Wealthy Neighborhood on the Tokyu-Toyoko Line

EMU Tokyu 5050 series travels between Denenchofu and Tamagawa stations

Where is the high-class residential area in your city or country? In Tokyo, there are several such areas, but a majority of Tokyoites will say "Denenchofu". "The house will be built in Denenchofu" is a phrase that was often joked by a famous comedian in the 1980's. It means "becoming rich". In fact, there are many mansions on the streets in Denenchofu, but they are not so big as foreign ones like Beverly Hills. It's because Tokyo is a super-congested city. Am I jealous of residents in Denenchofu?(I'm not a resident of Denenchofu.)

Joking aside, I visited a park adjacent to the Denenchofu residential area just for kicks on the weekend. It's a beautiful and quiet park surrounded by a forest. I saw a brown-eared bulbul twittering on a tree. He (or she) must be just a common bird, but looked rich. It's probably just my imagination.

On the way back home, I came across the representative train, which travels through the high-class residential area. It's the EMU Tokyu 5050 series operated on the Toyoko line. The 5050 series debuted in 2004 as a standard commuter train for the Toyoko line. Before the debut of the 5050 series, most of the Toyoko line trains had just rustic gabled frontal masks, but the 5050 series changed the atmosphere of the Toyoko line. Its face became more sophisticated than the older trains, and blended into the landscape of the Denenchofu residential area.

I enjoyed the atmosphere of the wealthy neighborhood on the weekend.

A brown-eared bulbul twitters on a tree in Denenchofu Seseragi Park

The Design that I won't Tire of

EMU Tokyo Metro 07 series travels on the Tozai line 

I thought that all the existing train models in the Tokyo metropolitan area had already been introduced to you here, but I was wrong. I recently found that there are still some more models I haven't shown you yet. The introduction of trains in the Tokyo metropolitan area is almost endless, but okay. It's what I do.

The EMU Tokyo Metro 07 series is a commuter train operated on the subway Tozai line. It was launched in 1993 originally for the subway Yurakucho line. 6 sets, 60 cars in total, were built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Nippon Sharyo. After being operated on the Yurakucho line for 15 years, the 07 series was moved to the Tozai line in 2008. This transfer was caused by a connecting of the Yurakucho and Fuktoshin lines. Both the Yurakucho and Fukutoshin lines' trains became integrated. In other words, all the trains for the Yurakucho and Fukutoshin lines should have the same specifications; however, passenger door positions of the 07 series were different from the other models. It was an obstacle to the operation of automatic platform gates on the Fukutoshin line.

The 07 series became a nuisance on the Yurakucho line, but I love it. Specifically, I'm fond of its rounded design taken from an elder model, the EMU 06 series, on the Chiyoda line. Its design concept is calm, elegant, urban and one more... long beloved by passengers. Exactly. The 07 series has a design that I won't tire of.

EMU Tokyo Metro 07 series arrives at Nishikasai station on the Tozai line

Official information about the EMU Tokyo Metro 07 series by Tokyo Metro (in Japanese):

https://www.tokyometro.jp/corporate/enterprise/passenger_rail/cars/working/tozai_07/index.html

Official information about the EMU Tokyo Metro 07 series by Nippon Sharyo (in Japanese):

https://www.n-sharyo.co.jp/business/tetsudo/pages/trta07.htm

Winter Walk in Kawasaki City

SL D51 408 is preserved in front of the science museum of Ikuta Ryokuchi Park

It's late February already, but the maximum daytime temperature is often below 10 degrees Celsius in Tokyo. Is global warming real? There's no point thinking about it, so, I went to the suburbs to look for signs of spring. My destination was Ikuta Ryokuchi Park (Ikuta Green Park) in Kawasaki City. When I was strolling in the park, I came across an early blooming plum tree decked with light pink-colored flowers in a grove. That was just what I had been looking for. I could feel the sign of spring just a little.

I can't be written off here as this is a railway blog. Following the early blooming plum tree, I luckily found a preserved steam locomotive (SL) in front of the science museum in the park. It's unit 408 of Class D51 SL (D51 408). As I posted before, Class D51 was Japan's biggest force of locomotive fleet. 1,115 units in total were built from 1935 to 1950. It's a 2-8-2 (Whyte notation) type SL that has a tender attached. D51 408 was built in 1940 by Nippon Sharyo. Starting from Toyama Depot of Japanese Government Railways, D51 408 was moved from one depot to the next. Its primary mission was pulling freight trains. After traveling more than 1.4 million kilometers, D51 408 was retired from the track in 1970.

Please look at the picture. D51 408 is preserved in excellent condition. It's sparkling even under the weak winter sunlight. Spring is just around the corner.

Plum blossoms in Ikuta Ryokuchi Park

Final Chapter of Odakyu Romance Car VSE

EMU Odakyu 50000 series, Romance Car VSE, passes through Noborito station

On December 17th, 2021, some news shook all rail-fans badly. Odakyu Electric Railway made a press release announcing that Romance Car VSE (hereafter VSE) will be terminated in its regular service on March 11th, 2022. Furthermore, VSE will be retired from the track in the autumn of 2023.

Let me quickly review VSE. The EMU Odakyu 50000 series, also known as VSE (Vault Super Express), is a famous model of the Odakyu Romance Car fleet. It was launched in 2005 as a 10-car train with articulated bogies. Two sets in total were built by Nippon Sharyo. VSE's cockpit is upstairs, so that passengers can enjoy a front view through the wide front windows. VSE achieves a high level of popularity among tourists.

Why does VSE have to be retired in spite of its youth... only 17 years old? Unfortunately, there is no official explanation from Odakyu, but most rail-fans speculate... (1) VSE has special short-sized bodies, so, the positions of passenger doors don't match those of the automatic platform gates at most stations. (2) VSE has special articulated bogies, so, it's not easy in maintenance. In summary, the negative aspect of VSE could be its economic feasibility, despite that VSE is the embodiment of Odakyu's high technologies.

I recently found that VSE carried a special sticker saying "thanks VSE" on the front. Time never stops, but please take a look at my previous posts about VSE, if you have time. They were posted in 2012, 2016 (February and November) and 2018.

Special sticker, "Thanks VSE" 

Official website, "Thanks VSE" (in Japanese):

https://www.odakyu.jp/thanks/vse/

Official information about Odakyu Romance Car:

https://www.odakyu.jp/english/romancecar/

The City of Deer in 2021: Part 2

EMU Kintetsu 8810 series stands at Kintetsu-Nara station

Going back to the topic of last year's family trip to Nara...

After staying overnight at a hotel in Nara City, we joined a city walking tour led by a local volunteer guide. There was no fee to participate. I was very interested in his talk about the history and sightseeing spots in the city. What's more, he told us interesting rumors in the city. For example, the characters of wild deer in the city are different according to the living areas. He feels that deer living near Todaiji-temple are more violent-tempered than those in Nara Park. That was unexpected for me, as we saw a deer playing nicely with a little girl in front of Todaiji-temple. Whatever, thank you, I'll never forget this interesting tour.

Getting into the main topic, let me introduce a train I saw at Kintetsu-Nara station on the same day. It's the EMU 8810 series for the Nara, Osaka and other lines. The 8810 series is Kintetsu's first model with a field chopper electric control system. 8 sets, 32 cars in total, were built by Hitachi from 1981 to 1984. The field chopper is one of the advanced rheostatic control systems, but has been replaced by a newly developed VVVF inverter (variable frequency drive) system since the 1990s. Trains with this system have been retired one after another in the Tokyo metropolitan area, but are still active on the Kintetsu lines.

The volunteer-guided walking tour and the historical Kintetsu train... I fully enjoyed Nara City.

Wild deer and a little girl in front of Todaiji-temple

Official information about the EMU Kintetsu 8810 series (in Japanese):

https://www.kintetsu.jp/kouhou/Train/B19.html#8810