Hi everyone,
I made a DKZ4G(a type of subway train in China)model in sketchup but I can't get the plugin Rubytmix due to the link of this plugin doesn’t work anymore. So could someone tell me how to download it? Thanks.
Indeed the RubyTMIX plugin is no longer available anywhere. I'll check if i still have the "raw" plugin file on my PC.
This a belated message:
Thank you very much AlexMaria for making the 200 Series Shinkansen and I really appreciate seeing that gap being filled in the Trainz Shinkansen collection! Why it's late because I unsubscribed from this thread a while back because I was getting annoyed with constant content releases (It's fine everyone) and I normally don't care about Japanese Trainz other than the iconic Shinkansen. I was somehow a huge Shinkansen nerd when I was a younger kid before I fell deeper into the German ICE trains when I was in high school. I'm just glad I checked back on it right before I posted this reply.
Thank you!
You know, for me it's the exact opposite - as it's by now very evident i do prefer commuter and subway trains over the Shinkansen (of course nothing wrong with it - Shinkansens are cool, but i'm a sucker for the various design nuances of different "conventional" trains), and given that the Japanese trainz panorama was (and currently is) saturated with Shinkansen stuff (all major serieses are available, except one or two) i took it on my hands and started outputting lots of commuter stuff on my own.
However i do still enjoy making Shinkansen stuff from time to time - i only try to limit myself to a few models per year. You know, if i'd were to model all the remaining two or three serieses, there wouldn't be any other Shinkansen left to model! :hehe:
And speaking of content output, here's my slightly-delayed end-of-year special! As it's tradition, for the fourth year in a row, this will be a TRTA train, specifically my favourite among the non-chopper-controlled TRTA trains: the fancy 9000 Series for the Namboku Line!
left to right: prototype set 9101 (Chiyoda Line test runs), two TRTA versions, two Tokyo Metro versions and the 5th-batch trains.
As always already available on my website - check it out tomorrow for copious amounts of trivia i have yet to write!
The 9000 Series was introduced by TRTA in the early 1990s as the rolling stock of choice for the new Namboku Line, the company's newest line and the first to be opened in about a decade, as the then-lastest (the Hanzomon Line) had been opened in 1979.
The Namboku Line bears the official name of "Line No. 7" and like many other TRTA lines, it had been first proposed in the 1962 subway masterplan as a north-south line connecting Meguro to Akabane via Nagatacho, Ichigaya and Komagome. The routing was further refined in 1972, with the planned line being extended northwards from Akabane to Kawaguchi and into Saitama prefecture, up to Urawa city. However, depsite the plans being ready since the 1960s, construction was always postponed due to various reasons, both economical (the line crossed slightly difficult terrain, and in various "exploration" excavations several historical artefacts were found), political (in particular local opposition to the location of the would-be depot) and primarily practical: other planned lines with a far higher expected ridership were understandably, and rightly, given priority over Line No.7.
Finally, in 1984 the definitive plans for Line 7 were approved, and after some adjustments, construction began in earnest in 1986.
Since Line No.7 was to be TRTA's first new line in almost a decade, the company decided to discard what could be described as the "1970s blueprint for subways" (as applied on the Chiyoda, Yurakucho and Hanzomon Lines, the three most recent) in favour of the widespread adoption of the then-newest technologies available: semi-automatic ATO driver-only operation, advanced computerized systems, platform screen doors at all stations and inverter traction control - the latter, altough already somewheat widespread, hadn't been adopted yet by TRTA, as the company had remained loyal to the current chopper system (even developing it's own unique high-frequency GTO chopper, as applied to the 0x family of trains).
The new trains for Line No.7 were to be based on the 05 Series of the Tozai Line, then TRTA's newest series, having been introduced only a few years before in 1988.
From the 05 Series, the new trains were to inherit the same proven bodyshell construction systems and some equipment, such as the bogeys, pantographs, doors and interior fittings. However, in regards to exterior designs, the trains were completely re-designed - since Line No.7 trains were to be run in driver-only operations, their cabs were designed to give the best visibility possible for the driver, adopting stylish wrap-around windows. The cab was also slightly roomier than previous serieses, as the bulky on-board ATO equipment needed quite a lot of space, and finally, also correlated to one-man-operation, an array of four CCTV screens connected to the stations' platform-side cameras was installed above the driver seat, so that he could check the status of the platform before closing the doors without the need to get out of his seat and lean out the cab window.
To test all these new fetaures, a prototype 4-car set built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries was delivered to TRTA in 1990, wich proceeded to use it on various test runs along the Chiyoda Line, specifically on the Ayase to Kita-Ayase Branch line, wich had been experimentally fitted with ATO when it opened in 1979. Testing was successful, with TRTA placing an order for six other "full-production" trains right after.
Classified as the "9000 Series", full-production trains were delivered starting in early 1991, around the same time as Line No.7 recieved it's definitive name of "Namboku Line". Around the same time, as works on the first section of the line came to a close, the prototype set was modified to "full-production" standard and sent to Oji depot (wich, wary of the earlier political oppisition, TRTA had it built entirely underground) togheter with the other 9000 Series sets, ready for the line's opening.
Finally, the first section of the Namboku Line opened for regular services on the 29th of November 1991, running from Akabane-Iwabuchi (a short distance away from JR's Akabane station) and Komagome station, where passengers could transfer to the Yamanote Line. Interestingly, this first section was isolated from the rest of TRTA's and the whole Tokyo Subway network (including the Toei lines) - construction works on the southward sections had been slightly delayed due to the difficult terrain and various issues correlated with tunnelling under the subway, expressway and water tunnels mess that is central Tokyo.
With the opening of the first section, all seven 9000 Series sets (including the former prototype) entered regular service, running as 4-car sets between Akabane-Iwabuchi and Komagome. These were not deemed enough, and thus, in 1992 an additional eight set was procured.
These eight sets can be referred to as the "1st batch" and have a peculiarity: as was practice at the time, TRTA opted to have different manufacturers provide the traction inverters: Mitsubishi Electric equipped even-numbered sets (02, 04, 06 and 08), while Hitachi equipped odd-numbered sets (01, 03, 05 and 07). Both inverters, depsite the different manufacturers (and sound) were of the same GTO-VVVF type, and had comparable, nearly-identical performances, even on the steep gradients and tight curves of the Namboku Line.
The delayed southern section, from Komagome to Yotsuya, finally opened in March 1996, bringing the Namboku Line to Tokyo's city center and ending it's peculiar isolation: on the new section, interchanges with the rest of TRTA's network were provided at Korakuen (with the Marunouchi Line and Toei's Mita Line), Idabashi (with the Tozai and Yurakucho Lines, plus the Chuo-Sobu Line) and Yotsuya itself, with transfers available to the Marunouchi Line and JR East's Chuo Rapid and Chuo-Sobu Lines.
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