I am sitting here thinking about how nice it will be to ride the new InterCity trains by Hitachi in the UK in the not too distant future. Theres not much information on what these trainsets will actually be like when they start rolling down the production line. All I know right now is that they are from the Hitachi A-Train family, and that they will have the big boots of the InterCity 125 and the InterCity 225 to fill. So I thought to myself, why not write a few brief words about another trainset from (but not quite, which I'll explain) the A-Train family that I've known since quite young an age. That trainset is the narrow gage Series 883 tilting electric multiple unit operated by the Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu) of Southern Japan.
Tilting truck of the Series 883
Introduced in 1995, the Series 883 was the first EMU to carry the name of the Sonic limited express train service on the Kagoshima and NippÅ mainlines. Now this service is served by both the Series 883 and 885 (another A-Train, also a close relative of the British Rail Class 395 Javelin, which is again, an A-Train).
At the time of introduction, the fleet of Series 883 consisted of five 7-car sets featuring 3 different nose grill designs and three 5-car sets each having a unique color scheme. The trainsets are of stainless steel construction each having 3 powered cars and capable of a top speed of 80 mph in service. The trainsets in this series were refurbished in 2008, where their color schemes were unified and the 5-car sets were lengthened to 7 cars. However, the extra cars in these sets were built to the specification of the Class 885 and were constructed with aluminum alloy instead.
The different exterior designs of the Series 883
The principle features of the Hitachi A-Train are the advanced double skin extruded aluminium structural panels used in the body and the trains' modular components. Well, clearly, the original cars on the Series 883 were not A-Trains, but the added aluminum cars were. So yeah, I guess I've stretched this one a little, but hey, hope you enjoy some pictures and a video or two of this not-so-bad looking EMU.
Last week, we've identified the Janney coupler and briefly looked at its elegant design. This week, let's, again, very briefly, look at the different types of Janney coupler that are widely used today. I will only talk about the head of the coupler, and ignore anything that the general public may need to trespass onto railroad property and get in a unsafe situation in order to have a good look at.
As far as coupler heads are concerned, there are 3 types in used today. Type E, F, and H. Types E and F are used on freight, and H used on passenger equipment. Since the withdrawal of passenger service in North America by private railroads, the Type H standard is no longer maintained by the Association of American Railroads, a trade group formed of major freight railroads, but is under the control of the APTA, the American Public Transportation Association.
Now let me introduce another term, slack. Slack is an allowed gap between two coupled up couplers. In other words, when most AAR…
This week I'm trying to write, again, about something I'm not entirely familiar with, a steam locomotive (How Steam Engines Work). The nostalgia and romance the steam train brings is unrivaled, however, I cannot say, as someone born in the late 1980s, that the steam locomotive is something I have much emotional connection to. Nevertheless, they are charming machines, each with their own personality and character. Evolution of the steam locomotive is no doubt a powerful testament of Victorian ingenuity and has brought revolutionary changes to the landscape of transport around the world.
The star featured today then is a locomotive from Japan, the Japanese National Railways Class C62. The C62 is the biggest and fastest passenger steam locomotive Japan has ever built for its Cape gage railroad network (we shall revise that Cape gage is 3 ft. 6 in., considerably narrower than the standard gage of 4 ft. 8.5 in.). These locomotives were built in 1948 and 49 for hauling express train…
This will be an interesting post I think. Although the class number 93 has now been referred to twice, none of the locomotives actually exists. At least not yet.
The first Class 93 was discussed by then still national British Railways was going to be the electric locomotive designed to haul the InterCity 250, a concept trainset to command high speed intercity rail service on the West Coast Main Line like the InterCity 225 on the East Coast. Like the name InterCity 250 suggested, the train hauled by the Class 93 would have a top speed of 250 km/h, or 155 mph. Service was expected to begin in 1995. However, with multiple other projects the British Railways had taken on (including the Channel Tunnel lines), funding for the Class 93 and InterCity 250 could not be realized, and the project was scrapped.
Now, the Class 93 may not be dead after all. Although she won’t resemble the original Class 93 in any way, a new Class 93 may just become the latest high speed locomotive to serve passenger…
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