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Vista Car
First written April 11, 2024The 30000 series Kintetsu trains were put into service beginning in late 1978 running Kintetsu Railway's limited express trains. These were the third in a series of vista cars or double-decker observation car trains and the class became known as the Vista Car III or Vista III.
EC14 Vista Car (1981)
The initial Plarail 30000 series trains were introduced in 1981 as EC14 Vista Car (ビスターカー), a few years after the trains first entered service. The three-car set includes the single-deck front and rear cars and one of the middle vista cars (the original formation had two vista cars, with the dip in the blue stripe towards the front of the first car and mirrored towards the back in the second car).
The head mark of the train reads "賢島" or Kashijima, one of the destinations on all three of the initial round-trip routes the class serviced. Like the real train, the Vista Car's power and tail cars have roofs that end partway up the vista car's windows with vents sticking up to about the same level as the rounded roof of the vista car. It would be rather nice to get a second intermediate car and replace the couplings with modified ones that would allow it to run backwards in the train to properly represent the four-car Vista Train.
The old power Vista Cars sold from 1981 to 1987 used the milky white plastic gearbox. The separate roof piece is screwed into the power car body shell, with the screws holding the intermediate and tail cars together sandwiching the orange bodies between the grey roofs and chassis.
In 1987 the Vista Car was reissued with a new power gearbox. This release stayed in the range until 1991, not long after all 30000 series trains were withdrawn from Meihan-Ko Limited Express operation, although the series were modified and repainted and remain in use in some places.