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A nice segment from Ehime TV about JR West’s KIYA 141 Doctor West inspection train. Here, JR Shikoku is borrowing it for use on the Yosan Line in Ehime prefecture. It starts at Iyo-Ozu and proceeds north toward Matsuyama. Later, a Plasser & Theurer multiple tie tamper operating around Iyo-Komatsu.

A very fine front view video by HKASAMA, this is KIKUHA 32-502 and an unknown KIHA 185, possibly KIRO 185-26. RO would mean it has green class seating. There are two KIKUHA 32 cars, 501 and 502. They were new builds(?) by Niigata Engineering in 1997 and 2003, respectively. Whether or not the trucks, etc came from retired KIHA 32s, I can't exactly tell. The KIHA 32s themselves are interesting budget minded DMUs, at least in that they entered service in the last 3 weeks of JNR. My understanding is that the KIKUHA designation includes KI not because they have diesels (they're not powered) but because they're meant to be attached to a DMU. One site includes the word 付随気動車 fuzui kidousha. 気動車 is kidousha, a railcar with an internal combustion engine, the source of KI in KIHA. 付随 fuzui means attached, accompanying, etc. I don't recall seeing this before and I don't know if it's a standard term or just what that page's author calls it. I crossed this bridge many times, usually on the Marine Liner using a Seishun 18 ticket. Seto Ohashi Line is I guess a marketing name, but there are formal names for different parts of it, explained on this wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seto-Ōhashi_Line Points of interest: :15 - Kojima Station, Kurashiki City, Okayama 4:30 - beginning of Great Seto Bridge 18:20 - divergence of tracks, straight is southwest on to Utazu, the ramps turn east to Sakaide/Takamatsu 20:25 - Utazu Station, Town of Utazu (Kagawa Prefecture from here on) 24:50 - Marugame Station, Marugame City 30:35 - Tadotsu Station, Town of Tadotsu 35:35 - Dosan Line diverges from Yosan Line 41:10 - Zentsuji Station, Zentsuji City 49:15 - Kotohira Station, Town of Kotohira Google map centered on junction of Seto Ohashi Line and Yosan Line: https://www.google.com/maps/@34.3157152,133.8220375,17z Bonus: KIKUHA32-501 in its excellent Ao Yoshinogawa Torokko livery. Hi res image suitable for desktop wallpaper: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ファイル:藍よしのがわトロッコ.jpg

On 1 & 2 July 2018 a 'Sayonara Tour' for the JR Shikoku TSE has been held. The TSE was the prototype for what eventually became the 2000 series. During the last couple of years, the TSE has mainly been used for Uwakai limited express services between Matsuyama and Uwajima. Along with the retirement of the TSE, the N2000 series has been introduced on some Uwakai services. Worth mentioning is that part of the tour was running along the original Mukaibara - Iyo-Ozu section of the Yosan Line, which became disused for express trains after the opening of the rebuilt Uchiko Line in 1986.

JR Shikoku will paint an 8000 series in TRA livery, and TRA will paint an 800 type in JR Shikoku 8000 livery: https://trafficnews.jp/post/66414/

http://toden.exblog.jp/24565618/ https://www.harmonate-forum.com/pc/photo/detail/id/24408

Not sure how long its been since an official release, but while in Matsuyama, I got to practice my Japanese, or rather a Japanese station attendant got to practice his English. We were talking while I had a wait for a train to Takamatsu. He was telling me that the decent size yard and shops behind the station are to be torn down when JR Matsuyama-eki is torn down within the year. (I later saw a huge construction board in front of the station showing the new project, pix posted) From what I was told, they plan to tear down the station and build a new elevated viaduct station and eliminate about a dozen plus at-grade crossings in town. They also plan to double track the mainline west an addition 4km to where the double tracking is already in use by Bochan Stadium. As I rode west/south to Uwajima a few days later I noticed the new bridges, canatnary and track work near Ichitsubu Station a few km SW for Matsuyama. I'm not really impressed by the new station drawings, but I think JR-S also really want to draw people to JR Matusyama nd away from Iyotetsu Matsuyamashi who has a pretty good strangle hold on the area. I did find it interesting that the current station has two platforms serving three tracks, (plus an inside middle tack for JR-F trains to switch on), and can accommodate a 16 car train. Because many of the trains terminate here, they double up on the trains at the platform. One morning I was there to have seven trains on the platform. Track three had two single car DMU, and a seven car Apanman train.