Oldest active trains in Japan -2020

[bill937ca]

Another old unit from the Kansai region is the Sanyo Electric Railway 3000.   Sanyo Electric Railway units also operate over the Hanshin Electric Railway to Hanshin Umeda in Osaka. The earliest units date back to 1964.   Video by 鉄道動画

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanyo_3000_series

 

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

Nagaden is acquiring ex-Tokyo Metro Hibiya  line 03 Series trains to relace Nagaden 3500 and 3600 series trains.

 

https://tetsudo-ch.com/10036027.html

 

Nagaden 3500 and 3600 series are ex-TRTA 3000 series trains built between 1960 and 1970.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRTA_3000_series

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagano_Electric_Railway

[Sacto1985]

Speaking of old train sets, I believe that the new 227-1000 Series now entering service in the Keihanshin region could end up sending a lot of older JR West train sets to the scrap yard. It could mean the end of the 103 and 113 train sets on the Bantan Line, Kosei Line and Kusatsu Line in the next few years. You now really wonder when will JR West announce a massive 227 Series order to essentially retire every 113/115 Series train set from Himeji to Shimonoseki. 

[bill937ca]

Nankai single door 7000 series at Nankai Suminoe garage.    Video by Dr.YELLOW movie by charonzoom

 

 

[200系]

@marknewton@miyakoji@cteno4@bill937ca and everyone else who responded: Thank you very much, and thank you for the continued support. You're right it has been a while, too long actually. I'd like to post more often though...

 

On 4/27/2020 at 11:10 AM, Socimi said:

Correct me if i'm wrong, but the Nankai 6000 Series should also be one of the last (if not the last) commuter EMU with traditional single-leaf doors still in mainline service (excluding the several second and third-hand EMUs in use by rural local railways such as Choshi or Kotoden).

On 4/27/2020 at 1:46 PM, bill937ca said:

The 1000-1500 series on the very busy Enoden have single doors too.

 

Yes, no maybe? The issue with differentiating commuter type EMUs from say a suburban type or general type EMU is that, outside of the former J.N.R.*, there is simply no clear definition of what exactly constitutes a commuter type train.

 

Now, using the template established by the introduction of the MoHa 63 type, the very first commuter type built for the national railway network, using a car length of around 20m in length (18 metres for the standard gauge private railways in the Kantō area), with around 4 doors or more per side (3 doors or more for 18m classes), using full longitudinal seating and built specifically for commuter service, then yes I'd say it's the last commuter cars still using single leaf doors would be the Nankai 6000 series. Though, with a little caveat, the only ones still being used in active commuter service, as you (and bill937ca, further up) mentioned, the Kotoden 1080 type car were built as Keikyū 1000 type commuter EMUs, however they are obviously used in an entirely different capacity since their transfer, so whether to count them as commuter types is up to the readers themselves. Personally I kinda count them as they were built for commuter services, and at the same time I kinda don't because of their current usage... So like I said, yes,no maybe?

 

*to paraphrase: "entry/exit within the passenger compartment (i.e. no closed of vestibules), longitudinally placed seating and performance suitable for commuting (i.e. acceleration/braking performance vs. speed)"

 

though I may have overlooked something, I have to admit, my knowledge of non(-former)J.N.R./(as well as post reform Kantō and Kansai area JR) rolling stock is not as extensive as I would like it to be, though I try to keep working on it😉.

 

With regards to the Enoden units, I'd say they are closer to a general type EMU, rather than a commuter type in my opinion. While they can, and certainly do, serve a role for daily commuters, as far as I know they were never designed with this purpose in mind. Otherwise we could also include equipment like the Eizan 700 and 800 series, or other comparable small private railway operated single/two car (~22m for a two car train) local EMUs, which is in my opinion a bit of a stretch in comparison to the aforementioned Nankai 6000 series which uses full sized cars.

 

Speaking about the Enoden, and getting back on topic, Enoden formation 305F is also worthy of a mention with regards to the topic. She's the only active formation of the Enoden 300 type still around and was built somewhere in early 1960, delivered to the Enoden on April 22nd 1960 and entered service on the 27th of April of the same year. Interestingly enough, as the 300 types are a bit of a hotchpotch, containing both remodeled former single car units as well as re-purposed underframes/running equipment mated to a new car body (305F is the later), the underframe of this particular formation was, apparently, originally part of a Keiō type 1 car built in 1926.

 

She got new trucks, complete with new traction motors/drive system (from a nose-suspension drive to the flexible plate parallel cardan drive system) in 1989, as wel as a updated control system in 1998, which allowed her to be mechanically compatible with the newer 1000 and 1500 types, as well as reducing maintenance costs.

She apparently received a new  coat of pain last February.