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Two of Nagaragawa's 300 series DMUs will be updated and back in service as soon as spring 2016. They'll operate as the sightseeing train Nagara. The artist's rendering looks very familiar, I assume these images originate from the same place (Mitooka's design company?). The Nagaragawa's only line is the Etsumi-nan Line (the character for nan means south), originally operated by JNR. It was to be connected with the Etsumi-hoku Line (hoku is north) thereby connecting Echizen (the old name of that part of Fukui) and Mino (the old name of that part of Gifu), but this never materialized. JR West took over the Etsumi-hoku line, which still operates with KIHA120s, but presumably the southern section wasn't to be so lucky. The Nagaragawa Railway Company was established on August 28, 1986 with operation of the line beginning on December 11th, about three and a half months before the end of JNR. I suppose it was communicated that the future JR Central was not interested in the line, and if the communities wanted their trains to keep rolling, they'd have to do it themselves. Maybe this was similar to the Akechi Railway and Aichi Loop Railway, although in these cases the timing was different; the Akechi was created and took over their line in 1985, and JR Central did run the Okata Line until early 1988 when the 3rd sector company took over. The Nagaragawa Railway is based in Seki City, Gifu Prefecture, which has long been a center of sword, knife, and blade production. http://railf.jp/news/2015/11/27/110000.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagaragawa_Railway_Etsumi-Nan_Line https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seki,_Gifu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagara_River https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiji_Mitooka

qwertyaardvark's post about Train Sim 2014 reminded me of this: http://www.sonicpowered.co.jp/train/ . Pure coincidence I noticed it a few nights ago, and it came out yesterday (Sept 26). Looks pretty good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c65sNhspag

The Takayama Line's KIHA40 and KIHA48 DMUs saw their last run on June 30th. These were based at Mino-Ota. They'll be replaced by KIHA25s removed from the Taketoyo Line following its electrification. KIHA40s have already been removed from the Taita Line (anyone ever actually ride this? :)) From July 1st, all local service on the Takayama Line between Gifu and Inotani will be operated by KIHA25 and KIHA75 DMUs. The last KIHA40 service was train 1731D which departed Gifu at 7:09 PM for Shimo-asō. JR Central continues to run KIHA40s on the Kise and Sangu lines, but there are already plans to replace them with KIHA25s, and plans to retire all JNR-era DMUs within the year. There will be a public announcement regarding the transfer of retired DMUs to Myanmar. http://railf.jp/news/2015/07/02/100000.html Last run, 1731D at Gifu, by hakase1990: 8-car formation (not in service) moving from Mino-Ota Station to the yard. Apparently these have Cummins engines. By AKE BOVOAKE:

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