Search the Community

A couple of new TV cms from Meitetsu, commemorating its 120th anniversary with the slogan "connecting hearts, heading to tomorrow". First cm is a short 1 minute spot emphasizing service and safety, the second an admittedly tropey animated feature emphasizing family, with the railway as the ever-present facilitator/setting (the private [mintetsu 民鉄] railway being the familiar local means of transport). Songs as always by Kazumasa Oda.

A recent Railway Pictorial Archives Selection issue about Meitetsu 1970~1980 (#31) had an interesting article about Meitetsu's bespoke automatic coupler. Basically, with the frequent forming and un-forming of consists in revenue services en-route on the Meitetsu network (around 260 times/day in the early 1970's), the railway was looking for a coupling/uncoupling procedure that was more rapid and safer for train staff. Meitetsu looked at adopting Shibata style couplers with associated automatic electrical linkage, but ruled it out due to expense (Meitetsu used knuckle-style couplers on its fleet). An in-house system was developed which could be retro-fitted to existing couplers (in particular those of the 7000 series SR Panorama Cars). The device, mounted under the existing coupler, consisted of an 80 pin electrical connector and a three-hole air brake connection (main reservoir pipe, straight air pipe, and brake pipe). The connections were protected by a metal cover when not in use. Two types were developed- one with a fixed mounting, and another with a extendable connection driven by an air cylinder. When coupling, at least one coupler must be the extendable type. This system was used as the air and electrical connections are independent of the knuckle coupler connection- therefore, even with a slight offset of the main coupler connection, the electrical/air connections are secure. With the adoption of this coupler, coupling operations were shortened from 1 min 40s to 1 min, and decoupling from 1 min 34s to 1 min 4 s. Subsequent new rolling stock were fitted with this coupler as standard. Demo at an open day: Another angle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NOrjGVTMDU at Shin Anjo Station: At Shin-Unuma Station: An oldie, at Otagawa Station: