Tuesday 1 September 2015

Expert Climber in Kobe City

Set 1122F of the EMU Shintetsu 1100 series arrives at Maruyama Station
 
Kobe is the main city of Hyogo Prefecture, some 600 km west of Tokyo. The population in this city stands at 1.54 million, which is the sixth largest in Japan. Although Kobe is a port city facing Osaka Bay, it is also backed by the steep Rokko Mountains. So, the housing land development of the city has been heading up the mountains since the 1920s.

Construction of the commuter railways has also been heading into the Rokko Mountains. For instance, Kobe Electric Railway (Shintetsu) has a 70 km-long extensive network in this mountainous area. Its route has many steep sections up to an incline of 50 per mil. Of course, the trains should have special equipment to climb up the steep tracks.

The EMU 1100 series is the oldest model of Shintetsu. It was launched in 1969. A total of 39 units are still operated on the track. The major group of the 1100 series is 3-car trains, which are composed of 2 motorcars and 1 trailer. The motorcar has four powerful 105 kW DC motors. You can also see the large resistor under the train floor.

I like the EMU 1100 series best in Shintetsu rolling stock. Its specifications are quite old, but the design is still cool. Specifically, two large frontal lights on the top of the face are my favorite. I could shoot this imposing train at Maruyama Station, when I recently visited Hyogo Prefecture. Cool!

The EMU Shintetsu 1100 series... it is the expert climber in Kobe City.

 
Set 1120F of the EMU Shintetsu 1100 series stands at Shinkaichi Station