End of the cattle cars on the Yamanote Line

[Mudkip Orange]

Does anyone have a timeline for when they're going to be phasing out the 6-door cars on the Yamanote train?

[David]

They're phasing them out?! But those are what give it character - without them it's just another E23something.

[bikkuri bahn]

Does anyone have a timeline for when they're going to be phasing out the 6-door cars on the Yamanote train?

 

They're supposed to be replaced completely by 4 door types by the end of fiscal year 2012 (Mar. 2013).  Platform doors will be partially installed at Ebisu and Meguro Stations next year, with full installation of platform doors at all stations by 2017.

[Mudkip Orange]

They're phasing them out?! But those are what give it character - without them it's just another E23something.

My reaction exactly. Which is why I want to make sure I pick up a model of the existing consist before it's gone (because you KNOW Kato will do a re-release as soon as the actual train changes)

[Guest ___]

 

They're supposed to be replaced completely by 4 door types by the end of fiscal year 2012 (Mar. 2013).  Platform doors will be partially installed at Ebisu and Meguro Stations next year, with full installation of platform doors at all stations by 2017.

 

That makes sense. While I like the 6 door sets and and think the concept makes perfect sense for boarding times, I can see how they would interfere with the new gates. Personally, I can't help but wonder how those new barriers will affect railfanning from the platforms.

[westfalen]

I wonder if the six door cars, or even the whole sets, will be transferred to other lines. On my first trip in June 1990 they had just introduced six door cars on one or two of the 205 series sets then in use and the trains carried special headboards advertising the fact. I remember waiting for one to come around to get a ride in it. You should still be able to get photos from adjacent platforms where other lines run alongside the Yamanote.

[Kabutoni]

Eh? They're phasing out 6-door carriages? Understandable that they don't work with platform barriers though, but it will give the Yamanote-line more of an 'elevator' look rather then a railway line. TBH, I don't like platform barriers, though they are a great contribution to safety. I hope they are but gone when I'm there in summer.

 

New train sets are also appreciated I don't like the E231-500 Series.

[Mudkip Orange]

I don't like the E231-500 Series.

This is blasphemy! This is madness!

[Kabutoni]

I don't like the E231-500 Series.

This is blasphemy! This is madness!

Remember when the Yamanote-line was good?

[Guest ___]

I don't like the E231-500 Series.

This is blasphemy! This is madness!

Remember when the Yamanote-line was good?

 

At least with Keihin-Tōhoku Line you get a variety of train sets :P

[bikkuri bahn]

New train sets are also appreciated  I don't like the E231-500 Series.

 

Me neither, in fact I didn't like the 205's either.  Being old skool, I am a 103 fan all the way.  Nowadays gotta go to Kansai to sample the sweet hum of mt55 traction motors.

 

However, the "cans", as I like to call them, are a fact of life, and I must admit I like the E233's on the Keihin Tohoku Line- better looking front ends than the Yamonote trains IMO.

[disturbman]

Me either, I never care for the E231. I like the 103 better... but, in fact, I'm much more fond of the 201, the 209 and the E233. I'm more a Keihin-Tohoku than a Yamanote kind of guy. 

[Kabutoni]

Yeeaah! More old-skool DC traction love!

 

I'll be visiting to Chichibu RR to ride me some old-skool 101 Series. Too bad the 103 Series got phased out on the Tsurumi-line... I really wanted to have had go with old EMU on one of the most interesting lines in the Tokyo area.

[Guest ___]

I just hate the glare from the 23X series trains.

[bikkuri bahn]

I just hate the glare from the 23X series trains.

 

Yes, I also find the Hankyu trains, with their (spotless) maroon paint, hard to photograph under artificial light.

[Mudkip Orange]

Yes, I also find the Hankyu trains, with their (spotless) maroon paint, hard to photograph under artificial light.

 

I always thought Hankyu had pretty much the ugliest paint scheme in all of Japan.

 

But then I've always been a Keihan fan, so I suppose I'd be biased against any of the other operators between Kyoto and Osaka.

[bikkuri bahn]

Yes, I also find the Hankyu trains, with their (spotless) maroon paint, hard to photograph under artificial light.

 

I always thought Hankyu had pretty much the ugliest paint scheme in all of Japan.

 

But then I've always been a Keihan fan, so I suppose I'd be biased against any of the other operators between Kyoto and Osaka.

 

Ugly to you, but classic to me.  Hankyu is a conservative company, and it shows in its simple paint scheme.  They also like to keep the older types in service, so you get less of the annoying (to me) inverter whine of new types.  Being a gear-head railfan, I prefer the older, complicated bogie designs too, rather than the lookalike bolsterless types that you see on the newer rolling stock (on any railway).

 

I must say, I like Keihan too.  Though using white in the new paint scheme "blows"- I say keep the classic (that word again...) dark and light green.

[Guest ___]

Reminds me of the old Pennsy colors.

[Mudkip Orange]

Agreed on the superiority of old Keihan two-tone green over new Keihan green-and-white.

 

But then the 3000 series blue and white is even better.

 

IMO, "old" stuff like the 103 series does nothing for me, they're too plain looking. I think it's just a cultural thing though. Living in the U.S. where everyone fetishizes the railroading past, where you can buy 20 different versions of an F7 locomotive but modern locomotives like the MPIxpress are COMPLETELY UNAVAILABLE IN ANY SCALE. Where we have several companies offering models of PCCs and old-timey trolleys but models of post-1970 light rail vehicles like the Siemens Avanto or the old U2-derivatives that kickstarted Calgary/Edmonton/San Diego are COMPLETELY UNAVAILABLE IN ANY SCALE. Where there are new companies every decade coming out with models of victorian houses and bungalows and turn-of-the-century company housing and narrow, cutesy little "main street" brick buildings, but models of modern structures like a "transit center"/park and ride, an espresso stand, or a series of the faux-mediterranean architecture that has infected every suburb from LA to Dallas are COMPLETELY UNAVAILABLE IN ANY SCALE.

 

Part of the reason a guy like me gets into J-trains is that you can actually model a modern system, something that looks "now," someplace you could conceivably visit without the aid of a Norman Rockwell painting or a heavily-modified DeLorean. But I can totally understand how to a person actually living in Japan, where EVERYTHING is new and where manufacturers periodically re-release models with the newest specifications (like when they added green cars to the Joban line a few years back), how one might develop some nostalgia for the old, hard-to-find stuff. Who knows, after a few years in Tokyo I might even end up the same way.

[Triplex]

Living in the U.S. where everyone fetishizes the railroading past, where you can buy 20 different versions of an F7 locomotive but modern locomotives like the MPIxpress are COMPLETELY UNAVAILABLE IN ANY SCALE. Where we have several companies offering models of PCCs and old-timey trolleys but models of post-1970 light rail vehicles like the Siemens Avanto or the old U2-derivatives that kickstarted Calgary/Edmonton/San Diego are COMPLETELY UNAVAILABLE IN ANY SCALE.

Note that the models you mention are passenger equipment, and North American modelling, like North American railroading, is freight-oriented. Passenger models available concentrate on the more glamorous long-distance trains.

[Guest ___]

Eh? They're phasing out 6-door carriages? Understandable that they don't work with platform barriers though, but it will give the Yamanote-line more of an 'elevator' look rather then a railway line. TBH, I don't like platform barriers, though they are a great contribution to safety. I hope they are but gone when I'm there in summer.

 

 

Yeah, cause it will add an entire half second for a drunk or suicider to get over the 1.2m tall barrier.

[KenS]

I'd guess with the low barriers, the motivation is more accidents due to rush-hour crowding than suicides. The full-height ones you see in some stations make more sense as a total safety solution, and I wonder why they aren't planning to use them. 

 

Although, as a railfan I'd rather not have them at all. But I imagine the railroad execs are more concerned with safety (or lawsuits) than photographers.

[Guest ___]

As a general rule, you tend to see the full height ones in underground stations and expect to see this as a growing trend in the future for most underground systems.

[westfalen]

The full height versions also seem more common on lines with driverless trains where someone on the tracks would be in real danger.

[Mudkip Orange]

I'll be sad if they ever install full-height doors on the DC Metro. The blinky platform lights are one of the most aesthetic features of that system, IMO... when they work, that is.