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Wasn't there a Hakone Tozan conductor who got some fame for his singing? Fine though he may have been, this Nagoya Rinkai employee is a true artist. Ignore the computer anime girl voice in the first few minutes (worse than nails on chalkboard), you are in for a treat. This is the Showa-machi Line, which unfortunately saw its last train around 2009. Somewhere else I read that Meirin classifies their out-of-service lines as suspended, not discontinued or abandoned. I inferred that this emphasizes possible reopening. Here's hoping. This is an interesting operation which at its peak had a lot of track. I'm not sure how many customers they're switching here, but one is Toagosei, apparently the owner of Krazy Glue. Highlights: 2:15 smoking cyclist 3:30 crew observes videographer observing them 7:45 his highest artistic expression 12:35 foot brake 18:30 uyoku sound truck, of course 22:00 then and now Google Map centered on the track: https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0779122,136.8940081,245m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en&entry=ttu

Encouraging sign, and something that helps preserve traditional carpentry and building techniques. http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201606280051.html *my first ride on the shinkansen was to see this castle, back in 1980 or thereabouts.

Well I hear crickets, so I'm going to try to make some noise today . First up, a video by dbz586601. He's one of the best uploaders I've found for coverage of JR Central and Tokai-area private railways, and he's been quite prolific over the past week or so with dozens of uploads of run-bys as well as a few zenmen tenbou videos. Here we have JR Central's Nakasendo Train, a new special service apparently classified as a kyuko (non-limited express, with a lower surcharge) on the Chuo West Line run with the former Asagiri 371 Series rolling stock. This two-part video is a ride departing Narai at 3:42 PM, which is over halfway to Nagano from Nagoya. The Shinano limited express uses the same route. Plenty of footage of rural scenery in the first video, and in the second, a cool night view, particularly towards the end. The departure at Tajimi, the last stop before Nagoya, is at 28:15, and by this point the sun has set. I think at 39:00 they're passing Jinryo Station and Depot. The approach to Nagoya starts around 46:50, passing under the #2 Nagoya Loop Highway, and crossing the Shonai River just after that. This river is the northeastern border of the city, and past that is Shin-Moriyama, the first station in the city limits. Have a look at the link below about the Nakasendo, very interesting. It appears that the modern Chuo West Line is roughly parallel, just as the Tokaido Main Line and Shinkansen are parallel to the historical Tokaido. Narai to Ena Ena to Nagoya map of the five historical routes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:JP_-Gokaido.png the Nakasendo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakasend%C5%8D Ena Station: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ena_Station the train's schedule on ekikara.jp: http://ekikara.jp/newdata/detail/2301021/68553.htm

Here's a series of 6 videos by YT uploader railtomo. They're all of the Tarumi Railway connecting Ogaki to Tarumi via their line in Gifu prefecture. For a long time, a significant portion of this line's traffic was for a Sumitomo cement factory, but that ended in early 2006.

Here's a very good zenmen tenbou video of JR Central's Central Liner by YT uploader aomonoya. The rolling stock is JRC 313 series, although it's the 8000 subseries which has a different livery and interior. There are 6 3-car sets of these, all based at Jinryo Depot, between Kasugai and Jinryo on the Chuo Line. This is set B206 as you can see in the lower corner of the windshield. Presumably aomonoya decided to document this because JRC will replace the Central Liner services with regular rapid services with the March 16 2013 timetable revision. I haven't seen anything about the fate of this 8000 subseries rolling stock, obviously it's very new so it won't be scrapped but whether it will be modified to match the other variants, it will be interesting to see. There are liner services with each of the JR companies except Shikoku, and also with several private railways, although they have other names. The surcharge structure used for these liner trains seems to be very similar to non-limited express (kyuko) services which are now almost all gone. This is also a good look at the Chuo West Line, which are fairly rare on YT as compared to the eastern portion, particularly Tokyo to Takao/Otsuki. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/313_series#313-8000_series http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Liner 8000 subseries interior images: http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/mlnagara373/40934565.html, http://www.uraken.net/rail/alltrain/uratetsu313.html