Let me pick up where I left off in my last post. After photographing and riding JR East’s new train on the Hachiko Line, I turned my attention to one of the Hachiko Line’s neighboring railways. This time, my focus was on Tobu Railway’s Grape-colored Train.
As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, so please take a look at the photo above. Yes—this is the Grape-colored Train operating on the Tobu Ogose Line, a branch line of the Tobu Tojo Line. Its official designation is Set 81111 (hereafter referred to as 81111F), part of the 8000 series EMUs.
As many railway fans know, the 8000 series has become something of an endangered species on Tobu lines. The series first entered service in 1963 as Tobu’s commuter train for busy urban routes. Over the next 21 years, a total of 712 cars were built. However, even trains cannot escape the passage of time, and the number of 8000 series cars has now declined to just 167.
That said, it’s not all bad news. The Grape-colored Train, 81111F, was introduced as a commemorative project marking the 100th anniversary of the full opening of the Tojo Line. A century ago, trains on the Tojo Line were painted in this distinctive color. To recreate the appearance of trains from 100 years ago, 81111F was repainted from its former cream livery to grape color in July of last year.
By the way, would you describe this train’s color as “grape” in your country? To me, it doesn’t feel quite right. Rather than grape, it looks more like a deep brown. In fact, the name comes from the former Japanese National Railways’ official color classification. According to its color chart, the color of 81111F is designated as “Budō (Grape) Color No. 1.” I apologize for getting a bit technical here.
