Since 1990, the Enoshima Electric Railway has operated the Enoshima Electric Railway Type 2000 Train.
While today’s Enoden features a dark green and cream color livery, back in 2009, Meiji Seika used the Enoshima Railway 2000 as an advertisement car from September 2009 and featured a brown and yellow livery to create a chocolate atmosphere for the 2001 + 2051 train.
But the Enoshima Railway 2000 will be remembered as a train from the ’90s that was quite advanced. In fact, it would win the Ministry of International Trade and Industry’s Good Design Award in 1990 and the Fujisawa Urban Design Award from Fujisawa City in 1991.
From its shape, a front window featuring a large single piece of glass and not only was this train popular with the drivers but also with passengers.
Behind the driver’s seat was a cross seat with two seats on the sea side and one seat on the mountain side as an observation seat. The cross seat for 4 people and 2 people are arranged in the connecting part.
So, what made me purchase this train? For one, I have never ridden on it and typically buy trains that I ride in. Well, one of the reasons being is that it’s a Meiji designed train promoting chocolate and when I ride a train in Japan, I tend to order the almond chocolate.
So, I have been buying Modemo Meiji trains for awhile now and I really like this one for the purpose that one side has “We love pure Meiji” and “Meiji Milk Chocolate” for the other train.
For those of you not familiar with Modemo, Modemo is the train brand for popular model hobby company, Hasegawa.
But in a somewhat crowded market of N Scale trains, Hasegawa chosen a different path by focusing on trams. And in Japan, there are still a good number of railway companies still making trams but Hasegawa has focused on trams in the Kanto region, especially for Tokyo (Arakawa and Setagaya ward) and Kanagawa prefecture (Enoshima, Kamakura and Hakone).
And because these trains have had many advertisement collaborations and a variety of colorful livery, Modemo fans can enjoy their favorite streetcars and how they looked throughout the years.
Now, what makes Modemo trains different from trains from KATO and TOMIX is the fact that the motor can be seen inside the motor car, which KATO and TOMIX tends to hide through the front/rear. The Modemo NT115 Enoshima Railway 2000 “Choko Den 2009” comes with a marking sticker,
The train doesn’t feature LED lights. As this train was released in 2010, a lot of Modemo trains prior to 2013 didn’t really come with LED lighting.
But this is a classic of a Modemo train and it’s important to remember that once it’s released, if you didn’t buy it then, you’ll have to buy it second-hand or from a seller who’ll charge a bit more. Hasegawa does not do rereleases like other companies. The will release it in various liveries but if you like a version and see it cheap, take advantage of it.
For owners of Modemo products, they are highly sought out and many Japanese buyers (especially shop owners) are willing to buy your train for a higher price or never below than retail.
But I absolutely love the detail of this train. And love the cooler units but the pantograph, Modemo pantographs can be a bit flimsy and you’ll have to be careful.
But otherwise, this is a cool train, granted, you’ll see big motor on both trains, but that’s how Modemo rolls.
Personally, I do like this train. For one, you rarely see brown trains but for the most part, it’s a train that really screams out Meiji milk chocolate. And for long time train riders in Japan, Meiji is something people enjoy in trains especially on shinkansen.
Overall, the Modemo NT115 Enoshima Railway 2000 “Choko Den 2009” is recommended!
