and decorated war hero, Huang Jiguang, who sacrificed his life by blocking an enemy machine gun with his body during the Korean War. [21] On March 11, 2005, the name “Huang Jiguang” was transferred to DF8B-0177. ==North Korea==