Tuesday, 21 November 2017

Revival Colored Train on the Keikyu Line

Set 823 of the Keikyu 800 series, "revival colored train", arrives at Byobugaura Station

As I introduced before, the EMU 800 series is the oldest active model on the Keikyu Line. It was commissioned in 1978 to speed up local (all-stations) trains. A total of 27 sets (3-car and 6-car trains), 132 units, were built by Tokyu Sharyo and Kawasaki Heavy Industries. The specification of the 800 series is rather old. The field chopper electric control system of one generation earlier is still used; however, this classic direct-current motor sound is nostalgic and attractive for me.

You can see one large light on the frontal face of the 800 series. It is similar to a Japanese specter, Hitotsume-kozo (One-eyed Goblin). It also looks like a Japanese doll, Daruma, whose outlines of the face is also painted red. Anyway, the face of the 800 series is quite unique. On November 12th, 2016, Keikyu launched a revival colored train, set 823 of the 800 series on their track. The side body of set 823 is two-tones of red and cream colors, which was returned to its original appearance in 1978. This revival colored train is photogenic, and very popular among rail-fans.

For your information, the gauge size of the Keikyu Line is 1,435 mm, which is wider than that of most railways in the Tokyo metropolitan area. To make use of this advantage, the maximum speed of the Keikyu trains is 120 km/hour, which is same as their rival, the EMU E233-3000 series on the JR East Tokaido Main Line.

Set 823 of the Keikyu 800 series, "revival colored train", arrives at Keikyu-Kamata Station

Official information about the EMU 800 series revival colored train (in Japanese):