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All the necessary dependencies are either included in this package or are avaible on the DLS. Soundscript by Rizky_Adiputra.

(Consists are included! Don’t bother with placing individual cars!)

The story of the 800 Series begins in the mid-1970s, as Keikyu was looking to replace the last remaining 400 Series sets (an amalgamae of various types of electric multiple units ranging from late-1930s stuff, substandard wartime rolling stock as well as 1950s-era new production stuff, but still based on 1930s designs) and atleast a few of the newer, but equally obsolete, 500 Series sets from the mid-1950s, especially on all-stops local services south of Keikyu-Kawasaki station – north of it this replacement had already been taken care of in the late 1960s by the 700 Series and by the trough-running 1000 Series (as Keikyu-Kawasaki at the time was the southern terminus for most Asakusa Line local trough-services).

Keikyu essentially needed a direct equivalent of the 700 Series – short sets due to low passenger demand of local services, four doors per side to reduce dwell time to a bare minimium, high accelleration performances, but at the same time, something more up-to-date than the late-1950s-based 700 Series design.

As with all, the design of the new trains was chaired by Tamotsu Hinohara, Keikyu’s long-time chief rolling stock engineer, and company vice-president at the time. A bona-fide railway enthusiast, mr. Hinohara had been with Keikyu since the end of the war, and had quite a peculiar character. Among other things, being the head of all rolling stock designs since the 1950s, he stubbornly insisted on keeping two main fetaures that by then had been abandoned in other major private railways by some decades: a single-top-mounted headlight, and single-leaf doors. The rationale according to him being that a single top-mounted headlight was cheaper than two, and was better at lighting the track far up ahead, and the single-leaf doors were simpler and cheaper to maintain, and made for a much more “visually clean” appearance for the whole train.

This last point was especially dear to him, going to the lenghts of having it proven with an 8mm camera pointed at JNR’s double-leaf door trains at Yokohama station, demonstrating the difference in dwelling time between them and single-leaf door Keikyu trains was negligible, and the true key was in having more doors, rather than double-leaf ones. Within the company, this stubborn attitude was sometimes derided as “Hinohara-ism”, but as he was the one who had the final say in rolling stock design, the company had to give in to his antics.

The new local trains weren’t spared of Mr. Hinohara’s “personal touch” either – the bodyshell and general arrangment where directly based on the 700 Series, but with a much more modern looking “two-stage” front, wich with Keikyu’s white and red colours, immediately got the new local trains nicknamed “Daruma”, after the traditional Daruma doll.

Being dedicated to local services only, the interior arrangment of the new trains were of course all-longitudinal seating. The cars were also air-conditioned, courtesy of four small air-conditioners on the cab cars, and a large centralized one on the intermediate cars, both types manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric.

In terms of other technical equipment, the new local trains were Keikyu’s first to be equipped with a shunt-chopper system (an hybrid system that retains the series and parallel motor combinations, but whose intermediate steps are carried out by a chopper, rather than packs of resistors, as in “purely” resistor-control trains), as well as a one-handle master controller on the driving desk and pneumatic-suspension bogeys.

The new local trains were to be formed as three-car sets: one intermediate motor car equipped with pantographs sandwitched between two cab cars also fitted with traction motors, with all twelve axles in one set powered.

The short three-car set was judged to be enough to handle local service ridership south of Kawasaki, but the 800 Series was also fitted with multiple-unit control, enabling the coupling of two sets (forming a 6-car consist) for rush-hour local service or even rapid and express services, if the need arose.

Originally intended to be classified as the “2000 Series”, the new trains were christened as the “800 Series” as their introduction in 1978 coincided with Keikyu’s 80th anniversary.

Indeed, the first three sets of the 800 Series (801F, 802F and 804F) were delivered on the 26th of December 1978, built by Tokyu Car Corporation (801F), who had also supervised the design, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries (803F and 804F), with a fourth set, 802F built by Tokyu Car Co. following one month later on the 22nd of January 1979.

The 800 Series began runs on the Keikyu network right after delivery, on the 27th of December 1978, but only for the obligatory driver training and familiarization. Actual revenue-earning runs would begin only in March 1979.

A few months later a new batch of two 800 Series sets was delivered – 805F and 806F, both built by Tokyu Car and delivered on the 23rd of June. These were followed by six more sets (807F to 812F, with 807F and 808F built by Tokyu and 809F to 812F built by Kawasaki), all delivered in one day, the 6th of November. Four months and a day later, on the 7th of March 1980, another six sets were delivered – 813F to 818F, the first three of wich built by Tokyu and the latter three built by Kawasaki. Seven more sets were added to the fleet on the 1st of April 1981, with sets 819F to 822F built by Tokyu and 823F to 825F built by Kawasaki. Of these, the first six were intended to run normal revenue services, while set 825F was intended as a spare, to temporarily replace sets that had to undergo inspections.

Originally, the 800 Series had been intended as a 3-car set for the sake of maximium flexibility, and also because a few stations on the network still weren’t long enough to handle six-car sets (such as Umeyashiki). However, in 1982, with the increasing ridership, and after all platforms were lenghtened to accomodate atleast six-car trains, Keikyu opted to reform a few of it’s brand-new 800 Series sets into fixed six-car sets; these were to be reassigned to local services north of Keikyu Kawasaki as a replacement for the 4-car 700 Series, wich would be moved south of Kawasaki in exchange, or moved to less heavily-used lines (such as the Daishi Line).

To this end, Keikyu ordered eight sets of two trailer cars and one intermediate car fitted with pantographs (identical to the ones already in service) to be added to formations 813F to 819F and 823F. All of these cars were as always manufactured partly by Tokyu and partly by Kawasaki, and were delivered, and “inserted” into their formations between the 1st and the 26th of March 1982.

Also in 1982 was the introduction of Keikyu’s new limited express train, the 2000 Series, intended to replace the old 600 Series dating from the 1950s. 

The new 2000 Series sets were painted in the same color scheme as the 800 Series, with Keikyu’s signature red as background and a wide white band around the windows. However, depsite having been introduced by the 800 Series, Keikyu opted to “reserve” the wide white band color scheme for limited express trains, with the 800 Series to be repainted in Keikyu’s “classic” thin white line scheme as carried by all trains before it.

The first two sets to be repainted were 820F and 821F, in December 1982, and the last one was set 819F, in October 1984.

In March 1983 another four sets of intermediate cars were delivered, this time for formations 820F to 824F (except 823F, wich had already recieved it’s own one year earlier). Depsite the changeover to the new livery, these were delivered still in the “express” scheme, as evry train had to be changed at the same time.

​August 1986 saw the delivery of three more intermediate car sets, this time for formations 811F, 812F and 825F, as well as two fully built-new 6-car sets: 826F and 827F, the former built by Tokyu and the latter by Kawasaki.

These would be the very last 800 Series sets manufactured, as by that time, Keikyu’s new train dedicated to local services (altough primarily trough-services with the Asakusa Line), the 1500 Series, had already been introduced.

Therefore, by the end of production, the fleet consisted of twenty-seven 800 Series sets: seventeen six-car sets (811F to 827F) and ten 3-car sets (801F to 810F), the latters now almost exclusively formed as two coupled-sets (bringing the total to effectively six-car 22 sets of wich five in a “3+3” formation).

By the early-1990s, three car sets were now essentially useless, as ridership had grew way beyond that. It was thus decided, in order to gain some “extra” room for passengers, to remove the long-unused intermediate cab cars from the five “3+3” sets and adapt them with conventional seating. This modification was carried out at the rough pace of one set per year, ending in 2001 with five “permanent” six-car sets. Among other things, on these five sets the interior lighting was also replaced with a LED-type one as used on Keikyu’s brand-new 600 Series (also introduced in 1994) and a number of other minor refurbishment modifications was also made, wich was later extended to the rest of the fleet.

In 2016, set 823F was repainted in the “express” wide white band color scheme it had been fitted with upon it’s introduction in the early 1980s. Set 823F would end up carrying this color scheme for about a year.

By that time however, the increase in ridership, even on local service, had gone far beyond what the trains could handle with it’s 6-car sets, and furthemore, with Keikyu’s increasing focus on (rightly so) turning all services into trough-runs with the Asakusa Line, the 800 Series was becoming an increasingly impedment – also because, having been designed for local services south of Keikyu Kawasaki, it hadn’t been fitted with the front emergency escape door required by law for subway rolling stock, and as such was not allowed onto the Asakusa Line. The 800 Series, due to their low gear ratio, designed for quick accellerations on frequent stops, also had a low top speed of 100Km/h, compared to the 120Km/h of the rest of the fleet, and their usage on express services, albeit occasional, was taking a serious toll on the series’ bogeys and traction motors.

However, the final nail in the coffin of the 800 Series was the planned retrofitting of platform screen doors to most stations on Keikyu’s network (a much needed modification, perhaps more here than elsewhere, as trains zip trough cramped stations at 120Km/h). Due to it’s four door arrangment, incompatible with the well-affirmed three door arrangment of the rest of Keikyu’s fleet (past and present, barring the two exceptions of the 700 and 800 Series), the 800 Series wouldn’t have been able to operate once platform screen doors were fitted. Add to that the fact that by the late 2010s the fleet was 40 years old, and you can see why Keikyu opted for a swift replacement, at the hands of the new stainless steel batches of the New 1000 Series. 

The first 800 Series sets to be retired was 801F, wich was withdrawn and scrapped in April 2011 alongside with the other four former “3+3” sets, wich were all retired and withdrawn within a year.

​Retirements of the “fixed 6-car” 800 Series sets began in 2014, with set 811F scrapped in August.

Set 823F had the distinction of being the last 800 Series set in revenue run, making it’s final run on the 16th of June 2019. Promptly after retirement, it was scrapped as well.

Unfortunately no local railway expressed any interest in purchasing withdrawn 800 Series sets (not even the main customer for ex-Keikyu rolling stock – the Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric Railway in Shikoku), nor any “full” car was preserved, let alone a set.

However, the front end of cab car DeHa 812-6 (from set 812F) has been saved, and is now preserved inside the lobby of the Fujikyu East Building, a skyscraper in downtown Tokyo, alongside the front portion of KuHa 2098 of Seibu Railway’s 2000 Series, as well as the front portion of DeHa 7702 of Tokyu Railway.

How this came to be is quite peculiar. It was by hand of Mr. Fumio Goto, the president of “Bunei Land and Building Co.” – the architect of the building itself.

Another notable railway enthusiast (wich had also once been an editor of “Railway Fan”, Japan’s foremost railway-related magazine), reached out to various railway companies looking for withdrawn stock that could be preserved in the lobby of the building. Seibu, Keikyu and Tokyu answered the call, and negotiations for the hand over of the rolling stock began three years in advance.

In the end, due to space constraints, only the front sections were preserved – moved to the site and installed while the building was under construction. 

The lobby floor is now a Maruzen Bookshop, and thus can be accessed pubblically.

Trivia #1

Originally, for the 800 Series, Mr. Tamotsu Hinohara envisioned an asymmetric front design, as was very much “en-vogue” in 1970s Japan. 

However, Tokyu Car Corporation, the “practical” designers of the new trains (and partly manufacturers as well), had already reached an unofficial agreeement with JNR for it’s 201 Series – where the two agreed that the national railways would be the only ones to have the very modern-looking asymmetric front-end designs for some time.

Not wanting to upset such an important, influential and well-distinguished customer, Tokyu Car Corporation managed to have Keikyu (and Mr.Hinohara) back down and opt for one of the three other designs proposals presented, resulting in the final shape we know.

After some years, during the preliminary discussions for a new limited express train (wich would eventually become the 2000 Series), it is said that during a meeting in his office with Tokyu Car Corporation designers, Mr. Hinohara opened a drawer, pulled out the old designed proposals, laid them on the table, pointed at the asymmetric front and went “This time, we’re doing this!” 

And so it was.

Trivia #2

One of the early proposals for the 800 Series called for the driving position to be centrally located, rather than shifted to the left side as was standard.

Trivia #3

The 800 Series would also be the last Keikyu trains designed according to Tamotsu Hinohara’s “Hinoharaism”, as he retired in 1979, shortly after the entry into revenue service of his last design.

Trivia #4

An 800 Series set, navigating the infamous crossing between Kita-Shinagawa and Shinagawa, is fetaured in the 2016 movie “Shin Godzilla”, being immediately thrown in the air and destroyed by the titular character, leaving only one of the bogeys uncerimoniously rolling down Yatsuyama-dori avenue.

Keikyu offered full collaboration for the few-seconds-long scene, offering all necessary technical drawings to CGI artist, as well as insight into an actual 800 Series set.

Trivia #5

800 Series sets are also prominently fetaured in “Girls Beyond the Wasteland”, a visual novel romance game relased concurrently with it’s anime adaptation in early 2016. 800 Series also fetaure heavily in the anime itself, even in it’s opening!