Number one with a bullet
Posted on September 24th, 2006 in Photography, Railways, Travelling |
I MADE WHAT was incredibly my first visit to the National Railway Museum at York on Thursday last week. Generally speaking it is a good day out, although it seemed that the modern diesel and electric exhibits were hidden out of the way, almost as if the organisation is embarrased by their very existence.
The only exceptions to this are the Prototype HST power car No. 41001 and ‘Deltic’ No. 55002 The King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, and, interestingly enough a driving trailer vehicle of a Series 0 ‘Shinkansen’ or ‘Bullet Train’, donated to the museum by the West Japan Railway Co. in 2001.
Picture: Series 0 ‘Shinkansen’ at the NRM, York.
Introduced in 1964, with the opening of the Toukaidou Shinkansen, the design of the Series 0 units was famously based on the Douglas DC-8 jet liner. Their futuristic appearance struck a chord with people across the world and the trains became a byword for Japanese technological excellence. The units are as much a symbol of Japan’s railways as the famous EMD ‘F’ unit is to the USA or the BR Inter-City 125 is to the UK.
Amazingly, despite their forty years of age, the Series 0 units can still be found in service in Japan, although formed in six-car sets and restricted to stopping services on particular routes only. A picture of one such train can be found here at Mihara - near Hiroshima - in August 2006.
One of the joys of my visit to Japan in 2001 was the having the opportunity to ride these famous units before they were taken out of service. At that time a number were operating the Kodama semi-fast services between Shin-Osaka and Hakata.
Unfortunately, the weather did not smile on me when I was in a position to take pictures of these iconic trains, so the samples below are pretty representative of the images that I captured.
Picture: A Series 0 ‘Shinkansen’ unit on the high level passes a JR-Kyushu Rly Co. Series 885 ‘Sonic’ tilting EMU on the lower level at Kokura on the southern island of Kyushu. April 2001.
Picture: A Series 0 ‘Shinkansen’ unit approaches Kokura. April 2001.
Picture: A Series 0 ‘Shinkansen’ unit at Kokura. April 2001.