H26 was a 16-car 0 Series Shinkansen set operated by the Japanese National Railways from October 1964 to March 1977.
Description[]
H26 was one of the earliest 0 Series Shinkansen sets built, being completed on 13 July 1964 by Hitachi as H2; it was the second 0 Series Shinkansen set built by Hitachi. As with all early Shinkansen sets, these were not originally given designations as there was no need for classification as these were the only trains of its type running at the time. H2 entered service on 1 October 1964 with the opening of the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, it being notable for pulling the first Hikari 1 service, departing from Tokyo on 1 October 1964 at 6:00 am JST bound for Shin-Osaka.
All Hikari trains were lengthened to 16 cars on 8 December 1969; four more cars were manufactured by Hitachi for insertion into H2 in 1969, with H2 commencing service in this form on 9 December 1969. These new cars occupied positions 7, 8, 13 and 14 in the consist. H2 was renumbered to H26 in 1972 following the restructuring of the 0 Series Shinkansen's numbering format, with H now signifying a set used on the Hikari service. H26 was taken out of service some time around March 1977. Despite its significant press coverage as the set which pulled the first Shin-Osaka-bound Hikari service, none of the cars from H26 have been preserved.
There exists another set numbered H2 where two of its cars have been preserved, one in The Railway Museum in Saitama and the other in the Kyoto Railway Museum in Kyoto; it must be made clear that these are not the same set, as this set was originally numbered N2 and would later be renumbered to H2. However, a cab from H25 (originally H1), from the same batch of sets as H2, is preserved at The Railway Museum.
Formation[]
H26 was formed as follows (green backgrounds denote first-class cars, pink backgrounds denote diner cars):
1 October 1964 – 8 December 1969[]
| Car No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Designation | Mc | M' | M | M' | MB | M' | MS | M'S | MB | M' | M | M'c |
| Numbering | 21-26 | 26-52 | 25-51 | 26-251 | 35-51 | 26-252 | 15-26 | 16-26 | 35-52 | 26-51 | 25-52 | 22-26 |
9 December 1969 until withdrawal[]
A yellow background denotes the cars that were added to the train.
| Car No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Designation | Mc | M' | M | M' | MB | M' | M | M' | MS | M'S | MB | M' | M | M' | M | M'c |
| Numbering | 21-26 | 26-52 | 25-51 | 26-251 | 35-51 | 26-252 | 25-721 | 26-741 | 15-26 | 16-26 | 35-52 | 26-51 | 25-521 | 26-742 | 25-52 | 22-26 |