Final Chapter of Shin-Keisei Electric Railway

Set N818 of the EMU Shinkeisei N800 series, "My Memories Train"

You may remember when I introduced you to the news, in which Keisei Electric Railway Company will absorb Shin-Keisei Electric Railway Company in April, 2025. How is the merger project going? Just like last November, I recently visited the Shin-Keisei line, and again saw it with my own eyes.

I found that Shin-Keisei was operating a special poster train named “My Memories Train” using set N818 of the EMU N800 series. We can see a special sticker, which shows Shin-Keisei’s 78 years of history, on the front (see the top photo). There are large stickers, which show Shin-Keisei’s famous trains, namely the EMU 220, 8900 and 80000 series, on the side bodies (see the photo below). In addition, passengers can enjoy special posters, which explain the history of Shin-Keisei, inside the train. According to the company, the purpose of My Memories Train is to look back Shin-Keisei’s 78 years of history with passengers. The final chapter of Shin-Keisei Electric Railway is surely and steadily going on, before the merger in the Keisei group.

Incidentally, the EMU N800 series is one of the main fleets on the Shin-Keisei line. It was commissioned in 2005 to replace the old models, the 800 and 8000 series. A total of 5 sets, 30 units, were built by Nippon Sharyo. The N800 series is a sister train of the Keisei 3000 series. The train bodies and the technical specifications of the N800 series are the same as those of the 3000 series.

Side body of My Memories Train

Preserved Mini-Electric Locomotive in Fuchu City

Unit 1 of the electric locomotive Class JNR EB10 is preserved in Fuchu City

Fuchu City is located in the western part of Tokyo Metropolis, some 30 kilometers west of the downtown Tokyo area. It has a population of 260,000, which is the third largest among 25 cities in Tokyo Metropolis. There are several famous spots such as Tokyo Racecourse for horse racing, but my favorite place is Traffic Park, where we can observe many precious vehicles.

Unit 1 of the Class EB10 (hereafter EB10 1) is my favorite exhibition in the park. The EB10 was developed in 1927 by Ministry of Railways (later the Japanese National Railways) as Japan’s first accumulator (rechargeable battery) locomotive under the name of the Class AB10, and operated on the Suka line in Tokyo. Two units were built by Kisha Seizo and Shibaura Denki. The accumulator was manufactured by Yuasa. Why was the accumulator locomotive required? Good question! Because there was a gunpower factory along the Suka line at that time. Operating steam locomotives was thought to be dangerous as there is a catching fire risk.

Although it was a state-of-the-art accumulator locomotive, the AB10 was renovated to a standard direct current electric locomotive (EL) named the Class EB10 in 1931, as the Suka line was electrified. The Class EB10 was a 1,500V direct current EL with an axis arrangement Ao-Ao. It’s 8.2 meters long, and weighs 22,640 kilograms. The maximum speed was 40 kilometers per hour. EB10 1 retired from the track in 1971, and brought to Fuchu City for preservation. Since then, this mini-EL has been maintained in good conditions.

Side view of Unit 1 of the Class JNR EB10

Official information about the Traffic Park by Fuchu City (machine translation):

https://honyaku.j-server.com/LUCFUCHU/ns/tl.cgi/https%3a//www.city.fuchu.tokyo.jp/shisetu/kankyo/koen/kotuyuen.html?SLANG=ja&TLANG=en&XMODE=0&XCHARSET=UTF-8&XJSID=0

Timetable Disruption on the Odakyu Line

Platform display at Chitose-Funabashi station on the Odakyu line

One day, I headed to Shinjuku taking care of some personal business. When I arrived at my nearest station on the Odakyu line from my place, I found that it looked different from usual. Many passengers were standing at the concourse of the station. Anything wrong?

When I looked up at the platform display, I finally understood the reason. Please look at the top photo. The train is very delayed. It’s already past 11 o’clock, but the next train leaving 9.43 has not arrived at the station yet. To make matters worse, the destination of the next train is not Shinjuku, but Kyodo… just next to my station. Due to a signal system malfunction, the train service from Kyodo station to Shinjuku terminal has been suspended.

Please, don’t worry. Railfans are optimistic. I’m also one of them. I switched my mind, and took action. First, I enjoyed taking photo of this platform display, which was showing very rare destination “Kyodo”. I then moved to Kyodo station, and looked for rare sceneries. Please look at the photo below. You may feel that it's an ordinary scene. The EMU Odakyu 3000 series is just traveling on the track, but it's a treasure to me. This train is changing from the express line (in the left) to the local line (in the right). I seldom see such a scene at this station.

I couldn't achieve my personal business as planned that day, but I was satisfied as I came across the rare scenes.

EMU Odakyu 3000 series changes to another track at Kyodo station

New Year Scene on the Haneda Airport Line

Trainset 10081 of the EMU Tokyo Monorail 10000 series with a New Year plate

It's already late January. Time really flies. Before ending the first month of the year 2025, I'm going to show you one more topic on the New Year railway scene in Tokyo.

Please look at the top photo. You can see a monorail train with a yellow-colored plate on the front. It’s trainset 10081 of EMU Tokyo Monorail 10000 series travelling on the Haneda Airport line. Let me review the Haneda Airport line. It’s an airport access monorail line from downtown Tokyo to Tokyo International Airport (Haneda). This route was opened in 1964 as the second oldest monorail line in Tokyo. The EMU 10000 series is the newest model consisting of 6 cars. The body is made of aluminum and the bogies are bolster-less. The IGBT-VVVF (variable-frequency drive) control system is applied. A green-colored stripe above the windows is a good accent. The yellow-colored front plate is shaped “2025” using snake designs. As you may know, 2025 is the Year of the Snake.

On the other hand, the photo below is trainset 10041 of the 10000 series. The body color of this train has been returned to the original state, which was adopted when the Haneda Airport line was opened. We can see the other kind of plate celebrating “2025 New Year” on the front of this train. Incidentally, you can see 634 meters high Tokyo Skytree, a TV and radio broadcasting tower, in the back. It's located about 14 kilometers northeast, and known as the tallest freestanding broadcasting tower in the world.

Trainset 10041 (in the front) and Tokyo Skytree (in the back)

Lake-Ocean View in Hakone

Gondora "Ashinoko" of the Komagatake Ropeway

You may remember when I introduced you to my visit to Hakone last November. I’m going to show you one more precious view from the summit of Mt. Komagatake today.

Please look at the photo below. You can see two kinds of water surfaces. What are these? They are the lake and the ocean. The one in the front is Lake Ashinoko. On the other hand, the one in the back is the Pacific Ocean. It’s a rare view, isn’t it? As far as I can remember, there are several places, where we can see both a lake and the sea in Japan. For example, we can simultaneously see Lake Saroma and the Okhotsk Sea in Hokkaido Island, but they are connected each other. In other words, the difference in elevation of these water surfaces are zero meters. In contrast, the difference in elevation of water surfaces between Lake Ashinoko and the Pacific Ocean is 723 meters. Don’t you think the water could easily leak from the lake? According to specialists, Lake Ashinoko is a caldera lake in the Hakone mountains. It means that the lake is surrounded by the hard and dense volcanic rocks. I enjoyed this unique view from Mt. Komagatake.

Well, I can't be written off here as this is a transportation blog. Taking this opportunity, I'm showing another gondola, “Ashinoko (Number 1)”. Along with “Komagatake (Number 2)”, “Ashinoko” was built by CWA in 1986. It can accommodate up to 101 passengers. Komagatake Ropeway has been operated by automatic control system since 1990.

Lake Ashinoko (in the front) and the Pacific Ocean (in the back)

Official website, Hakone-Komagarake Ropeway (in Japanese):

https://www.princehotels.co.jp/amuse/hakone-en/ropeway/

The 55th Anniversary of the Seibu-Chichibu Line

Trainset Seibu 4017, "the 55th anniversary train" of the Seibu-Chichibu line

On October 14th, 2024, Seibu Railway celebrated the 55th anniversary of their Chichibu line. In commemoration, several events are held by the company.

Let me review the Seibu-Chichibu line to start. It’s a mountain railway penetrating Chichibu Mountains, which is situated in the northwestern part of the metropolitan area. Connecting Agano and Seibu-Chichibu, the route length is 19 kilometers. The track is mostly single and electrified at 1,500 V DC. The gauge size is 1,067 millimeters. The route was opened on the 14th of October 1969 to transport tourists and cement. For your information, Mt. Buko in the Chichibu area is famous for producing limestone, which is a material of cement. The limited express train “Laview (EMU 001 series)” and the standard train “EMU 4000 series” are mainly commissioned on the line.

Let’s head to the main topic. Seibu started to operate the 55th anniversary train of the Seibu-Chichibu line on November 11th, 2024. It’s a red and beige-colored train using trainset 4017 of the EMU 4000 series. According to Seibu, the color design of the anniversary train was taken from the Class E851, which was retired from the Seibu-Chichibu line in 1996. The E851 was a Bo+Bo+Bo-type direct current electric locomotive with six 425kW DC motors. It could tow 1,000-ton cement cargo trains by double heading. You can imagine what the E851 looked like from the imitation exhibited in Seibu-Chichibu station (see the photo below). The E851 is on our left.

Congratulations on the 55th anniversary of the Seibu-Chichibu line!

Immitation of the Seibu electric locomotive Class E851 (left)

Official information about the 55th anniversary train of the Seibu-Chichibu line by Seibu Railway (in Japanese):

https://www.seiburailway.jp/file.jsp?newsroom/news/file/20241108_4000e851.pdf

New Year Scene on the Inokashira Line

Set 1751 of the EMU Keio 1000 seeries arrives at Shimokitazawa station

Usually in Japan people tend to meet with their families during New Year holidays. I’m no exception. I visited my mother’s house in Suginami Ward on New Year Day, and had a great time with my mother and family.

Next day, I went to a shrine named Omiya-hachiman, near my mother’s house to pray for a healthy and prosperous year. Omiya-hahciman was opened in 1063 for warding off evil. After praying, I saw a New Year’s ceremony named “Hikime-no-gi” was being held at the archery range in the precinct. When the special arrow was shot, it cut the wind and emitted a "whoosh" sound, which is said to dispel the devil. I fully enjoyed this traditional ceremony.

To get to this historical shrine, the nearest railway station is Nishi-eifuku on the Keio Inokashira line. Following the “Merry Christmas” plate, a train on the Inokashira line was displaying “Geishun (New Year’s greeting)” plate on the front in this season. It was Set 1751 of the EMU Keio 1000 series. Set 1751 was commissioned in 1996 as the first set of the 1000 series. It has blueish green-colored face. Incidentally, I’m going to show you a surefire topic for old-school trainspotters. The 1000 series trains have great variety not only their “face colors”. For example, the early 15 sets including Set 1751 have boxy destination signs on the front. On the other hand, the later 14 sets have smooth destination signs. Finding such subtle differences between trains is the greatest pleasure for trainspotters like me.

Hikime Ceremony is held at Omiya-hachiman shrine near Nishi-eifuku station

Green Cars for Free

JR East double decker Green Cars (first-class cars), Type SaRo E233 and E232

You may remember when I introduced you to the test run of Green Cars on the JR East Chuo Rapid line three years ago. What happened this project after that?

Let me quickly review the Chuo Rapid line and the Green Cars project. The Chuo Rapid line is one of the busiest railways in the metropolitan area. 10-car trains are operated every two minutes during the rush hour, but still very crowded. JR East can't keep their arms crossed. To reduce congestion, they made a plan to increase two cars per train-set. These two cars will not be standard cars, but Green Cars (first-class cars). Why? That's because many passengers request to get seats on the train on the way to and from work, even if they pay extra. It's favorable to the railway company as well to increase their sales. That’s a win-win solution, isn’t it?

Let’s head to the main topic. JR East started to operate trains connecting Green Cars on October 13th, 2024. Surprisingly, there is no Green Car charge! The gimmick is as follows. It’s a campaign to attract future Green Cars passengers. For that purpose, all Green Cars on the Chuo Rapid line will be free of charge until March 14th, 2025. Many passengers currently enjoy luxury Green Cars for free. I’m one of them. In the Green Car, I’m just relaxed and enjoy reading or listening music, while having a soft drink. Green Cars on the Chuo Rapid line… it’s a “Petit-zeitaku” (small luxury and gratification) for Tokyoites, isn’t it?

Interior of Green Cars on the JR East Chuo Rapid line

Official information about the Green Car project by JR East (in Japanese):

https://www.jreast.co.jp/press/2024/20240910_ho02.pdf

Extra Rare Train on the Tokyo Metro Namboku Line

Set 9109 (8-car train) of the EMU Tokyo Metro 9000 series 

It's fun for me to find rare trains on railway tracks as a trainspotter. No matter how painful things are, rare trains make me happy. Trainspotters are carefree people, aren't they? I’m going to show you a surefire topic for old-school trainspotters like me today.

The subway Tokyo Metro Namboku line penetrates Tokyo Metropolis from south to north. Connecting Meguro and Akabane-iwabuchi, the total operating length is 21.3 kilometers. Many trains are directly operated onto the Tokyu-Meguro, Saitama Railway and other lines. In addition to that, the section between Meguro and Shirokane-takanawa is shared with the Toei (Tokyo Metropolitan Government) Mita line.

To operate the Namboku line on timetable, 23 train-sets in total are provided by Tokyo Metro. They all look the 6-car trains, but there is one train-set of exception if you observe them carefully. That's Set 9109 of the EMU 9000 series, which is composed of 8 cars. You can confirm it, if you count the number of air-conditioners installed on the roofs of the train (see the photo below). Set 9109 was originally built in 1995 as a 6-car train. Two new cars were then added to this train-set, and it became an 8-car train in 2023. According to Tokyo Metro, 14 more train-sets will be changed from 6 to 8 cars to increase transport capacity; however, I haven't heard from Tokyo Metro recently. As a result, Set 9109 is now an extra rare train-set consisting of 8 cars. It’s really fun for me to perceive a fine difference between these trains.

Set 9109 (8-car train) travels on the Tokyu-Meguro line

Revisit to the Point of Interest in Kobe City

EMU Kobe Municipal Subway 6000 series arrives at Sannomiya station

I visited Kobe City in Hyogo Prefecture for the first time in a while. It was a travel, which I tried to trace my memory.

Let me review Kobe City to start. Kobe is the main city of Hyogo Prefecture, about 600 kilometers west of Tokyo. The population is about 1.5 million. It was opened as a trading port city in 1868. After opening of Kobe Port, many foreigners migrated into this city, and generated Ijingai (a foreign settlement), which is the current popular sightseeing spot.

I revisited Kazamidori-no-yakata (Weathercock House) in Ijingai for the first time in 11 years. This mansion was built by German trading merchant, Gottfried Thomas in 1904. When I visited there in 2013, I saw many sightseers, but it was very quiet this time. Why? Because, the building was under renovation in order to boost the strength against earthquakes. I could observe a beautifully illuminated exterior instead, oh well.

To get to Weathercock House, the nearest railway station is Shin-Kobe on the Seishin-Yamate line of Kobe Municipal Subway. When I took this line in the past, the oldest model, namely the EMU 1000 series, was still being operated, but this time, I couldn’t find it anymore. I came across the latest model, the EMU 6000 series, instead. The 6000 series was commissioned in 2019 replacing the EMU 1000, 2000 series and the others. I didn't know any acquaintances on the Seishin-Yamanote line. I couldn't keep up with the flow of time.

Kazamidori-no-yakata (Weathercock House) near Shin-Kobe station

Preserved Locomotive in Nirasaki City

Electric locomotive JNR EF15 198 is preserved in Nirasaki Central Park

Happy New Year! The year 2025 has begun. I wish all railfans around the world health and happiness over this festive period and for 2025. At the opening of New Year, I’m going to show you a beautifully preserved locomotive in Nirasaki Central Park, Nirasaki City, Yamanashi Prefecture about 150 kilometers west of Tokyo.

The Class EF15 is a 1,500V direct current electric locomotive with an axis arrangement 1C+C1 (AAR wheel arrangement). It was developed by Ministry of Transport in 1947 for pulling freight trains. A total of 202 units were built, but currently only 4 units are preserved in the country. The EF15 is 17 meters long, and weighs 102 tons. The maximum speed was 75 kilometers per hour. Unit 198 (see the top photo) was built by Toyo Denki and Kisha Seizo in 1958. After operating for 28 years on the Japanese National Railways (JNR) lines, it was retired from the track in 1986 as the final survivor of the EF15. Its total driving distance was 2.12 million kilometers. Please compare with the Class EF57, which I showed you last November.

I’m not done yet. Please look at the photo below next. You can see 4 freight cars behind Unit 198. They are 3 open wagons named ToRa70000, and a caboose Yo5000.  ToRa70000 was JNR’s standard open wagon. A total of 5100 units were built, but currently only 13 units survive. ToRa701 and ToRa702 on the Mojiko Retro Sightseeing line are precious survivors of the JNR ToRa70000 after renovation.

Caboose JNR Yo5000 and open wagons JNR ToRa70000