Meitetsu 850 series

The Meitetsu 850 series was a Japanese streamlined express electric multiple unit operated by the Nagoya Railroad (Meitetsu) from March 1937 to August 1988.
==History==
The 850 series sets were some of the first trains produced for the Nagoya Railroad after the Aichi Electric Railway was merged with the Nagoya Electric Railway. Designed as a new train intended to attract passengers with its streamlined appearance, an initial design was penned by Nippon Sharyo's design bureau in 1936 with help from the design team from the Nagoya Electric Railway. Two two-car sets were produced in March 1937, with test runs occurring in early-March and the sets entering service around that time. These were introduced alongside the 3400 series sets, also featuring similar streamlining.
The sets were mainly used for express and limited express services. The sets underwent voltage boosting modifications in 1948, coinciding with the voltage boosting of the lines the 850 series sets served on from 600 V to 1,500 V DC. In their later careers the sets were relegated from express services to general use in conjunction with other AL Cars and were used for a fairly long time without any major refurbishment works done. 852 was retired in November 1979 and subsequently sent to Minami-Chita Beach Land to be repurposed as a restaurant named the Panorama Buffet, which opened in April 1980.
Minor refurbishment works were conducted on 851 in the early 1980s, such as the changing of bogies and the installation of a fan system. Due to aging and replacement of old railcars with newer railcars in an attempt to keep up with JR Central, 851 was subsequently retired in August 1988 and scrapped, with some of the number plaques from 851 going towards the restoration work of 3400 series set 3403 as a heritage set. 852, the set converted to be used as a restaurant, would later be scrapped in December 1992 owing to salt corrosion damage due to its proximity to the ocean.
No 850 series cars have been preserved.
==Design==
The 850 series sets featured a streamlined design with a single top-mounted headlight; the sets were streamlined due to the popularity of streamlined trains in general in the 1930s.
The sets were initially painted in seafoam green with three white bands lining the roofs; these bands were removed in May 1965. By the late 1970s the trains had been repainted into Meitetsu's corporate livery of all-over red. Due to the white bands on the roof, the trains were nicknamed Catfish by railfans as they resembled the barbels on one.
==Specifications==
Construction of the cars was of steel. The sets used resistor-controlled traction systems.
Category:Electric trainsets
Category:Meitetsu trains
Category:Nippon Sharyo locomotives
Category:Built in 1937
Category:Japan
Category:3 foot 6 inch gauge