In June 2010, Keikyu 1000 series retired after being in service for more than 50 years. The 1000 series was known as the most numerous "type" (but not "series") among all private railways’ trains, and it was the most well-known Keikyu train.
Meanwhile in Kagawa Prefecture (western Japan), a small private railway called Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric Railroad (hereinafter referred to as Kotoden) has been using resold-1000 series since 1988, but the company had never shown interest in the former owner of the trains. In 2018-21, a unit was covered with an advertisement of Keikyu services to and from Haneda Airport in Tokyo, but it obviously looked very different from the original livery of Keikyu 1000 series.
Therefore, Kotoden Charter Association, a group of Keikyu enthusiasts, decided to initiate a crowdfunding programme to restore a train to the original style. Since it was regarded by Kotoden as a train advertisement, it costed 15m yen (approx. 136k USD) for a two-year contract. This train ran Kotohira Line from 2019 to 2021.
The group carried out another crowdfunding in 2020 to repaint 1200 series (ex-Keikyu 700 series), and it was successful with a donation of 12m JPY (approx. 112k USD) in total. It ran Kotohira Line as well in 2020-21, and it sometimes joined to the other Keikyu-coloured train to be formed of four coaches, which reminded railway enthusiasts of what the old trains were used to be until the 2000s.
Moreover, the group successfully conducted the third crowdfunding to repaint another train on Nagao Line, which has been in service since 2022. This time there was a donation of roughly 9.7m JPY (approx. 84k USD). This unit No. 1305 was the last Keikyu 1000 series and its number is, as it happened, unchanged even today. This red train is scheduled to be operational until April.
Unlike in the United Kingdom, train preservation is not common in Japan due to various reasons including strict safety rules so that there had been very few cases that railway enthusiasts involved in restoring old trains for passenger services. However, things are gradually changing: thanks to crowdfunding services, railway enthusiasts have been more active than before to preserve their favourite trains since the late-2010s as companies cannot always maintain trains without trainspotters' help. Even if not like those in Britain, Japanese railway enthusiasts can contribute to railway companies than before not to allow trains just disappearing. The three successful projects by Kotoden Charter Association was probably one of the impetuses to change nerds' attitude.
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