63 series

The 63 series is a Japanese city commuter electric multiple unit operated by the Japanese National Railways from June 1944 to 1963. An early commuter electric multiple unit, the 63 series was a wartime design intended to be cheap and easy to mass-produce in times of need.
==Description==
The 63 series was an early electric multiple unit used in Japan. Introduced in June 1944, the trains were intended as a means of transporting workers to factories to assist with Japan's war efforts, as well as a means of mass transportation during a period where supplies were scarce. From 1944 to 1945 very few of the trains were in production; after the conclusion of World War II production of the trains increased exponentially. 
The first 63 series sets were deployed on the Yamanote Line on 5 June 1944. The loss of rail transport and rolling stock to supply steel for Japan's war efforts made the demand for rail transportation so great that 120 cars had to be supplied by the Ministry of Railways to other private railroads; the Tobu Railway received 40 cars, Tokyu Corporation received 20 cars to become what would eventually be the 1800 and 3000 series trains on the Odakyu Electric Railway and Sagami Railway after separation from Tokyu in 1947, the Nagoya Railroad received 20 cars, the Kinki-Nippon Railway received 20 cars to become what would eventually become the 1501 series when the Nankai Electric Railway separated from the Kinki-Nippon Railway in 1947 and the Sanyo Railway received 20 cars.
Being produced under duress, the 63 series sets featured substandard construction and their appearance was already beginning to look dated by the 1950s; it was quite clear that a successor model had to be developed. The sets were also notably prone to accidents; a number of major accidents occurring in the 1950s involved 63 series sets, which ranged from derailments to collisions. The 72 series, introduced in 1954, acted as the successor model to this series; while they shared the same basic design initially the 72 series sets were designed to a significantly higher quality and served as the model rolling stock for future developments such as the 101 and 103 series sets. The remaining 63 series cars would be rebuilt into 72 series cars until 1963.
==Specifications==
Built under duress, the 63 series cars were of a crude design intended to be mass-produced. The cars were initially made out of steel; postwar manufacture changed these materials to aluminum. The cars featured a 20 meter long body with four doors per side with wooden flooring, less seating, wooden roofs and a new three-piece side window where only the top and bottom frames could be opened.
The 63 series's bodies were prone to corrosion and their electrical equipment prone to short circuiting, which led to fires.
==Incidents==
From 1948 to 1953, many 63 series cars were damaged in postwar accidents such as rockfall damage, derailments or fires. The following are major accidents involving the 63 series sets in some way.
===Mitaka incident===
A four-car 63 series set was involved in the Mitaka incident. On 15 July 1949 at 9:23 pm, an unmanned 63 series set rammed into Mitaka Station; its throttle handle was later discovered to have been tied down. Six people were crushed by the train and killed as a result while 20 others were injured. The motive of the incident remains a mystery, with the government indicting ten people, including the train's conductor, Keisuke Takeuchi, who was not on board the train when the accident occurred. It is claimed that Takeuchi planned and executed the incident on his own but this has not been proven. Takeuchi was ultimately convicted and sentenced to death but continued to maintain his innocence; he died in 1967 of a brain tumor while on death row.
===Sakuragichō train fire===
A five-car 63 series set was involved in the Sakuragichō train fire. On 24 April 1951 at 1:38 pm, maintenance crews were replacing electrical insulators for the overhead wires when the hanging wire was cut by accident, allowing the contact wire to hang down. Four minutes later, a 63 series set approached from Yokohama Station and changed tracks but its pantograph got tangled in the hanging wire; the driver of the train attempted to lower the pantograph but instead caused the wire to fall sideways and hit the car, causing a short circuit leading to a fire. The 63 series, being of a wartime design, had numerous cost-cutting features, ultimately preventing the panicking passengers from escaping the now burning car; it was consumed by the fire within ten minutes, killing 106 people and injuring 92 more. The resulting investigation report led to the fireproofing of future cars manufactured for the JNR and caused the resignation of Hideo Shima, then the director of the JNR's rolling stock department, and Yukio Kageyama, then-president of the JNR; Shima would later be re-employed with the JNR to design and built what would become the Shinkansen.
==Preservation==
The following 63 series cars have been preserved:
Car number	Manufacturer 	Date manufactured	Date retired	Previous sets	Location 	Notes
MoHa 63638	Kawasaki Sharyō	1947 	1994 	N/A 	SCMaglev and Railway Park, Nagoya, Japan	Ex-KuMoYa 90005, MoHa 72258; formerly stored at Hamamatsu Works
Category:JR Group trains
Category:Japanese locomotives
Category:Electric trainsets
Category:Kawasaki locomotives
Category:Kinki Sharyo locomotives
Category:Nippon Sharyo locomotives
Category:Tanaka Sharyō locomotives
Category:Ōi Works locomotives
Category:Ōmiya Works locomotives