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For the serious railfan- especially those interested in cement trains hauled by double headed box type electric locomotives, a visit to the Sangi Railway Sangi Line in northern Mie Prefecture would be most enjoyable. Today was my second or perhaps third visit, on a very nice early spring weather day. Anyway, the aforementioned freight trains are the main attraction, but the passenger trains offer interest as they are ex Seibu types. Also, manually issued tickets are still used, very rare as almost everywhere else the machine dispensed types are the norm. The three tickets on the left are Sangi Rlwy type B tickets, using the traditional thicker card stock. Note the station specific punches. On the right is the common type A ticket issued by most railways by automatic ticket machines. These use flimsy magnetic backed paper. I also bought a working diagram, available for 400 yen. All freight and passenger trains are shown on the string diagram. Excellent product and a nice break from the usual keychains, toys, and bric a brac. If you are ever in the Tokai region, why not spend a few hours chasing freights on the Sangi Line?

Who wants some new freight cars? JR Freight (or Taiheiyo Cement) does! I noticed this Tetsudou Fan news item about HOKI1100-1 going for test runs. It was actually delivered last month from Nippon Sharyo. I seem to remember Taiheiyo cars at Kasadera, I wonder if these will have the same duties in the future. I'd go along on these tests provided I can ride in the caboose and not the so-called "research cabins" on the KOKI. Iyada! http://railf.jp/news/2015/11/16/123000.html https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/JR%E8%B2%A8%E7%89%A9%E3%83%9B%E3%82%AD1100%E5%BD%A2%E8%B2%A8%E8%BB%8A at Toyokawa Station, by TrainPochi between Shizuoka Freight and Higashi Shizuoka, by tobiiro3go