The 55th Anniversary of the Seibu-Chichibu Line

Trainset Seibu 4017, "the 55th anniversary train" of the Seibu-Chichibu line

On October 14th, 2024, Seibu Railway celebrated the 55th anniversary of their Chichibu line. In commemoration, several events are held by the company.

Let me review the Seibu-Chichibu line to start. It’s a mountain railway penetrating Chichibu Mountains, which is situated in the northwestern part of the metropolitan area. Connecting Agano and Seibu-Chichibu, the route length is 19 kilometers. The track is mostly single and electrified at 1,500 V DC. The gauge size is 1,067 millimeters. The route was opened on the 14th of October 1969 to transport tourists and cement. For your information, Mt. Buko in the Chichibu area is famous for producing limestone, which is a material of cement. The limited express train “Laview (EMU 001 series)” and the standard train “EMU 4000 series” are mainly commissioned on the line.

Let’s head to the main topic. Seibu started to operate the 55th anniversary train of the Seibu-Chichibu line on November 11th, 2024. It’s a red and beige-colored train using trainset 4017 of the EMU 4000 series. According to Seibu, the color design of the anniversary train was taken from the Class E851, which was retired from the Seibu-Chichibu line in 1996. The E851 was a Bo+Bo+Bo-type direct current electric locomotive with six 425kW DC motors. It could tow 1,000-ton cement cargo trains by double heading. You can imagine what the E851 looked like from the imitation exhibited in Seibu-Chichibu station (see the photo below). The E851 is on our left.

Congratulations on the 55th anniversary of the Seibu-Chichibu line!

Immitation of the Seibu electric locomotive Class E851 (left)

Official information about the 55th anniversary train of the Seibu-Chichibu line by Seibu Railway (in Japanese):

https://www.seiburailway.jp/file.jsp?newsroom/news/file/20241108_4000e851.pdf

New Year Scene on the Inokashira Line

Set 1751 of the EMU Keio 1000 seeries arrives at Shimokitazawa station

Usually in Japan people tend to meet with their families during New Year holidays. I’m no exception. I visited my mother’s house in Suginami Ward on New Year Day, and had a great time with my mother and family.

Next day, I went to a shrine named Omiya-hachiman, near my mother’s house to pray for a healthy and prosperous year. Omiya-hahciman was opened in 1063 for warding off evil. After praying, I saw a New Year’s ceremony named “Hikime-no-gi” was being held at the archery range in the precinct. When the special arrow was shot, it cut the wind and emitted a "whoosh" sound, which is said to dispel the devil. I fully enjoyed this traditional ceremony.

To get to this historical shrine, the nearest railway station is Nishi-eifuku on the Keio Inokashira line. Following the “Merry Christmas” plate, a train on the Inokashira line was displaying “Geishun (New Year’s greeting)” plate on the front in this season. It was Set 1751 of the EMU Keio 1000 series. Set 1751 was commissioned in 1996 as the first set of the 1000 series. It has blueish green-colored face. Incidentally, I’m going to show you a surefire topic for old-school trainspotters. The 1000 series trains have great variety not only their “face colors”. For example, the early 15 sets including Set 1751 have boxy destination signs on the front. On the other hand, the later 14 sets have smooth destination signs. Finding such subtle differences between trains is the greatest pleasure for trainspotters like me.

Hikime Ceremony is held at Omiya-hachiman shrine near Nishi-eifuku station

Green Cars for Free

JR East double decker Green Cars (first-class cars), Type SaRo E233 and E232

You may remember when I introduced you to the test run of Green Cars on the JR East Chuo Rapid line three years ago. What happened this project after that?

Let me quickly review the Chuo Rapid line and the Green Cars project. The Chuo Rapid line is one of the busiest railways in the metropolitan area. 10-car trains are operated every two minutes during the rush hour, but still very crowded. JR East can't keep their arms crossed. To reduce congestion, they made a plan to increase two cars per train-set. These two cars will not be standard cars, but Green Cars (first-class cars). Why? That's because many passengers request to get seats on the train on the way to and from work, even if they pay extra. It's favorable to the railway company as well to increase their sales. That’s a win-win solution, isn’t it?

Let’s head to the main topic. JR East started to operate trains connecting Green Cars on October 13th, 2024. Surprisingly, there is no Green Car charge! The gimmick is as follows. It’s a campaign to attract future Green Cars passengers. For that purpose, all Green Cars on the Chuo Rapid line will be free of charge until March 14th, 2025. Many passengers currently enjoy luxury Green Cars for free. I’m one of them. In the Green Car, I’m just relaxed and enjoy reading or listening music, while having a soft drink. Green Cars on the Chuo Rapid line… it’s a “Petit-zeitaku” (small luxury and gratification) for Tokyoites, isn’t it?

Interior of Green Cars on the JR East Chuo Rapid line

Official information about the Green Car project by JR East (in Japanese):

https://www.jreast.co.jp/press/2024/20240910_ho02.pdf

Extra Rare Train on the Tokyo Metro Namboku Line

Set 9109 (8-car train) of the EMU Tokyo Metro 9000 series 

It's fun for me to find rare trains on railway tracks as a trainspotter. No matter how painful things are, rare trains make me happy. Trainspotters are carefree people, aren't they? I’m going to show you a surefire topic for old-school trainspotters like me today.

The subway Tokyo Metro Namboku line penetrates Tokyo Metropolis from south to north. Connecting Meguro and Akabane-iwabuchi, the total operating length is 21.3 kilometers. Many trains are directly operated onto the Tokyu-Meguro, Saitama Railway and other lines. In addition to that, the section between Meguro and Shirokane-takanawa is shared with the Toei (Tokyo Metropolitan Government) Mita line.

To operate the Namboku line on timetable, 23 train-sets in total are provided by Tokyo Metro. They all look the 6-car trains, but there is one train-set of exception if you observe them carefully. That's Set 9109 of the EMU 9000 series, which is composed of 8 cars. You can confirm it, if you count the number of air-conditioners installed on the roofs of the train (see the photo below). Set 9109 was originally built in 1995 as a 6-car train. Two new cars were then added to this train-set, and it became an 8-car train in 2023. According to Tokyo Metro, 14 more train-sets will be changed from 6 to 8 cars to increase transport capacity; however, I haven't heard from Tokyo Metro recently. As a result, Set 9109 is now an extra rare train-set consisting of 8 cars. It’s really fun for me to perceive a fine difference between these trains.

Set 9109 (8-car train) travels on the Tokyu-Meguro line

Revisit to the Point of Interest in Kobe City

EMU Kobe Municipal Subway 6000 series arrives at Sannomiya station

I visited Kobe City in Hyogo Prefecture for the first time in a while. It was a travel, which I tried to trace my memory.

Let me review Kobe City to start. Kobe is the main city of Hyogo Prefecture, about 600 kilometers west of Tokyo. The population is about 1.5 million. It was opened as a trading port city in 1868. After opening of Kobe Port, many foreigners migrated into this city, and generated Ijingai (a foreign settlement), which is the current popular sightseeing spot.

I revisited Kazamidori-no-yakata (Weathercock House) in Ijingai for the first time in 11 years. This mansion was built by German trading merchant, Gottfried Thomas in 1904. When I visited there in 2013, I saw many sightseers, but it was very quiet this time. Why? Because, the building was under renovation in order to boost the strength against earthquakes. I could observe a beautifully illuminated exterior instead, oh well.

To get to Weathercock House, the nearest railway station is Shin-Kobe on the Seishin-Yamate line of Kobe Municipal Subway. When I took this line in the past, the oldest model, namely the EMU 1000 series, was still being operated, but this time, I couldn’t find it anymore. I came across the latest model, the EMU 6000 series, instead. The 6000 series was commissioned in 2019 replacing the EMU 1000, 2000 series and the others. I didn't know any acquaintances on the Seishin-Yamanote line. I couldn't keep up with the flow of time.

Kazamidori-no-yakata (Weathercock House) near Shin-Kobe station