Above: An E251 parked at Shinjuku Station in 2017.
Another of my favorite jet liner-style trains. They were developed to allow the cars to tilt side-to-side while in transit, so that they could lean into corners and take them at higher speeds. The E351 was effectively built to fly on the ground.
These trains went into service in 1993 on the Oito Line as the Azusa and on the Chuo Main Line as the Chuo Liner. One year later, they became the Super Azusa on the Oito Line when the tilting feature first went into use.
Every set had the same purple band on a white body livery. Two types of sets were built. Four-car sets and eight-car sets. Each set had one conductor cab with a lit plaque on the nose that displayed the service that train was running, and another conductor cab with a retractable gangway that allowed coupling with other E351s.
All E351s were retired in 2018 and replaced with E353s. Sadly, none of the E351s were preserved.
Pictures taken by me in 2017. Part of my Rolling Stock series of posts.
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