1st-type shinkansen train ends regular run+

FUKUOKA, Nov. 30 Kyodo - One of Japan's first types of shinkansen bullet trains ran Sunday from Okayama to Hakata Station on its last regular run, 44 years after the model made its debut.

Some 1,000 people were waiting for the arrival of the round-nose ''0 Series''
model at Hakata Station in Fukuoka Prefecture at 6:23 p.m., with some calling
out, ''You did a good job!''
Earlier in the day, about 2,000 people had packed Okayama Station to see it off
as it departed at 2:51 p.m.
The 152 reserved seats on the train were sold out in seconds after they were
put on sale at 10 a.m. on Oct. 30 and many people flocked to Okayama Station
from early Sunday morning for the 248 non-reserved seats, according to West
Japan Railway Co.
After the end of the regular run, special runs are planned for the remaining
''0 Series'' for three days in December -- Dec. 6, 13 and 14.
The ''0 Series'' models were launched as a ''dream express'' on Oct. 1, 1964 --
nine days before the opening of the Tokyo Olympic Games -- on the Tokaido
Shinkansen Line as the first-ever shinkansen trains in Japan.
Their maximum speed was 210 kilometers per hour, the world's fastest at the time.
The type has since mostly been replaced by later state-of-the-art models.
The ''0 Series'' had recently been run by JR West on its Sanyo Shinkansen Line
between Shin-Osaka and Hakata stations.
==Kyodo
2008-11-30 20:53:05