165 Series high roof?

[Welshbloke]

I just won a couple of cheap unboxed Kato 165 Series cars on ebay. A KuHa and a dummy MoHa 164.

 

The Moha has a roof design more akin to a MoHa 152, without the flattened roof under the pantograph that the rest of my MoHa 164s have and with a different layout of ventilators. Just wondering where this type ran? Did they go with KuMoHa 165s or MoHa 165s?

[kvp]

According to the wisdom of HS, these cars ran in the Alps sets, which is Shinjuku to Matsumoto and Minami Otari. The lowered roofline was a later remodelling for low ceiling tunnels on some of the branchlines. For the consists, the Kato basic set has kuha cars on both ends but some expanded examples show a kumoha car on one end and a kuha car on the other. Many sets also had kuha cars in the middle as well as first class and diner cars. I think in this case, the rule 'anything goes' is mostly usable.

[bikkuri bahn]

Moha 164 high roof versions were used on DC electrified routes with normal tunnel clearances, such as the Joetsu Route between Tokyo (Takasaki) and Niigata.  Being a newer route, lines such as the Joetsu* were built with more generous tunnel clearances than old routes such as the Chuo Line.

 

* before the opening of the Joetsu through line, trains between Tokyo and Niigata had to take the more circuitous and grade-infested Shinetsu Line

[Welshbloke]

Thanks both. I know MoHa 165s were nothing like as numerous as KuMoHa 165s from the numbers given on Wikipedia, but the site doesn't say anything about high or low roof variants of MoHa 164.

 

The MoHa 165s seem to have run in eight car sets with KuHa-MoHa-MoHa-SaRo-SaRo-MoHa-MoHa-KuHa, although I have seen this in a Youtube video with a three car set coupled to one end.

 

At the moment Kato are only selling the units as sets, an eight car Express Alps or two four car sets (one with KuMoHa/MoHa and two KuHas to go on the back of the Alps set, the other with intermediate MoHas and a KuHa each end). I have the older models so probably won't be buying the latest ones as the couplers are not compatible with the rest of my express EMU fleet. I can field a twelve car set of pure 165 Series or an eight with a couple of KuMoNi 83s on the front.

 

Kato also put out a diagram showing a lengthy 153 Series formation with a three car 165 Series coupled to one end, which will probably be the eventual use of these extras if I find a spare KuMoHa 165 and the old clip fit bogies I need to fit working couplers to my 153 Series KuHa cab ends.