E353: JR East's E351 replacement?

[medusa]

(wiping off the dust from unearthening a zombie thread)

 

Anything new about a N gauge E353? It looks really cool, and running on Chuo line means I could justify buying one. :)

Google only told me it's available as PlaRail, and some one-year old note by Kato stated they were still in negotiations about the 353 with JR East at that time.

[Suica]

I'm pretty sure the model will take a while.

The currently running set is a Pre-production set. I expect Kato to wait for the final production variant to be delivered to replicate those.

Edited January 5, 2017 by Suica

[Suica]

JR East just announced that the E353 will commence regular Super Azusa service from December 23rd.

 

There will be eight trains per day.

[Densha]

Looks like it won't be long until the E351 series will be completely replaced. It's a bit sad because it's one of the first Japanese trains I ever knew about, which was probably because it's rather famous in the Netherlands for its resemblance to the Koploper EMUs. On the other side, there's many Japanese railfans knowing about the Koplopers units because of its resemblance to the E351 series haha.

 

The E353 series is a worthy successor though, as I could judge with my own eyes this February in Matsumoto.

 

[stevenh]

7 hours ago, Densha said:

...it's rather famous in the Netherlands for its resemblance to the Koploper EMUs...

 

Don't worry Densha, you'll just have to visit Kansai and check out the Thunderbirds or Shirasagis.

 

 

Meanwhile, I was really hoping to see this run last July, but was 6mths too early.

[Densha]

But they don't have Super Azusas in Kansai! ;)

 

On a side note, I'm not really a fan of the design of the JR West high-cab EMUs to be honest.

Edited October 26, 2017 by Densha

[JR 500系]

Now I want the E353 model... will Kato be doing them hopefully?

[serotta1972]

12 hours ago, Suica said:

JR East just announced that the E353 will commence regular Super Azusa service from December 23rd.

 

There will be eight trains per day.

Is this on your to ride list?

[Suica]

24 minutes ago, serotta1972 said:

Is this on your to ride list?

Sure is. I got quite the thing planned for the end of the year. I hope it'll work out as I want it to.

[Sacto1985]

Speaking of which, has J-TREC started assembling additional E353 trainsets yet? I haven't heard a word recently.

[Densha]

Additional sets in what sense? Do you mean mass production sets?

 

I remember reading a few days ago that at least one mass production set has been delivered. If the author of this blog is correct, here's a picture of one of those: https://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/tmiyan/42148985.html

[Suica]

Set S102+S202 was delivered this month. http://railf.jp/news/2017/10/13/150000.html

 

You only need the two sets to operate the schedule shown above. If none of them breaks down that is.

[Sacto1985]

I also wonder has JR East talked about running the E353 as far north as Minami-Otari on the Ōito Line? Or will that be still limited to the E257 Series EMU?

[Sacto1985]

YouTube member ichi pika just posted a video of the E353 on its debut day of service at Matsumoto Station:

 

 

[bill937ca]

Video by Rail Note.

 

 

Video by tsu 1112k

 

Edited December 23, 2017 by bill937ca

[Suica]

Looks great. I really love its design.

Planning to ride it myself in 7 days.

[serotta1972]

Hey Suica, please document your ride on the E353.

[katoftw]

Very good looking train.  The black section and angled red tail lights give it an evil look from the rear.

[Suica]

I think I'm getting really fond of Ken Okuyama's modern designs, unlike those of Noriaki Okabe. I already think the E7 series is the most beautiful looking Shinkansen in recent years.

Mr. Okuyama was on two episodes of Jay Leno's Garage where train sketches could also be seen in his design sketchbook. He seems like a nice guy.

Edited December 24, 2017 by Suica

[Sacto1985]

Alas, a downer on the debut of the E353系 is the start of the retirement of the E351系 trainsets. YouTube member ichi pika just released a video of trainsets S2 and S22 at the Nagano train yard, already being prepped for immediate scrapping:

 

 

[Socimi]

On 26/12/2017 at 3:19 PM, Sacto1985 said:

Alas, a downer on the debut of the E353系 is the start of the retirement of the E351系 trainsets. YouTube member ichi pika just released a video of trainsets S2 and S22 at the Nagano train yard, already being prepped for immediate scrapping:

 

 

 

I hope at least one will be bought by a third-sector railway like the 253 series (Nagaden) and the 651 series (Izukyuko) 

[kvp]

Considering there are only 2 prototype pairs and 3 production sets, with one production set having a bunch of replacement cars due to a collision, it means the 5 full sets contain 2+2.5 slightly differently constructed sub sets even width somewhat differing body dimensions. This sounds like a maintenance nightmare for a company that operates mostly standardized trains. The new e353 series has at least standardized cab cars apparently with gangways on all fronts and the new cheaper pneumatic tilt system. Of course this means the distinctive egghead shape of the non gangwayed e351 cars will be sadly missed.

 

ps: imho these trains are way too high maintenance for 3rd sector operation due to the active tilting system, but if anything is bought, then sets 4 and 5 could be good candidates as these were the last ones built and afaik didn't have any serious accidents so far and these are resizable down to four 4 car sets or two 4+6 pairs. Going below 4 is not possible as there are only motor pairs and trailer cabs

[Davo Dentetsu]

I would like to hope there's a good chance to have the iconic cab car as a museum piece at the very minimum.

[Sacto1985]

I'm sure one of the E351系 end cars will end up in a museum. But sadly, I think the rest as they are retired will be headed for scrapping, since it's too expensive to maintain a older tilting trainset with pendulum-style tilting system that was built in relatively small numbers (only 60 total). In comparison, JNR got 277 381系 rail cars, and I wouldn't be surprised the ones retired recently from Kuroshio service are being use as spare parts for keep the Yakumo trainsets in operation.

[Sacto1985]

YouTube member ichi pika just posted a video of the second retired E351系 trainset, S5/S25, now at the Nagano train yard being moved to the scrap yard line during a snowstorm:

 

 

It appears that both S2/S22 and S5/S25 is being scheduled for quick scrapping after the start of 2018.