I've received a nostalgic train picture from an Indonesian railfan. It's set 8610 (hereafter 8610F) of the EMU ex-Tokyu 8500 series being operated in Jakarta, Indonesia. My thanks go to Faris Fadhli, who kindly sent me the photograph.
Let me quickly review the EMU Tokyu 8500 series to start. The 8500 series debuted in Japan in 1975, when the Tokyu Den-en-toshi line trains started to be directly operated onto the subway Hanzomon line. It's a direct current commuter train with a field chopper electric control system. 400 cars in total were built by Tokyu Sharyo until 1991. One set is operated on the Den-en-toshi line even now; meanwhile, 8 sets, 64 cars in total, were transferred to Indonesia from 2006 to 2009 as second-hand trains. Three sets, namely 8604F, 8618F and 8610F, are still operated on the local railway in Jakarta. All three sets are currently composed of 12 cars.
Let's head to the main topic, namely 8610F. When I lived in Indonesia from 2007 to 2011, 8610F had blue, yellow and white-colored stripes. I still remember that the train face of 8610F looked like a professional wrestler wearing a lovely mask. Whenever I came across 8610F, I got a chuckle out of its face. Eleven years has passed since then, 8610F currently has a red -colored face with red, yellow and white-colored stripes. Protection nets on the front have been removed. It looks rather old, but still alive and well. I miss 8610F and my days in Jakarta.
