Mister No's Pics & Vids

The Mino Electric Railway Semibo 510 type train (Mino Electric Railway Semibo 510 Gatadensha) is a semi-steel four-axle bogie car  manufactured by Mino Electric Railway (Mino Electric Railway) in 1926. In 1941, the model name was revised and changed from "Semibo" to "Mo", and then to Mo 510 type. After that, it was taken over by its own company, Nagoya Railroad, and was used for commercial operation until the beginning of the 21st century while undergoing repeated remodeling. The door pocket window was oval-shaped, so-called „round window“, and the train was nicknamed  „round window train“.



Initially, it was operated on the Kasamatsu line along with the BD500 type, but after Minoden was absorbed and merged with Meitetsu Railway in 1930, ​​both types were transferred to the line. After that, Meitetsu Railway and Aichi Electric Railway merged, and even after the establishment of Nagoya Railway (Meitetsu), it was operated as the main railcar of the Minomachi Line system for a long time. The current collector was initially a trolley pole, but was replaced by a bugel after the war.



By 1988 almost all Mo 510 type cars were scrapped in place of the Mo 770 type. However, the three cars  Mo 512-514 remained after that, and these three cars were properly organized and operated. In the same year, the Mo 510 received the Evergreen Award from the Japan Railfan Club, and during that period, the body painting was restored to the scarlet and white two-tone colour as at the beginning of the operation. After that, in 1997, the Mo 780 was newly manufactured, and the Mo 510 lost its regular operation, and after that, all cars were treated as spare cars.

 

In 2000, the Mo 512 was scrapped. Although the remaining Mo 513 and 514 were not in regular service, they were enrolled as substitute runners for inspections of other cars and as the special trains. After the model 750 was completely abolished in 2001, this model became the only non-air-conditioned car and one-man operation car on the Meitetsu 600V line.

 

In 2004, when the cars reached the age of 77 years, an event was held at Ichinotsubo Station and Gifu Factory to celebrate the two cars. In that year, Plarail made this beautiful model of the last cars (Mo 513 and 514). The model is made in China. It is a great one-speed C-battery train, carefully painted and full of details (rivets!).

 

In later years, it became difficult to secure various parts due to the age of the railcars, so Meitetsu manufactured spare parts in-house based on the old design drawings to ensure that the cars remain in running order.



Since they were manufactured in 1926, by the year 2005 they've been in active service for almost 80 years. Due to the abandonment of the Gifu 600V line section  on March 31, both cars were removed from the register on the same day and went into history.