Hakone is one of the easiest day trips from Tokyo, and most visitors ride the Hakone Tozan Railway up the mountain without realising what they might be sitting in. One of its trains — the 100 Series — dates back to the line’s opening in 1919, making it the oldest electric railcar still in scheduled service on an ordinary railway anywhere in Japan. It has no air conditioning, its windows slide fully open, and it is being retired in January 2028.
That gives travellers a genuine, if closing, window to ride a piece of working railway history.
What Makes the 100 Series Special
The retiring set consists of three cars — Moha 1 type cars No. 104 and No. 106, and Moha 2 type car No. 108 — running as a single formation. Now well over a century old, these cars have climbed the same mountainside since the line opened, and are among the last passenger trains in Japan without air conditioning.
That last detail is the point of the whole thing: on a hot day, passengers slide the big windows wide open and let the mountain air do the cooling as the train grinds up Hakone’s famously steep gradients and reverses through its switchbacks. Not all cars are alike, either — cars 104 and 106 have windows that open, while 108’s are fixed.
The Hakone Tozan Railway climbs from Hakone-Yumoto to Gora using switchbacks — the track zigzags up the slope, and at each reversal point the driver and conductor swap ends of the train so it can continue in the opposite direction. Watching the crew walk the length of the carriage at each switchback is part of the experience. The line is normally covered by the Hakone Freepass, a common sightseeing pass for the area.
Since July 1, 2026, the 100 Series has also been carrying reproduction destination boards that change weekly, cycling through designs used from the early Showa era through to recent years — a small extra for anyone photographing the train during its final stretch.
The “Natural Cooler” Charter — Already Full
The “Natural Cooler Experience Train” (illustrative image). (Image: Odakyu Hakone)
As the third instalment in its retirement commemorative programme, Odakyu Hakone organised a special chartered tour on August 30, 2026 called the “Natural Cooler Experience Train,” running Hakone-Yumoto to Gora and back with every window thrown open.
The concept was unusually generous: one reserved seat per window, so nobody had to share a view. The itinerary included a viewing and photography session with the Moni 1 type freight electric car at Gora, and participants received keepsakes including a boarding certificate, an operating timetable, and a crew duty sheet. Tickets ranged from ¥3,800 (yen) (approx. $24) for a fixed-window box seat up to ¥13,000 (yen) (approx. $82) for an opening-window seat right behind the driver’s cab, with 60 places available.
Booking opened on August 4, 2026 on a first-come basis, and as of this writing every seat category is sold out, with only a cancellation waiting list available. If you’re interested in future instalments, it’s worth watching Odakyu Hakone’s announcements — this was the third such commemorative event, and more may follow before the January 2028 retirement.
A Souvenir You Can Still Get: The Model Collection
Car 110 in its “Flower Festival ’90” livery. (Image: Odakyu Hakone)
For collectors, a commemorative model railway collection called “Memories of the 100 Series” is being released, produced by Tomytec. It covers ten variants that had never been modelled before, including car 101 in its retirement decoration, car 103 in the original “Kintaro” livery, and car 110 in its “Flower Festival ’90” scheme — spanning the Showa era through to the present day.
The models are sold in mystery packaging, so you don’t know which one you’re getting: a single box is ¥3,500 (yen) (approx. $22) including tax, while a complete ten-model set in a special presentation box is ¥33,000 (yen) (approx. $208), and buying the full set includes a bonus model not sold separately.
- General sale: from November 4, 2026, at locations including Hakone-Yumoto and Gora stations
- Advance sale of the ten-model set only: at a railway event in October, with online pre-order and payment required from September 1, 2026
Ride It While You Can
The special tour has sold out, but the important thing for most travellers is simpler: the 100 Series remains in regular passenger service until January 2028. It runs as one set among the railway’s fleet rather than to a published special timetable, so catching it is partly a matter of luck — ask staff at Hakone-Yumoto whether it’s running that day, and build in a little flexibility if riding it specifically matters to you.
A century-old wooden-windowed mountain train, climbing through switchbacks with the breeze coming straight through the carriage, is not an experience Japan will offer for much longer.
（Images:Odakyu Hakone）
Tetsudo Channel (Railway Channel) Editorial Team
(tetsudo-ch.com — Japan Travel, Trains & Weekend Outings)