E3系0番台 To Be Retired From Akita Shinkansen [15/3/2014]

[miyakoji]

the 0-series shinkansen probably rates somewhere between the Sanshu no Jingi and white rice in terms of things that are quintessentially part of japan's history

:grin

 

Also, I had to lookup Sanshu no Jingi, thanks for that :)

[Ochanomizu]

-The 500系, while not as historic as either the 0系 or 200系, though it did introduce 300km/h services in Japan (though that's just railfan stuff I guess). It did however capture the imagination of the public  big time, so much that JR West still runs a promotional campaign based entirely around the 500系, not bad for a train that was introduced 16 years ago.

 

Hello Mr Sander,

 

Please allow me to make some comment in this debate.  I subscribe to your opinion of the importance of 500系.  Mr Keio6000 might consider which are the most popular starter sets from Tomix and Kato?  On both accounts, the 500系 is very popular with children today, I suppose in the same way that 0系 was with me in the 1970's. 500系 is an iconic Shinkansen.  It does not surprise me that JRW continues to run Kodama services using 500系, despite the noise and logistics problems (seating layout incompatibility, door location incompatibility, and reduced ceiling height above window seats, etc).

 

 

The newer trainsets, including things like the 500, are basically railfanish stuff.

 

Whimsical comments like this are misguided to say the least and, at best, might be applied to painted trains.  The entire rail system of Japan is, in my opinion, a marvel.  Japan has embraced modern rail in a way that is only comparable to the way Britain embraced steam.  .  But the similarities between Japanese and British rail do not end there.  At the end of the steam era, British engines were left out in the yard to rust away like beached whales.  Those that survive today do so not because of the foresight of British Rail, but because of the dedication of a few rail fans who had the good foresight to purchase the old engines for private use.  Perhaps the most famous of these rail fans being artist David Shepherd and his Standard Class F9, "Black Prince".

 

The entire Shinkansen network deserves the same recognition as The Flying Scotsman and Mallard - the speedsters of steam.  The frontier of contemporary rail has always been speed, and Japan pioneered the super express.  So, preserving any Shinkansen, operational or not, is a worthy cause.  But where is the rail fan and philanthropist to do this today?  Not to be seen.  That's because in the 1950's people were saying, "I had better do something about this!", but sixty years later people say "You had better do something about this!".

 

But then, I wonder if I'm being too harsh.  Perhaps this argument has come full circle.  I think few countries in the world have a model railway collection as extensive and diverse as that of Japan.  There are so many prototypically correct models of Shinkansen available in Japan, without considering all the other types.  I think Kato, Micro Ace and Tomix together have done a fine job in recording the history of 0系, 100系 and 200系.  I myself own too many models of these three series as, I bet, does Mr Sander. Perhaps this is the way Japanese people choose to remember railways.

Edited December 9, 2013 by Ochanomizu

[Densha]

I'm keeping it short, but the point Ochanomizu makes comparing Japan to Britain is a very complicated matter I think. While it's true that both countries pioneered railways, there are much more volunteers in Britain that actually do help in restoring and keeping rolling stock and even whole railway lines since they were abolished by the railway companies. Just look at the amazing amount of museum railways in the UK!

In the Netherlands we try to keep at least one set of every rolling stock type ever used, most of them even in working condition, impossible without the many volunteers and financial contributors there are here. Note that the government also gives money to museums and organizations for keeping these on track.

Now I don't know enough about either Japanese, British or even Dutch people to figure out what the difference is, but I think there's something in their mentality and philosophy that makes the difference.

[cteno4]

Most of this comes down to money. I have worked in the museum world on and off for 35 years and doing collection, conservation, display and interpretation all costs money. Some of this is dependent on the financial times, some on local culture and some on the global culture. what is worth preserving can is a very subjective thing and easy to talk about but when you try to get the backing to do something it really meets a situation where you have to work very hard to convince those with the money to part with it. 

 

i also see this as a problem these days in modern culture where innovation and change is so rapid and its become the norm that you have to change or die, regardless if the change is any better (and many time worse solution and worse bang for the buck). this tends to put blinders on folks to the past and those big milestones that really marked the places where there were large leaps of innovation and change for the better. folks tend to get into the current bleeding edge as being the only thing to focus on.

 

i do see a big difference in the train to plane conservation annology. trains need to run on rails, planes you can land anywhere, also in specific with shinkansens there is limited standard gauge rail they can run on w/o impeding regular service as others have noted. this is a big killer as japan prides its service and safety so much and its whats made it such an exceptional pioneer and system that having classics running around would be a major headache to this. displaying long trains gets very expensive as well even in just static displays. I would love to see joyful trains of some of the classic shinkansens, but i can see the large hurdles that would need to be jumped and why it just did not happen.

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

BTW the original designer of the 500 nose was Eiji Nakatsu, engineering it off a kingfisher nose.

 

http://labs.blogs.com/its_alive_in_the_lab/2012/04/biomimicry-japanese-train.html

[NuclearErick]

 

 

bye bye E3系 :crybaby2: 

[Sinus]

Any idea what they do with the retired shinkansens?

[JR 500系]

Oh man! Bye bye already? That's very sad...

 

Still remember the good old 'Komachi' song and video...

 

And I like the way people also say 'Arigato' during the final run as the train pulls out of the station. Brings a warm feeling to the heart...