Kumoya 90 + 165kei running together

[railsquid]

At 1:53 in this video:

 

No idea whether that was common or not,  but interesting combination.

 

The whole channel is full of JNR-era goodness: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJax3k2zjeg1yO2EcEGC3DA/videos

Edited April 2, 2016 by railsquid

[Sacto1985]

This was filmed when the 381 Series running on the Shinano route had been in service for just over ten years. If I remember correctly, the 381 had a lot of teething troubles initially with the car tilting mechanism and it took quite a while to resolve it.

[bikkuri bahn]

No idea whether that was common or not, but interesting combination.

The hint is the headboard indicating a test run. Apparently train sets back then were often overhauled in sections rather than as full trainset formations, so post-overhaul tests required a control driving car such as the kumoya.

 

You can see still see these combinations (at least as of last year), such as:

Edited April 2, 2016 by bikkuri bahn

[Sacto1985]

Of course, YouTube member nimo5 showed something similar a few years ago when a KuMoYa 145 pulled a small section of a 381 Series EMU trainset on a test, probably after repairs at the JR West maintenance yard at Yonago: