Search the Community

Mock-ups of the interiors of these units. Starting from 1:55 a brief video of the frames being built at Hitachi Kasado, and a still shot of a carbody. http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/update/2014-05-28/trains-of-the-future-unveiled-for-the-thames-valley/

An old Hitachi color film, unfortunately suffers from color shift, but very informative about the civil engineering of this monorail line. Also scenes of railcar construction at the Kasado factory starting at 9:00. *h/t to quashlo at ssc forum for this find

I think I may have posted this video before, but it's a nice Hitachi PR film worth seeing again, about the introduction of the 20 series rolling stock on the Asakaze overnight service between Tokyo and Hakata. This rolling stock, along with the 151 series ltd. express emu, the kiha 80 dmu, and 101/103 series, came to symbolize the modernization of Japanese railways and indeed a symbol of postwar recovery (culminating in the 0 series shinkansen). To the average passenger circa 1958, seeing these smooth welded steel designs pull up to the platform for the first time must have been a revelation, coaching stock hitherto having been heavyweight riveted steel types. They certainly look beautiful fresh out of the Hitachi plant at Kasado in their blue with white striping. The body shell design was based on the earlier 10 series express stock, which in turn incorporated ideas from the SBB's Leichtstahlwagen design. Notice the film focuses often on the bogies, emphasizing the ride quality of the stock, important considering that these were for night train use.

Here's an interesting one I found through the jiji.com link that Bill posted in Gmat's Start of a Holiday Season thread. I saw a small thumbnail of this building, so I had to click :). It was built in 1938 by Tokyo Gas Electric, but the following year that company merged with Hitachi, and the facility was then used to supply electricity to Hitachi Aircraft's Tachikawa engine factory. As you can see in the pictures, it was bombed but not directly hit, apparently between February and April of 1945. It continued to operate as a substation until 1993. The surrounding Metropolitan Higashiyamato Minami Park was established that year, and since 1995 it has been preserved and administered by Higashiyamato City as a historical asset. Nearest station is Tamagawa Jousui on the Seibu Haijima and Tama Monorail lines. various photos: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Hitachi_plane_Tachikawa_transformer_substation http://www.tawatawa.com/densen3w/page017.html http://homepage2.nifty.com/matsuken/sanpo09.htm Japanese wikipedia page: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%A7%E6%97%A5%E7%AB%8B%E8%88%AA%E7%A9%BA%E6%A9%9F%E7%AB%8B%E5%B7%9D%E5%B7%A5%E5%A0%B4%E5%A4%89%E9%9B%BB%E6%89%80 google map centered on Metropolitan Higashiyamato Minami Park, with substation at middle left: http://maps.google.co.jp/maps?q=é½ç«æ±å¤§ååå¬åå&hl=ja&ie=UTF8&ll=35.73527,139.424078&spn=0.003758,0.006003&sll=36.5626,136.362305&sspn=59.481591,98.349609&brcurrent=3,0x6018e0e6cf083fe7:0x54f8f0a82f31473c,0&hq=é½ç«æ±å¤§ååå¬åå&t=m&z=18