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HEy Alexmaria: I was field testing the 211 on my Orange line and noticed the doors were not closed. Am I missing something?
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HEy Alexmaria: I was field testing the 211 on my Orange line and noticed the doors were not closed. Am I missing something

To be honest, i don't know what to do here. :confused: It appears that the door mesh has disappeared altogheter.
Are you having this problem on just some specific cars or on all the ones in the pack? The photo depicts a JR East 211-1000/3000 Subseries. I've checked the ones on my side but they all correctly have the doors.

Has someone encountered a similar problem?


In other news, after two-and-a-half days of work, i've finally managed to make a KuRo 212 type panoramic cab car!
Now it only needs a few adjustments and animated doors (and of course, all five livery variations), then, the major obstacle on the path towards the completion of the 213 Series pack will have been dealt with!

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@rowletmaster That map is still a WIP, but I think I'll release a beta as soon the first part of Shikoku is finished! And I'm already working hard on that now!

@AlexMaria The Marine Liner set looks awesome! That will obviously be a super usefull train on the Seto-Ohashi Line!
 
Missing components

I lost the green car of the 211 series,Their kuids are as follows:<kuid:668654:101637>,<kuid:668654:101696>Thank you very much for your help
 
Here's the second part of my 211/213/415-1500/719 + Shikoku 6000 Series megapack: the 213 Series!

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From right to left: JNR, JR West, the five variations of the KuRo 212 panoramic cab car, the 213-100 Series cab car converted from intermediate cars and JR Central's 213-5000 Series.

All of these are already directly avaible (here for the JNR version, here for the JR West version, including the KuRo 212s and the 213-100 Series, and here for the JR Central version). They're also avaible on my website as well.
In case of missing dependenices download this.


The 213 Series bears the distinction of having been the last entirely new series developed by JNR - mere months before the national railways' privatization. The 213 Series was intended for rapid service on the Seto-Ooashi Line, wich was to be routed via the (then) under-construction Great Seto Bridge, a 13 kilometers long concatenation of six suspended bridges that was to run between Honshu and Shikoku. With it's two-deck configuration (the upper one for automobile traffic and the lower one for railway services), the Great Seto Bridge was intended to replace the existing slow ferries (operated by JNR itself) between Takamatsu and Uno, where passengers could change to a Uno Line train to Okayama.
Crossing from Honshu to Shikoku took about one hour via the ferry. The bridge was supposed to bring the time needed to cross the strait down to just 20 minutes.

Roughly, the concept of the 213 Series was to be to the 211 Series what the 117 Series was to the 115 Series - in other words, a technically as-similar-as-possible, two-doors, cross-seating fitted rapid service derivative of the latter. However, to contain costs, the 213 Series was designed to be even more similar to the 211 Series, to the point of being nearly identical as far as technical equipment went. In fact, the 211 and 213 Series share the entirety of their technical components, including the same bogeys, pantographs, motors, traction control system, doors, driving desks, 20m-long stainless steel bodyshell design, FRP front mask and so on.

However there were several differences as well: besides the more obvious ones (two doors per side instead of three, cars fully fitted with a cross-seating arrangment as opposed to the 211s' semi-cross or longitudinal seating arrangment and the wider passenger windows), the 213 Series also sported some less subtle differences, such as the lowered assistant drivers' front window (in a fashion similar to the future JR Central's 211-5000 Series sets) and some minor improvements to the bodyshell design for the sake of simplification and manufacturing cost reduction.

Owning to the "lightweightness" of the stainless steel bodyshells, the 213 Series sets were intended to be formed as 3-car sets in an 1M2T formation (only one power car per set), eventually to be coupled togheter in multiple unit working.

Manufactured jointly by Kinki Sharyo, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Nippon Sharyo, Tokyu Car Co. and Hitachi, the firsthe first eight 3-car sets (a total of 24 cars) entered service in March 1987, fitted in a two-tone light and dark blue livery (both tonalities coincidentally simialr to the company colours adopted by JR Shikoku and JR West after the privatziation) and assigned to Okayama depot. As the Great Seto Bridge wasn't open yet, the 213 Series sets were provisionally deployed on the Uno Line, to replace the 115 Series sets in use until then.

On the 22nd of March, the provisional Bisan Liner rapid services were introduced, running 11 roundtrips between Okayama and Uno, stopping at Hayashima and Chayamachi. These were intended to form a rapid connection to the ferries, and were also a sort of "preparation" before the dedicated Seto-Ooashi Line rapid services could began. The Bisan Liner services were almost always formed as nine-car sets (with two nine car trains in operation and the remaining two 3-car sets stored as spares), altough during high season, formations up to twelve cars (four sets) could be spotted as well.

With the privatization of JNR, on the 1st of April 1987, the whole 213 Series fleet was inherited by JR West. The Great Seto Bridge, and with it, the Seto-Ooashi Line, was opened on the 11th of April 1988, with 213 Series set finally commencing the Marine Liner rapid services between Takamatsu and Okayama they were intended for.

To increase the capacity of these trains (and to overall increase the attractiveness of the service), JR West decided to introduce unique panoramic, reserved seating cab cars, classified as the KuRo 212 series. Five units of these were manufactured by Kinki Sharyo in 1988, each one fitted a different livery: a common base of candid white and dark blue small lines, with the main band being either pink, acqua green, green, orange or yellow.
Around the same time, a general re-formation of the 213 Series fleet was implemented, mixing togheter the original JNR-built sets, the KuRo 212 cab cars and a variety of individual newly-made cars to "even out the consists". After the reorganization, JR West ended up with 12 213 Series 3-car sets, with five of them being fitted with the KuRo 212 panoramic cab car at their "Takamatsu end". In normal operation, Marine Liner sets were formed of two or three coupled 213 Series 3-car sets for a total of six or nine cars (always with the KuRo 212 at the Takamatsu end). However, due to the immense popularity of the Marine Liner services, their capacity always remained a bit stretched, as demand for commuter services between Okayama and Sakaide station was, and still is partly to this day, very high.

However, after 15 years in service shuttling people between Honshu and Shikoku, 213 Series trains started to suffer from saltwater corrosion damage to the underframe equipment. Furthemore, as all sets were owned by JR West, JR Shikoku had to pay a fee for the usage of these trains. As such, in early 2003, a replacement for the 213 Series was introduced: JR Shikoku's 5000 Series, wich was a direct derivative of JR West's 223 Series (and was to be used in multiple-unit working formation with the latter's -5000 Subseries).

Capable of a 130Km/h top speed (compared to the 110Km/h of the 213 Series) and fitted with a double-deck cab car, the new 5000 Series sets began operation on Marine Liner services with the fall timetable change, on the 1st of October 2003, instantly replacing the 213 Series sets that had been in service until then.

After their retirement from Marine Liner services, JR West decided to transfer 213 Series to local service workings in the Okayama area. With the transfer, the KuRo 212 cab cars were removed from all consists and stored, before being all eventually scrapped in 2008.

With the removal of the five cab cars, there were now five 213 Series sets without a cab on one end - to solve this problem, JR West decided to retrofit cabs to the five intermediate cars that the "cab-less" sets had. The conversion works were carried out by JR West's Suita workshops and consisted in the cutting away 1.9m of the trailer cars' bodyshell and replacing it with a "pre-made" conventional steel cab portion of equal lenght (with the front design made to be as similar to the original 213 Series' front one), wich was later welded in place. The results was a bit crude, but effective nonetheless.
Another important modification was fitting the newly converted cab cars (re-classified as KuHa 213-100 Series) with a large universal accessible toilet.

After yet another re-organization, in 2004 JR West ended up still with twelve 213 Series sets (numbered C1 to C12), however in different formations: sets C1 to C3 were former 3-car sets that had their intermediate trailer removed, leaving only the two "original" cab cars, sets C4 to C6 and C12 were nearly-unchanged 3-car sets, while sets C7 to C11 were the five 2-car sets that had the KuHa 213-100 cab car.

Out of these, all the two car sets (C1 to C3 and C7 to C11) plus the 3-car C12 set had also been converted for one-man operation, while the C4 to C6 sets kept their conductors.
213 Series sets were re-deployed on various local services running out of Okayama, primarily on the Uno Line (all the way to Uno Station) but also on the Hakubi Line (as far as Niimi Station) and the Ako Line as far as Banshu-Ako station. Sometimes the 213 Series sets are also used as local trains on the JR West section of the Seto-Ooashi Line, between Kojima station and Okayama.

However, the transfer to local duties hasn't meant the end of Seto Bridge crossing services for the 213 Series, as occasionally, when a JR Shikoku 5000 Series isn't avaible, one or two 213 Series sets (usually picked from sets C4 to C6) is put in service in it's place. Such was the case between February and mid-April 2007 (a 5000 Series set had suffered a crash with a truck at a level crossing and was undergoing repairs) and between the 11th and the 12th of June 2009 (here instead a 5000 Series window had been smashed by debris).

In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the opening of the Great Seto Bridge, on the 10th of April 2008, a "Marine Liner Revival" service was operated between Okayama and Takamatsu with two coupled 213 Series 3-car sets with all seats reseved.

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As of today, all of JR West 213 Series sets (altough not in their original "state") are in service, being a common sight along the Uno, Ako and Hakubi Lines. Some of them were also recently refurbished (and one 2-car set was also trasformed into the "La Malle du Bois" tourist train operating on the Uno Line), and with no replacement planned yet, 213 Series trains will continue to run around Okayama for the forseeable future.

However, depsite being the most famous user of 213 Series trains, JR West wasn't the only one - JR Central did also have it's own fleet of 213 Series trains. These were introduced between 1989 and 1991 for local services on the electrified Kansai Main Line section between Nagoya and Kameyama. As mentioned with the 211 Series, the Nagoya area had long been neglected by JNR, to the point that up until privatization, to reach the Yokkaichi area from Nagoya by train meant by default taking the Kintetsu Nagoya Line.

To win back customers on the Kansai Main Line after the privatization, JR Central introduced it's own derivative of the 213 Series, classified as the 213-5000 Series. The design of these units was nearly identical to JR West's 213-0 Series but fetaured many improvements found on JR Central's 211-5000 Series as well, such as the two separate air conditioning units. A total of 14 2-car sets (for a total of 28 cars) were manufactured by Nippon Sharyo between 1989 and 1991.
The 213-5000 Series entered service on both local and rapid services on the Kansai Main Line in 1989, replacing the older 165 Series. The whole fleet was assigned from the start to JR Central's Ogaki Depot, and while services on the Kansai Line were the "main duty" of the fleet, 213-5000 Series trains could be seen running local trains on the Tokaido Main Line (between Ogaki and Okazaki stations) and both local and rapid services on the Chuo Main Line, taking advantage of the fact that the 213-5000 Series is compatible, and can be operated in multiple-unit, not only with the technically similar 211-0, 211-5000 and 211-6000 Serieses, but also with more modern JR Central stock such as the 311 Series and even the 313 Series.

Depsite the 213-5000 Series being relatively "young", it's successor and replacement, the 313-3000 Series was introduced in 1999, just ten years after the first 213-5000 Series car left Nippon Sharyo's plant. The 313-3000 Series replaced the 213-5000 Series on the majority of Kansai Main Line daytime services, with surplus sets being transferred to the Chuo Main Line workings in multiple-unit formation with other stock.
In mid 2011, the 213-5000 Series was completely replaced on the Kansai Main Line by 313 Series trains, with all 213-5000 Series trains being "regrouped", refurbished by Kinki Sharyo, converted to one-man operation and transferred to the Ida Line to replace the JNR-era 119 Series, wich was fully retired by March 2012.

As of today, the whole 213-5000 Series fleet is still in service on the Ida Line, being used interchangeably with 313-3000 Series sets. Plans however have been made for their replacement in the form of the 315 Series, JR Central's new commuter train, wich is scheduled to be introduced from 2021 onwards.

Trivia #1
Thanks to the lightweight bodyshell, JNR technicians calculated that a 213 Series set could easily overcome the steeply-graded Senohachi Pass section (west of Hiroshima, between Seno and Hachihonmatsu) of the San'yo Main Line without the need of extra motor cars or an helper locomotive.

Trivia #2
Originally, JNR also planned to introduce both 211 and 213 Series sets (to be operated as multiple units) to the Yokosuka-Sobu Line services in the Tokyo Area. As such, both serieses were designed from the start to be capable of handling the steep gradients of the ramps that brought the line to the underground platforms of Tokyo Station.

Trivia #3
During the early days of 213 Series' services, Okayama depot drivers found difficult to get used to the new trains' regenerative braking (wich wasn't present on older stock assigned to the depot), and thus, the 213 Series quickly gained a reputation for being a difficult train to drive well, so much so that this even found it's way into an article of the Japan Railfan Magazine. Over time, Okayama depot drivers got used to the regenerative braking of the 213 Series, and (thanks to the similar braking performance) many can now also theoretically drive the 221 Series with the same level of proficiency and without any extra training.

Trivia #4
Due to the due to the immense popularity of the Marine Liner services in the early days of the Great Seto Bridge, seats reservation for the panoramic KuRo 212 cab cars were fully sold out days before the scheduled service, and overall, the Marine Liner services were so crowded that often JR West and JR Shikoku had to run additional services with whatever stock they had avaible (including KiHa 181 Series Turbine DMUs and 111, 115, 117 and 167 Series EMUs).

Model Trivia #1
With all due probability, it took me more time to make the base KuRo 212 panoramic cab car model (the pink one in this case) than to make all the other 213 Series cars combined.
Said KuRo 212 is in fact now the current recold holder for the "most complex base shape i've ever made in a 3D modelling program".
 
These look interesting! I've tried to download everything and still seem to be missing a key KUID <kuid:668654:100412> - do you know where I could find this one?

Great work BTW


Gisa
 
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