International Railroad Discussion > More from Matsudo in '71: The JNR / Chiyoda side

In between taking the Shin-Keisei photos in the previous post, I also photographed the JNR and TRTA [ Teito Rapid Transit Authority aka ( confusingly ) Tokyo Metro or Eidan ] trainsets which ran through onto the Chiyoda underground line through central Tokyo, and which had opened about 18 months earlier.  Rolling stock of both not only ran through the new tunnels, but continued also to run north along JNR's Joban line.

JNR's contribution to the pool were the 103-1000 cars, basically the familiar 103 series cars that ran on the Tokyo loop and other lines, but with the addition of end doors to facilitate passenger evacuation in the tunnel sections.  These were formed  into 16 ten car formations, each comprising a control trailer at each end and four sets of 'married pair' motor cars -- the marriage being much more integrated than the token amount typically seen on contemporary US pairings such as the GE SEPTA or New Jersey ones.  Photos 1-3 illustrate the complete formation, and each type of power car within.

More to come....

SZ

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( 4-5 ) TRTA's initial contribution were the 5000 class stainless vehicles, construction of which started in the mid-sixties -- there were also some aluminum bodied ones..  Although not quite as elegant as their 3000 class predecessors with the slightly rounded front corners, I thought they made a good looking trainset, especially with the green trim stripe.

One more post to come....

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A little less successful visually -- in my opinion of course -- was TRTA's latest contribution to its fleet, the aluminum bodied 6000 class, formed into 10 car sets though with a higher proportion of trailers than the 103's..  The ends had a BART-look to them, with a fold down stairwell incorporated in the nose for passenger egress in an emergency, a feature still incorporated on more recent equipment but less obvious.  Unfortunately the car sides did not live up to the promise of the ends, even the green stripe not helping the slab sides very much.  But as we know, looks aren't everything, in rail equipment as well as other things in life.....

This concludes my photos from Matsudo, but I hope to be posting more from 1971 Tokyo before too long.

With best regards,

SZ

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Love this report!

I rarely rode the Joban Line in the past, but have used the Subway Chiyoda Line on many occasions. Class 103-1000s and 5000s were gone from Chiyoda Line in the Heisei era (post 1989), but those sets were still being used on Subway Tozai Line in western Tokyo, providing through service on the Chuo Line. Yellow or blue stripes on the Tozai Line.

Class 6000s, I remember vividly. It was railfan pandemonium when Tokyo Metro announced the last run of the last Class 6000, back in 2018 I think. I had just flew into Haneda and missed the event, but the crowd was huge, and it would have been difficult to get a clean shot. I like to shoot last runs "preemptively" before the railfan crowd, and I did so for the similar-looking Class 7000s on the Yurakucho and Fukutoshin Line about a year before they were retired in 2022 - future report.

Anyway, thank you for the nostalgia, even though I rode the 103-1000s and 5000s in different colored stripes.