Set 8714 travels on the Keio Line, displaying the “Mogusaen Plum Festival” plateWe had a rather cold winter this year. Because of the low temperatures, plum trees started blooming one to three weeks later than usual. Mogusaen Garden in Hino City was no exception. Normally, the plums in this garden reach full bloom in mid-February, but they haven’t done so yet this year. Instead, I enjoyed the tsurushi-bina decorations displayed in a hermitage within the garden (see the photo below). For your information, tsurushi-bina is a Japanese tradition in which ornamental dolls are hung on strings for Girls' Day, also known as the Doll's Festival.
To visit this plum garden, the nearest railway station is Mogusaen on the Keio Line. During the plum-blossom season, Keio Electric Railway operates a train with a special head plate on the line to promote tourism to Mogusaen. It is trainset 8714 of the EMU 8000 series. The large plum-blossom-shaped plate on the front of the train makes me feel the arrival of spring.
The 8000 series was introduced in 1992 as Keio’s first train to adopt a variable frequency drive (VFD) control system. As you may know, the rotational speed and torque of induction motors are adjusted through frequency and voltage in this system. Together with a regenerative braking system and reduced vehicle weight, the electricity consumption of the 8000 series was cut by about 45 percent compared with its predecessors.
Finally, please take a look at my previous posts as well about other famous plum gardens and groves in the metropolitan area, such as Taura Ume-no-sato, Haruna Plum Grove, and Ikegami Plum Garden, if you have time.
