This marks the 1,800th post on my blog. Thirteen and a half years have passed since I first began writing here, and I truly hope that railfans around the world continue to enjoy these stories. To celebrate this little milestone of “1,800,” let me introduce a train that bears the same number in its name. It may be a bit of a stretch, but I hope you’ll indulge me.
Toyohashi Railway’s EMU 1800 series is the only rolling stock type operating on the Atsumi Line. The trains entered service in 2000, replacing the aging ex-Meitetsu 7300 series. Before coming to Toyohashi Railway, these cars were originally built as part of the Tokyu 7200 series by Tokyu Sharyo in the 1960s and 1970s. After roughly thirty years of operation, a total of 32 units were transferred to Toyohashi Railway. Today, ten 3-car sets are in revenue service. Each trainset consists of two motor cars and one trailer car (2M1T), and each car measures 18 meters in length.
What really sets the 1800 series apart is its distinctive, somewhat quirky “diamond-cut” front design. I’ve always been fond of this unusual face. Their colorful liveries are equally charming—each of the ten sets features its own unique color, ranging from light green (shown in the top photo) to brown (seen in the photo below).
Incidentally, the Atsumi Line is a local railway in Aichi Prefecture, about 300 kilometers west of Tokyo. Running between Shin-Toyohashi and Mikawa-Tahara, the line stretches 18 kilometers. It is a single-track route with a gauge of 1,067 millimeters and is electrified at 1,500 V DC using overhead catenaries.
