I also have something new.
It took quite a lot of time, but now it's here and ready: the TRTA and Tokyo Metro 6000, 7000 and 8000 Serieses megapack!
A few representative consists from the pack. from left to right: 6000 Series prototype, pre-production set in full-service, 7000 Series, 8000 Series, Tokyo Metro 6000 Series (refurbished with VVVF control but with small windows), Chiyoda Branch Line 6000-1 set, 7000 Series (Yurakucho Line livery), 8000 Series (VVVF-controlled cars), 7000 Series (Fukutoshin Line Livery).
DOWNLOAD
All the necessary dependencies are included in the pack or are avaible on the DLS (for example, the bogeys), except for the pantographs, wich must be downloaded from Rizky's website (jirctrainz.com - they're included in the "freeware EMU packs").
This is quite a large pack (101 different cars, around 25 consists, three weeks' work for a total of 489 MB of uncompressed package), so enjoy the reading below while you download and install it.
And yes, it will work in Trainz 2012.
...
After the Tokyo Olympics of 1964, Japan was entering in a phase of superb economic growth, nicknamed the "economic miracle". As the economy boomed, so did cities and metropolises around the country, Tokyo
in primis.
In Tokyo, TRTA had just completed the Tozai Line, and the Toei Subway was building it's second line - the Mita Line (wich, at the time, was still called with the official name of "Line No.6"). And both companies were already planning for several more lines to be built.
At the same time, electronics were quickly evolving, with many new components, such as diodes and thrystors, finding an use in railway technology. One of these applications was the Current Chopper, wich was intended to replace the energy-inefficient rehostat as the traction control system for electric trains.
In this context, TRTA decided to develop a new standard subway train design for future lines, under the concept of a "lightweight, easy-maintainance, new technology cars with a 40-year lifespan".
Unlike many other railways (such as JNR) wich still preferred to rely on the well-proven rheostat, TRTA decided instead to bet on the current chopper for it's new trains, partly also out of necessity: with little space to build shallow-level subway lines, deep-level ones were the only option, but these posed even more problems if resistor-controlled trains were to be used, as the heat generated by multiple trains when departing from a station could've been unbearable, and deep-level ventilation might have been quite complex.
Chopper-controlled trains instead did not produce heat when departing, meaning that the need for ventilation could be scaled down, and deep-level lines made practical.
Yes, betting on a new and largely unproven technology was a bit of a gamble, so TRTA decided to order a prototype train for tests only, before making a large-scale adoption of the chopper.
Classified "6001", the prototype train was a 3-car set manufactured by Kisha Seizo and introduced in 1968. It was to be the predecessor of the 6000 Series, wich was planned to be used on the then-under-construction Chiyoda Line, wich was TRTA's first deep-level line.
A far cry from it's predecessor, it's asymmetrical front devised by Nippon Sharyo (inspired by the concepts of the A-type cars of the San Francisco BART, wich at the time was still under construction) was unique, distinctive and quite futuristic for the late 1960s, and incorporated a very unique fetaure: an emergency exit wich worked like the drawbridges of medieval castles. Furthemore, the asymmetric cab meant that the driver's cab could be larger and more comfortable.
Each of the three cars of the prototype set was equipped with a different traction control system: cab cars 6001 and 6003 were equipped with current choppers manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric and Hitachi respectively, and the middle "pantograph car" 6002 was equipped with a "back-up" rheostat. Assigned to Fukugawa depot, starting from 1968 the 6001 prototype underwent several test runs on the above-ground sections of the Tozai Line.
Initially, the prototype was fitted with a large noise-reducing skirt, wich was almost immediately removed as it was quite a nusiance for the technicians that had to coninuously open and close it to access the traction control and other under-carriage equipment for maintainance or fault-fixing.
In August 1969, a 6-car pre-production set, manufactured by Kawasaki and also classifed "6001" joined the 3-car prototype on Tozai Line test runs. By then, tests were taking longer than anticipated, and with the initial section of the badly needed Chiyoda Line being completed before time, TRTA couldn't delay it's opening, and so, in December 1969, the Chiyoda Line opened between Kita-Senju and Otemachi, provisionally using resistor-controlled 5000 Series trains identical to Tozai Line ones.
Finally, by 1970, the tests were completed, with Mitsubishi Electric's chopper being chosen over Hitachi's one as it was more reliable. TRTA immediately ordered full-production 6000 Series trains, with the first sets entering service in time for the opening of the Chiyoda Line extension from Otemachi to Kasumigaseki on the 20th of March 1971.
These were quite different from the two prototypes: most notably, they had a full frontal green band instead of the "around-the-headlights-only" of their predecessors, wich was a notable improvement.
At the same time, the pre-production set was lenghtened from 6 to 10 cars and upgraded to full-production 6000 Series standards, while the 3-car set was taken out of service and stored at Ayase Depot.
With the influx of the new chopper-controlled trains, the Chiyoda Line 5000s were gradually transferred to the Tozai Line, except a couple of sets wich were kept at Ayase Depot as spare trains.
With the Chiyoda Line being completed, trough-services started at both ends (with Odakyu and the JNR Joban Line), with the new 6000 Series (except for the pre-production set 6001) travelling from Hon-Atsugi as far as Toride, the border between 1500V DC and 20Kv AC electrifications.
Briefly after the Chiyoda Line, another line opened; the Yurakucho Line, wich started operations on the 30th of October 1974, this time with it's own proper trains: the 7000 Series. These were almost identical to the Chiyoda Line 6000 Series, with the exception of a "predisposition" for an additional service indicator over the emergency door, as these trains were planned to have a variety of trough-services with the Seibu and Tobu railways. Another difference was the background color of the roller-blind, wich was changed to a more conventional black.
Not many years later, on the 1st of August 1978, another line opened: the Hanzomon Line, wich was to be the long-awaited relief line for the overcrowded Ginza Line. This time, as the line was quite short (only 2.7 Km with three stations), TRTA decided not to immediately introduce new trains, opting instead to operate the line 8000 Series trains lent from Tokyu Railway (in fact, the Hanzomon Line at the time operated as an underground extension of the Tokyu Denentoshi Line).
In 1979, the Chiyoda Line 3-car prototype was taken out of storage, upgraded to full-production standards, converted to one-man operation, reclassified "6000-1" to avoid confusion with the pre-production set and put back in service on the newly introduced Ayase to Kita-Ayase shuttle service togheter with the two "spare" 5000 Series sets, wich were shortened to 3 cars. Of these three trains, two were in service and one in "reserve".
This service, also nicknamed the "Chiyoda Branch Line" operated on the connection between Ayase station and Ayase Depot, wich was located a couple of kilometers to the north. The depot had initially opened togheter with the rest of the line, but as residents along the connection demanded a way to get to Ayase station, TRTA decided to open Kita-Ayase station and run a shuttle between the two.
Starting from the early 1980s, the 6000 and 7000 Series trains were retrofitted with air-conditioning, and at the same time, their windows were changed from the 103 Series-style "4-section" ones to more modern-looking 2-section ones.
Finally, in 1981, the Hanzomon Line's proper trains were introduced: the 8000 Series. Unlike it's predecessors, the 8000 Series had a new, quite distinctive, slanted front and rectangular headlights, wich gave it an even more modern look than the 6000s and 7000s. Furthemore, it was air-conditioned from the start and was TRTA's first train equipped with the distinctive "T-shaped" two-hands master controller.
Depsite all the differences in looks, the 8000 Series was still technically-speaking very much identical to the 6000s and 7000s; in fact it still used the same well-proven MELCO chopper.
[continues in next post]