The was an

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...

(EMU) train type operated by

Japanese National Railways The abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pref ...

(JNR) from 1959 until 1983. They were originally designed for and used on school excursion trains running between Tokyo and the "

Keihanshin is a metropolitan region in the Kansai region of Japan encompassing the metropolitan areas of the cities of Kyoto in Kyoto Prefecture, Osaka in Osaka Prefecture and Kobe in Hyōgo Prefecture. The entire region has a population () of 19,302,746 o ...

" Kyoto/Osaka/Kobe area via the Tokaido Main Line.

Design

Initially classified "82 series", the 155 series was broadly derived from the earlier

153 series Year 153 ( CLIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Rusticus and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 906 ''Ab urbe condi ...

express EMU design.

Exterior

The trains were initially painted in what was to become the standard JNR excursion train livery of "lemon yellow" and "light scarlet" selected from colour schemes proposed by 313 different junior high schools in the Tokyo and Keihanshin areas. Later sets built used "canary yellow", a slightly different shade to the original "lemon yellow" colour.

Interior

The primary purpose of the trains was to maximize seating capacity for use on school excursions, so accommodation was arranged in fixed seating bays, with 4-seat bays on one side and 6-seat bays on the other side of the aisle, giving a seating capacity of approximately 100 per car. The trains were not air-conditioned, but featured ceiling-mounted fans.

Bogies

The motored cars were mounted on DT21A coil-spring

bogie A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...

s based on the bogies used on the

101 series 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

commuter EMUs. The non-motored trailer cars were mounted on TR62 bogies.

Formations

The fleet consisted of two 8-car and eight 4-car sets, formed as shown below, and based at Tamachi Depot in Tokyo and Miyahara Depot in Kyoto. These initially ran as 12-car formations, later lengthened to 16-car formations.

8-car sets

* The MoHa 154 cars were each equipped with one lozenge-type

pantograph A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a second pen. If a line dr ...

4-car sets

* The MoHa 154 cars were each equipped with one lozenge-type pantograph.

Key

* Tc: driving trailer * T: intermediate trailer * M: intermediate motor with control equipment * M': intermediate motor

History

The 155 series sets entered service from March 1959 on school excursion services running on the Tokaido Main Line. Westbound services from Tokyo (

Shinagawa Station is a major railway station in the Takanawa and Konan districts of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East), Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central), and the private railway operator Keikyu. The Tokaido Shinkan ...

) were named , and eastbound services from the Keihanshin area were named . Trains carried headboards on the front with the name of the train. A further two 4-car sets were built in 1961, and four more 4-car sets were built between 1964 and 1965, to allow 16-car formations to be used on ''Hinode'' and ''Kibō'' services. From March 1971, school excursions began using '' Kodama'' services on the

Tokaido Shinkansen The is a Japanese high-speed rail line that is part of the nationwide Shinkansen network. Along with the Sanyo Shinkansen, it forms a continuous high-speed railway through the Taiheiyō Belt, also known as the Tokaido corridor. Opened in 1964, ...

between Tokyo and the Keihanshin area, and the Tokaido Line ''Hinode'' and ''Kibō'' services were discontinued from October of the same year. The 155 series trains underwent refurbishment and repainting into the ''Shonan'' livery of orange and green from 1973, and the former Kansai area sets were transferred to Ogaki Depot in 1974 for use on "rapid" limited-stop services and charter train services. The Tamachi-based Tokyo area sets saw use on school excursions to , and winter season trains to ski resorts in the Joetsu region. Withdrawals began in 1980, and the entire fleet was withdrawn from service by fiscal 1983. No 155 series vehicles have been preserved.

References

{{JNR EMU Electric multiple units of Japan Japanese National Railways Train-related introductions in 1959 1500 V DC multiple units of Japan