Saturday 8 September 2018

Ex-Keio Train in Choshi City: Part 2

2002F of the EMU Choden 2000 series arrives at Inubo station

Choshi is situated in the easternmost part of Chiba Prefecture. It is located at the tip of the cape, so that the whole city is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. Because of its topography, Choshi is cooler than the other cities in the Tokyo metropolitan area in summer; meanwhile, it is warm in winter. I am jealous of people in Choshi.

There is another fascination in Choshi. It is a unique local private railway, namely Choshi Electric Railway (Choden). Choden has only three active sets of rolling stock. They are 3001F, 2001F and 2002F.

2002F of the EMU 2000 series is a 2-car train consisting of one driving motor car (DeHa 2002) and one driving trailer (KuHa 2502). These cars were originally operated on the Keio line in Tokyo under the names of DeHa 2069 and SaHa 2576 of the EMU 2010 series. After retirement from the Keio line, they moved to Iyo Railway in Shikoku Island in 1984. These cars were then moved again to Choden in 2009. The "face" of the KuHa 2502 was remodeled from a middle car (SaHa 2576) in the days of Iyo Railway.

2002F is currently painted two tones of dark rose and beige. It is a revival color design of Choden before 1990. It looks just like the revival colored trains on the Seibu and the Izu-Hakone lines. Revival color is the key trend on the Japanese Railway to attract passengers like me... a rail-fan.

Side view of 2002F, the EMU Choden 2000 series

Official information about the trains of Choshi Electric Railway (in Japanese):