300 series shinkansen to be retired by Spring 2012

[bikkuri bahn]

Announced by JR Tokai today.  They are at the end of their 20 year service life.

http://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newseye4856468.html

 

300 series interlude at Maibara Station:

[Martijn Meerts]

Best start saving up for the Tomix Sayonara 300 series limited edition then ;)

[The_Ghan]

Breaks my heart.

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[keitaro]

i thought this was why tomix was doing the 300 series limited edition

[westfalen]

Will have to get a last ride on one while I'm there in November.

 

Not as disappointed to see them go as the 0 and 100 series though, ugly looking things.

[bill937ca]

Not as disappointed to see them go as the 0 and 100 series though, ugly looking things.

 

Ugly   

[westfalen]

Not as disappointed to see them go as the 0 and 100 series though, ugly looking things.

 

Ugly   

The 300 series, they look like upside down bath tubs.

[200系]

It was to be expected, even though I'm suprised they'll be gone this quick.

 

Will be a bussy period, in terms of Shinkansen retirements: the 100系 will be gone before the end of the year, and the 200系 will be retired, from the Tohoku Shinkansen, on the 18th of November this year, I'd asume the full retirement from the Joetsu Shinkansen wont be far off then, early 2012 at most.

 

though, to get back to the 300系, I'm glad I at least got to see one of them, when I was in Japan back in may. They weren't the best looking Shinkansen indeed, but they did have a lot of character to make up for that! Besides, the 300系 did play a vital roll in the further development of the Shinkansen, they where after all the series that moved the Shinkansen into "super" High Speed (270km/h and higher), moving the Shinkansen to (almost) equal heights as the European High Speed Trains of that time. The 300系 also introduced Nozomi services to the Tokaido/Sanyo Shinkansen. While not as glamourous as the 500系, she did play an importand role, as a true workhorse on the Tokaido/Sanyo for 20 years, outlasting the 500系 on the Tokaido Shinkansen.

[bikkuri bahn]

I never really had any interest in the 300 series until I started hearing reports of their imminent demise around last year.  To me they seemed to be rough riders unlike the heavyweight stability of the 0 series or 200 series, or the active/semi-active suspensioned later types.  But they are significant historically, as they ushered in the Nozomi service with 270km/h running, and introduced a lower carbody profile (airconditoning equipment was moved from the roof to underfloor).  Hopefully I'll be able to get a r/t on an allstops Kodama (best way to experience shinkansen ops, IMO) from Tokyo to Shin Osaka (or Nagoya), using JR Tokai's "plat" discount package, maybe this winter holiday.

[bikkuri bahn]

the 200系 will be retired, from the Tohoku Shinkansen, on the 18th of November this year, I'd asume the full retirement from the Joetsu Shinkansen wont be far off then, early 2012 at most.

 

Fully expected (I managed a couple of trips on the evening 200 series Yamabiko service Sendai-Tokyo the last two years), but I want to get as many 200 series rides as possible before they are gone on the Joetsu Shinkansen.  Helps that JR East's Niigata-area 1067mm operations have a good number of JNR types still running...

[Tecchan]

My favourite train... :-(

 

It would be cool to have a special livery for the last run, like the N700-8000 had for it's first.

[linkey]

with all of the older shinkansens getting retired, I wonder how that are still meeting up with the demands for more shinkansen services?

 

I have got the TOMIX shinkansen 300-3000 on order so it will be sad to see the video of it's last run as I will not be able to get to Japan until 2013/14.

[disturbman]

Easy, they replace the older ones by more N700.

[jappomania]

with all of the older shinkansens getting retired, I wonder how that are still meeting up with the demands for more shinkansen services?

 

I have got the TOMIX shinkansen 300-3000 on order so it will be sad to see the video of it's last run as I will not be able to get to Japan until 2013/14.

 

just in time for the E1/E4 Sayonara Run! withdrawn for double decker Shinkansen is planned for 2014

like the 300series, all these Shinkansen are to much.... slow 

JR companies needs to increase the commercial speed to 285-300 (in the future 320) so, all the low speed trains are scrapped

I don't think the life of remaining 500V set is so long, so stay tuned for another Sayonara special set from Tomix

 

ciao

Massimo

[disturbman]

Besides, the 300系 did play a vital roll in the further development of the Shinkansen, they where after all the series that moved the Shinkansen into "super" High Speed (270km/h and higher), moving the Shinkansen to (almost) equal heights as the European High Speed Trains of that time.

 

Of that time? If I remember correctly, twenty years ago the TGV was just reaching Lyon. Can't really say there was so much high speed trains in Europe at that time. :)

[200系]

in 1992? LGV Sud-Est (270km/h, 1982), LGV Atlantique (300km/h, 1989/1990), AVE Madrid-Seville (300 km/h, 1992), ICE (250/280km/h 1991) and the LGV nord (300km/h build for 320km/h) would open only a year later. in 1992 the following trainsets could reach 270 km/h or more: TGV Pse (1981, 270km/h), TGV Atlantique (1989, 300km/h), TGV Reseau (1992, 320km/h*), ICE 1 (280km/h, 1989), AVE Class 100 (1992, 300km/h).

 

I'm not trying to nock on the 300系 or the Shinkansen, as I preffer the Shinkansen system to any of those, Japan was catching up, speedwise, with  European H

SR of that time. and the 300系 was the first to achieve this (even though the 100系 was designed for 275km/h, it couldn't reach those speeds due to noise issues). and that's all I'm saying.  

[disturbman]

I'm stupid... I managed to make myself 10 years younger. Of course, the first TGV was 30 years ago. 20 years ago was kind of a first golden age for HST in Europe.

[keitaro]

I'm stupid... I managed to make myself 10 years younger. Of course, the first TGV was 30 years ago. 20 years ago was kind of a first golden age for HST in Europe.

 

Ghan has a habbit of making himself younger alot too 

[The_Ghan]

Ghan has a habbit of making himself younger alot too 

 

Only when I can get away with it .... 

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[alpineaustralia]

I will miss them greatly as a lot of my travel was done on the 300.