Interesting scenery at Keio Tama-Dōbutsukōen station

[Densha]

Stumbled upon this place while navigating around google maps:

https://www.google.nl/maps/myplaces?hl=nl&ll=35.649472,139.405547&spn=0.001988,0.004128&ctz=-120&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=35.649472,139.405547&panoid=PH2BP7um5Sf4itdCI9IGww&cbp=12,320.41,,0,2.87

Keio Tama-Dōbutsukōen station during spring with cherry blossoms and the Tama Monorail in the background. Pretty cool!

[bikkuri bahn]

I passed by this place last weekend on the monorail.  I noticed there is a small railway museum here too. I'll have to visit next time I'm in the area.

 

[Sacto1985]

Most Keio Line trains have one very unusual aspect: the rail gauge is 1,372 mm, designed to match the gauge of the then-extensive Tokyo Toden streetcar network. I'm still a little surprised that Keio kept to that gauge to now even though all the other commuter railroads in the Tokyo area standardized on 1,067 mm or 1,435 mm gauges.

[ToniBabelony]

There once was a plan to connect Keio to Keisei through the then not made Toei Shinjuku line. Keisei had the same gauge as Keio back then, but when it was decided to connect to Keikyū instead -through the Asakusa line, the entire network was regauged to 1,435mm gauge within a bit more than year. If the Keio-Keisei plan would have gotten the go-ahead, Keikyū would be the only 1,435mm gauge network in the Kantō area (in regards to the late 1950s, excepting the peripheral Shin-Keisei). The funny thing is that Keikyū used to have 1,372mm gauge as well in the Shōnan Electric Railway era...

Edited August 23, 2014 by Toni Babelony

[bikkuri bahn]

Apparently there was a proposal to convert to standard gauge in the early seventies, but by then the heavy traffic levels on the Keio main line (vis-a-vis the situation at Keisei in the 1950's) as well as the rolling stock inventory made such an undertaking highly problematic.  The opening of the Toei Shinjuku Line connection at 1372mm gauge made ideas of conversion moot.

[ToniBabelony]

The seventies was far too late for Keio to convert to 1,435mm gauge. The Tama area was already booming, which provides a lot of Keio's traffic still. Presumably, the line was already nearing its capacity, so conversion would be very hard, if not impossible. Keisei converted just at the right time (1958), before the network was connected to Narita Airport (1978) and before the urban development of the Chiba and Narita areas.

 

It would be highly interesting to see what Keio would have looked like today if the conversion would have made it... The first trains of Keio that didn't comply with the 18m car length standard were the 6000 Series (1972), which were made 20m cars. These would have been incompatible with the Keisei network, since all trains were 18m at the time (the Skyliner AE1 used to be 18m, whereas now they (AE100 and AE2) are 19 and 19.5m).

 

I think I should take a deeper look into this and seriously consider buying myself maybe a few Keio 5000 Series and 6000 Series (modify them to 18m cars) to join my clan of Keisei trains. Why not pretend this actually happened? Takao/Hachiōji/Hashimoto - Shinjuku - Narita Airport dedicated Skyliner train sets? Why the hell not? I foresee a new project coming up... I think I also have found a theme for my upcoming art exhibition piece :3

 

P.s. the museum is very oriented towards kids. It's very small, so be sure to visit on a weekday. It can get very very busy, noisy and smelly in weekends and holidays...

Edited August 23, 2014 by Toni Babelony

[Guest keio6000]

Stumbled upon this place while navigating around google maps:

https://www.google.nl/maps/myplaces?hl=nl&ll=35.649472,139.405547&spn=0.001988,0.004128&ctz=-120&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=35.649472,139.405547&panoid=PH2BP7um5Sf4itdCI9IGww&cbp=12,320.41,,0,2.87

Keio Tama-Dōbutsukōen station during spring with cherry blossoms and the Tama Monorail in the background. Pretty cool!

 

Scenery? SCENERY?

This is the temple of everything that is good and beautiful about japanese trains

(ok, I'm a bit of a keio fan)

 

One of my biggest regrets is never having gone to the old keio mini-shrine there.  Or rather, I went, but saw that there were mostly little children and families about and chickened out, swearing that I'd come back some day with my kids  Since then, they tore down the old museum with its lovely layout and built this beautiful new museum - but without that gorgeous n scale layout.  

 

Toni:  yes of course you should get a Keio 6000, given that it's the best train in Japan.  however, the bigger question is where?  They are quite expensive now, though who knows you may get lucky.   5000 your only real choice is testudou collection, and I'd stay far away from that (though I am lucky to own an expertly build GM set).   Tetsudou collection is the only way to get the older (pre-5000) keio mainline stuff.

 

The Hacjioji to Narita run is pretty well covered by NEX.   Can't see a through Toei-Shinjuku being every more than anything but a what-if.  

 

The amazing overnight undergrounding of a good section of keio track.  Amazing video:

 

Edited August 24, 2014 by keio6000

[ToniBabelony]

Toni:  yes of course you should get a Keio 6000, given that it's the best train in Japan.  however, the bigger question is where?  They are quite expensive now, though who knows you may get lucky.   5000 your only real choice is testudou collection, and I'd stay far away from that (though I am lucky to own an expertly build GM set).   Tetsudou collection is the only way to get the older (pre-5000) keio mainline stuff.

 

IIRC I saw some 6000 Series GM kits in the TamTam nearby, but that was already some time ago. Not sure if they're really there still. The 6000s will be made into 18m sets, so I'd probably only need to have the fronts and attach them to a different 18m body with double doors (Hanshin and Hankyū sets come to mind).

 

Also, I'll be going for pre-coloured GM kits instead of the Tetsudō Collection ones for the 5000 Series. They will have to get new antennae for the Keisei/Keikyū C-ATS and IR system anyway. I'm also wondering how an 8-car 5000 would look like... :P

 

Come to think of it, the 5000s of Keiō would have to be renumbered, as the 5000 numbering was already given to the Toei 5000 Series of the Asakusa line. A logical step would have been to actually renumber them to the 4000 or 6000 Series, since those number series aren't taken on the Keisei/Keikyū network. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if one of these numbers were already reserved for Keiō in the first place.

1. Keikyū
2. Keikyū (own network only)
3. Keisei
4. -
5. Toei Asakusa line train
6. -
7. Hokusō
8. Shin-Keisei
9. Chiba New Town

 

The Hacjioji to Narita run is pretty well covered by NEX.   Can't see a through Toei-Shinjuku being every more than anything but a what-if.  

 

The N'EX started operating in 1991. If this plan would have been realised, it would have provided an airport connection to the Shinjuku and Hachiōji area in 1978 already. The N'EX service would have looked a whole lot different, if it were to be in existence at all.