Thursday 12 April 2018

Good-bye to Crayon Shinchan Train

51059F of the EMU Tobu 50050 series, Crayon Shinchan Train

The operation of Crayon Shinchan Train had been terminated during my absence taking the Tobu line. It disappeared from the track before I knew it. On August 31st, 2017, Tobu Railway conducted the last run of their special poster train named Crayon Shinchan train on their Isesaki and Nikko lines. The color design of those poster trains returned to the standard one in order. 

What is Crayon Shinchan? It is a popular TV animation series created by Usui Yoshito. The main character, Crayon Shinchan, also known as Shinchan, is a 5-year-old boy, who goes to kindergarten. The series depicts the everyday life of Shinchan with his parents, a baby sister, friends, kindergarten teachers and so on. Kasukabe City in Saitama Prefecture is the stage of this famous animation. Kasukabe is located on the Tobu-Isesaki line.

Starting from November 3rd, 2016, Tobu Railway had been operating special poster trains with a Crayon Shinchan design. They were set 51055F, 51056F, 51057F, 51058F and 51059F of the EMU 50050 series. Each 10-car train set was beautifully decorated with Crayon Shinchan characters on a yellow (51055F), blue (51056F), red (51057F), orange (51058F) and green (51059F) colored background. Tobu trains were directly operated onto the Tokyo Metro-Hanzomon line and the Tokyu-Denentoshi line; therefore, people in Tokyo Metropolis and Kanagawa Prefecture also enjoyed these unique trains in their areas.

Arigato (thank you) and sayonara (good-bye), Crayon Shinchan Train. You were the star on the Tobu line.

51056F of the EMU Tobu 50050 series, Crayon Shinchan Train