Going back to the topic of my trip to Sendai City last month...
After enjoying the city view, I visited the Sendai Tram Museum. Sendai once had an extensive tram network. The first route was opened in 1926 by the Electric Department (present Transportation Bureau) of Sendai City. The Sendai tram had a total of 16-kilometer-long line network at its peak, but it was unfortunately abolished in 1976 due to heavy traffic congestion in the urban area. The Sendai Tram Museum was then opened in 1991 in the premises of Tomizawa Railyard on the subway Namboku line.
Most of the streetcars had already been scrapped; however, several vehicles are still preserved in the museum. Let me introduce my favorite one, MoHa 415 of the electric car MoHa 400 series today. The MoHa 400 series was commissioned in 1959. It's a 600 V DC and middle-sized (11.9-meter-long) double-axle bogie car for 1,067-millimeter-wide gauge. One unit can accommodate up to 84 passengers. A total of 15 cars were built, but only one car, named MoHa 415, is preserved in the museum. The MoHa 415 was the last streetcar, which Sendai City introduced onto their tram network.
The slender face of the MoHa 415 is definitely my favorite. Furthermore, I'm fond of the coloring of this streetcar as well. I have faint memories of the time when the Sendai tram was operated in my childhood. Its green and orange-colored stripes fitted the trees that line along the tram routes.
To be continued...
