Product Description

- The Suha 44 series passenger car is a vehicle for express trains developed for postwar Japan National Railways based on the Suha 43 series general passenger car.
- Before the Shinkansen, the flagship express trains of the Japanese National Railways were generally passenger trains pulled by steam locomotives. Unlike the 43 series, which had rows of box-shaped cross seats, the 44 series was introduced in 1951 as a special passenger car in which all seats faced in one direction.
- Initially, they were used on express trains such as the Tsubame, Hato and Hatsukari, which were representative of each line. However, from the late 1940s to the 1950s, railways made rapid advances, and the power source for express trains changed from steam locomotives to electric locomotives, and then to electric railcars every few years. Finally, with the opening of the Tokaido Shinkansen in 1964, the so-called "express passenger cars" became a thing of the past.

- The surplus SuHa 44 series found new uses as express, semi-express, and tourist group trains, but while the versatile SuHa 43 series was heavily used throughout Japan until the end of its life as a JNR due to its unique seating arrangement, the SuHa 44 series was only used on local lines and eventually disappeared.
- Currently, the Japan National Trust owns two working cars that are in operation on the Oigawa Railway.
- This book looks back on the life of the unique SuHa 44 series, interweaving formation records and other information.


Item Size/Weight : 25.8 x 18.3 x 0.5 cm / 220g

Product Specifications

Item series

RM Library

Item code

055579

ISBN code

9784777055579

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