381 series

The 381 series is a tilting Japanese limited express electric multiple unit operated by the Japanese National Railways and its various successor companies from July 1973 to June 2024 in regular service.
==History==
The 381 series was designed in 1973 and put into service from 10 July 1973 on the Shinano Limited Express service. The 381 series cars are based on the prototype 591 series set, and was the first tilting train to enter regular public service in the world. Originally used by JNR, ownership of the sets was transferred to JR Central and JR West after JNR was privatized.
Due to their age, their obsolescence has shown and they are being replaced by newer trains. JR Central's fleet was completely retired on 6 May 2008 and they have been completely replaced by 383 series cars on Shinano services. The JR West sets were famously used on the Kuroshio, Kounotori and Yakumo services, but are now only used on the Yakumo services after they were replaced by 287 and 289 series sets on the Kuroshio and Kounotori services, when the 381 series sets were retired on those services on 31 October 2015. The remaining sets are slated to be replaced by 273 series sets starting 2024; they were withdrawn from regular service from 15 June 2024.
==Design==
The 381 series uses a traditional design directly based on the later-design 485 or 489 series sets; the design is also somewhat based on the 591 series sets. Some sets, most notably the Shinano and Kuroshio sets, had panoramic cab cars which allowed passengers to have a commanding view of the tracks ahead, in addition to seeing what the driver was doing inside the cab.
==Specifications==
Construction is of steel. Cars are 21 meters long. Traction motors were resistor controlled, which was standard for the time. The sets use a very simple inertial tilting system consisting of a few roller shafts which allows the sets to tilt up to five degrees around curves.
As mentioned earlier, the 381 series trains are the first ever tilting multiple units to enter regular public service, however, it is not the first tilting train; that honor goes to the prototype ETR Y 0160 single-car train.
==Preservation==
The following 381 series cars have been preserved:
Car number	Manufacturer 	Date manufactured	Date retired 	Previous sets	Location 	Notes
KuHa 381-1	Kawasaki Heavy Industries	May 1973 	December 1998	D9, P3 	SCMaglev and Railway Park, Nagoya, Japan	Ex-first production set, formerly stored at Mino-Ōta Depot
The following 381 series cars were preserved in the past but have since been scrapped:
Car number 	Manufacturer 	Date manufactured	Date retired 	Previous sets	Last location 	Notes
KuRo 381-11 	Kawasaki Heavy Industries	December 1974 	December 1998	P1, P3 	SCMaglev and Railway Park, Nagoya, Japan 	Panoramic car, formerly stored at Mino-Ōta Depot; removed in June 2019 due to difficulty in maintaining vehicle, scrapped October 2019
MoHa 380-1 	Kawasaki Heavy Industries	May 1973 	December 1998	D5, P3 	Mino-Ōta Rolling Stock Depot, Gifu, Japan 	Intermediate car, ex-first production set; removed in 2013 and scrapped
MoHa 381-1 	Kawasaki Heavy Industries	May 1973 	December 1998	D5, P3 	Mino-Ōta Rolling Stock Depot, Gifu, Japan 	Intermediate car, ex-first production set; removed in 2013 and scrapped
KuRo 381-1104	Kawasaki Heavy Industries	May 1978 	March 2017 	HB301, FE41 	Suita General Rolling Stock Center, Osaka, Japan	Ex-KuRo 381-104; scrapped September 2019
==Gallery==
381 FE67 Kounotori 2015.jpg|FE67 on a Kounotori service in October 2015
381 HD601 Kuroshio 2015.jpg|HD601 on a Kuroshio service in October 2015
File:KuHa 381-1 2023.jpg
File:KuRo 381-11 2011.jpg
==References==
*Wikipedia.org
Category:Electric trainsets
Category:JR Group trains
Category:Tilting trainsets
Category:Hitachi locomotives
Category:Kawasaki locomotives
Category:Kinki Sharyo locomotives