Melbourne's Silver Hitachi Trains!

A quick look at Melbourne's Hitachi suburban trains, which served our city from 1972 to 2014.
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#trains #melbourne #railway

[@Taitset]

Want to see more on the history of Melbourne's electric suburban trains? Hit the related video link on screen, or follow/copy this link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p4TceGujhd-Kp8U

[@AidanSherlock-uq1kf]

Taitset I saw IEV100 and 187M both yesterday

[@NixSauce]

Was fortunate enough to be on one of the final running services in my final year of High School! It was fully silver running on the pakenham line!

[@themillykatt]

The drop down windows and the smell of those brakes!!!

[@epsilona7472]

Hitachi! Remember the Melbourne days would get so hot the AC on the Xtrapolis and Comeng would break and this one was all they could run because the windows opened.

[@andrewford80]

They don't make them like they use to!

[@Skasaha_]

Their lack of AC traumatized me in childhood. Something I find hilarious about the Hitachis is the fact that they were intended to be withdrawn earlier, but some had to be bought back from the private owners they were sold on to as they needed more capacity urgently.

[@clairewright8153]

Always disappointed when they pulled up at the station, the most uncomfortable seats

[@Gort58]

They were a real hoot in heavy rain with the windows down.

[@tyrefire2978]

I miss the old blue and red rattlers I love those trains as a kid 😢

[@railtrolley]

blue Harris and red Tait.

[@davidbrayshaw3529]

I wish I hadn't watched that. I remember calling these things "the modern trains" when I was kid as well as being disappointed when a red rattler rolled up to the station.

[@chriswalton3383]

These trains got so hot in the summer it was ridiculous and some of the trams that run in Melbourne are still the old style that get super hot as well. Seeing these takes me back.

[@frostedbutts4340]

And the worst part was.. they mainly used them in the summer when the AC trains broke down lmao

[@jcee6886]

As a little kid in the 70s, we'd regularly ride the old red rattlers and the blue funny smelling trains. We referred to these silver ones as the new trains.

[@orgillmathew]

I remember watching Brendon Fevola throw an apple the size of a rockmelon out of one once it hit an oncoming Vline we all got Saturday detention for that

[@mihali9655]

Best trains ever. Who needs aircon in Melbourne?

[@slaybarbiegirlturqoise]

real, aircons suck, Hitachi's are the best :D

[@relaxsleepchannel6362]

Wow I remember these trains, going to school, going into the city they were a ball. Windows down on hot days, going to the beach after school in Brighton great memories.

[@jamesfahey7188]

Bring them back or at least bring back the green and yellow livery and tartan interior. So classy.

[@drhandle4498]

The three note horn - the soundtrack of my secondary school and uni days.

[@MelodyMan69]

I liked the Red Rattlers and their Timber Doors and Windows.

[@tyrefire2978]

👍

[@potsy86]

I miss the brake smell :'(

[@eponymous7910]

Asbestos

[@matheuswolters3448]

God i miss the hitachi trains. As a kid who grew up during the late connex/early metro days, i was able to have a few rides on the hitachi's, and as a kid, i vividly remember catching them from Ashburton to the city with my dad to meet up with my mum for lunch, as well as a couple of times from Glen Iris. The hitachi's were my favourite trains as a kid (and still are) for their uniqueness, like how their seats were arranged and how they had windows that could be pulled up and down. They might have been old, but i miss them.

[@rossdtool]

I remember how noisy the air compressors were. The whole carriage would vibrate when they were running.

[@TurquoisechannelshortsYT]

My favourite type of train :3

[@mitchellnicholls3622]

Best trains ever!!

[@SeverityOne]

I've never been to Australia, chances are poor I ever will (my wife and I are getting too old), but I find the country endlessly fascinating.

[@TeshawnEdmonds]

Those railcars are so cool looking. MTA New York City Transit will want to use them on the Interborough Express.

[@gmponza]

those interiors and seats look quite cozy, like they could almost be on a regional railcar if there was a canteen and toilets

[@BluntBlessingsTarot]

Loved those tartan seats. Hated the subsequent seats

[@mii747]

I still remember travelling on the red rattler and the blue train back in the seventies as a kid before they were phased out. Not only could you open the windows but you could open the door and ride with the breeze blowing on the hot days with the red rattler. If you could get away with it back then.

[@aidanthomas2510]

Was sadly never able to ride one of these but I did take a look in the cab of 298M on the open day. Would have been nice if the plans to preserve a 6 car set had gone ahead, but something is better than nothing and it definitely did look like none of them would be saved for a while, so I'm glad we have something. Hopefully it runs on the mainline again someday.

[@GeneralTrainGuy]

Taitset, those seats are better than the seats on my local Class 720 in London

[@Comeng_]

W hitachis

[@TurquoisechannelshortsYT]

Fr

[@fairlymoon448]

Omg i rmbr the chair layout now!! Those tartan chairs 😊 openable windows are still cool. Maybe in mild weather?

[@railtrolley]

Rode these from new in 1970s. Had green vinyl covered seats at the time. Separate seat and back rest pads.

[@matyheymer]

I live in one of these on my farm, I own two ❤️

[@JE-98]

😱as if what a way to wake up everyday😊 let alone to keep the history alive 🤙🏽

[@tommeeshaw8624]

I miss these trains, they were such interesting machines

[@zac2780]

Hitachi's were my favourite

[@MelbourneMan22.]

I miss them. Hopefully 707 operations can make the set run under its own power

[@TheBerzerkViking]

I remember the smell of the brakes with the windows open, i sometimes still smell it..

[@FiftyshadesofAA]

When i was a kid i recall people calling these "jail trains" i knew never to go near these trains lol. In my teenage years i always had a fascination with these trains because they looked, sounded different to the newer style trains. I missed the farewell tour in 2014 and i have grown quite affectionate for these EMU's so i really hope they get restored and i can ride them again. They were never just steel on rails

[@ashpeake2426]

I took one of these to Warragul in the late 90s…. It fairly rattled along past pakenham on “the open road”.

[@NolanChance-ux6sd]

Intercity 125 of the suburban victoria

[@themillykatt]

Oh and that one seat against the window, each side of each end of the carriages that had zero leg space!

[@prakash7564]

When I migrated to Melbourne in early 90s, I totally dependent on these trains,

[@tommycruiser6052]

good for hang-outs

[@cantbgood]

Sitting on the floor near the open door on summer days, on the trip home from work was great. Red rattlers so dam noisy though.

[@raybearoz]

These must have been used on the Craigieburn line right up until the end... My take away was that the sears were super small... two average sized people couldn't sit next to each other without pain

[@PlatformONE]

Look better than today's Melbourne trains.

[@sw1246]

I went on one when i was younger

[@stevens9625]

The old seats were much more comfortable than the later Connex ones. I hated the new seats the first time I sat on them and I still hate them now.

[@DMUSrilanka]

❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@qarnos]

They were the best smelling trains

[@haroldalexis4200]

They slightly resemble BUDD cars. Those cars look almost brand new. 👍🛤🛤

[@warrenphan2892]

There is one in Sydney

[@bera0014]

I'm old enough to remember the Red Rattlers....sheesh

[@jhonnysjipandfishhop6198]

Thanks

[@AshSatoshi489]

The Hitachi had aircon but it was only for the driver 😅

[@bloodrot123]

I miss smoking out the window on the Hitachi.

[@JE-98]

💯

[@WeldinMike27]

My dad always refered to them (and comengs) as silver trains. Obviously as opposed to the Harris trains and red rattlers.

[@boppermacca9346]

Mate, you sound exactly like James Valentine.

[@josephking6515]

On hot summer days (that's 36°C British people and not 25°C 🙄 ) I am told -we- um ah, people could hold the doors open for extra airflow. It was very, I believe is was not that cooling but was pleasant.

[@philcahill2382]

Red rattlers were great air conditioner was an open door and conversation stopped till the next stop.

[@EricYu1]

There’s also 1 is Sydney

[@Sydney_Mapz]

Anyway to buy one?

[@anindrapratama]

Would the restored unit get their center doors back or it's long gone?...

[@Taitset]

One of the cars they have is a trailer, which was a former driving trailer, which still has it's cab with the end door, so it's certainly possible!

[@m31tdown]

Are there any trailers getting restored?

[@Taitset]

They have two cars and one T (former D) car.

[@dropbear8579]

I use to call them ghetto trains!

[@TruenoD12]

There's a Japanese in Australia

[@OfficalMelbourneGreenQuad]

Noice

[@theblip]

Why are the rails so wavy for the first vid when they dont need to be? Is that why we cant have faster trains?

[@Taitset]

What makes you think they don't need to be there? They're curves, for going around stuff. High-speed rail is built on separare dedicated alignments.

[@TheLostProbe]

if memory serves me right, that's on the Hurstbridge line, somewhere between Wattle Glen and Hurstbridge. that area has a fair amount of deviations in elevation, so the alignment needs to curve more to conform to the terrain. it wouldn't have been possible to make that section straight or mostly straight without some serious amounts of terraforming

[@Noname-iz9uo]

Japanese train I have seen even in old photos was never this ugly so I always wondered how old the train must be. It makes sense now the train was never designed by the Japanese

[@dengpoop]

Hey! They're not ugly!

[@PhunkBustA]

ah good ol harry

[@JE-98]

Nostalgia

[@MrNodrog64]

And the stupid government of the day , decommissioned the Hitachi early , sold them , only to purchase them back at 3 times their scrap prices due to the new trains not being delivered on time .

[@Taitset]

The ones that were purchased back were only used for parts, they didn't actually run again (with the exception of the set that had been set aside for preservation, which did re-enter service).

[@user-yv6he8zt6h]

the photo you took of the Hitachi on a roof is a restaurant in around Clifton hill/ Collingwood Area if you have been there pls tell me what it is like.

[@koutsoumbos]

Bring them back any time, hate xpolous

[@dtrezy5223]

I hated the Hitachi trains. No aircon and that horrible smell. Glad they're no longer in service.

[@penguin_brian]

My reaction to seeing a Hitachi was joy: Thank God, it isn't a blue train. I hated the blue (Harris) trains at the time.

[@dtrezy5223]

@@penguin_brian I was born in the early 80s so I only remember the Hitachi and Comeng trains. But my dad told me how bad the blue trains were but would prefer them to the red rattles back in the day.

[@thtupid]

Sure miss the smell of the brakes! And the sweat of other passengers after school on a hot day...

[@ffxtms2970]

Hitachi trains were absolute shitbox 💩.. Always had burning smell inside & no AC .

[@turquoisechannel2.0commentsYT]

Hater

[@turquoisechannel2.0commentsYT]

Hitachis are the best 😡