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On the morning of May 23 (JST), an inbound Tokaido line train was incorrectly routed onto the Tokaido Freight Line at a signal southwest of Ofuna. Apparently the decision was made not to reverse but to continue on. As a result, four stations were missed before the train arrived at Musashi-Kosugi. If I'm reading maps correctly, it was the Tokaido Freight Line for most of the distance, but also the southeastern freight-only portion of the Musashino Line from around Tsurumi to Musashi-Kosugi. JR East yards will be thoroughly weeded for months to come. I imagine that the driver would have been surprised at the signal routing the train onto the freight line. I also imagine the railroads having a procedure for everything. Was it to follow the routing, even if it was not what he expected? A handy explanatory video was made by Ayokoi. If you enable Japanese subtitles in the video, you can then set it to autotranslate to the language of your choice (I did this on the desktop site, not in an app).

Nice short vid mainly of freight recently on the Tokaido Main Line between Ogaki and Minami Arao, in Gifu Prefecture. Colder than usual winter weather has left a dusting of snow.

Video by Saikyo Memories Very interesting in that the schedule is pretty full, there are named services that don't exist anymore, and there are some long haul locals. A few things stood out to me: the first train and the first long distance local, a 5:20 departure for Nagoya. Several more plus one or two for Ogaki. at 8:54 the unusually named First Izu Express (daiichi Izu kyuko) for Izukyu-Shimoda/Shuzenji. The video says that at this time, there were 2 expresses and 8 semi-expresses (junkyu) daily, the expresses being named Oku-Izu and First Ideyu (daiichi Ideyu) 11:00 departure for Kagoshima, the night express Kirishima arriving at 13:35 the next day! similarly, the 14:35 Takachiho for Nishi Kagoshima arriving at 19:53 the next day. I hope it was comfortable. The 20:10 Sanuki night express arriving at 9:10 the next day in Uno, Okayama. I don't think the train was actually put on the Uko train ferry, but as Uno was the Honshu side for the Uko ferry and Sanuki was the old name of Kagawa, I assume this made a good connection with the ship. Another one for Uno, the 21:00 Seto This channel has a few other videos like this including one for trains north out of Ueno in 1980, which looks like an utterly packed timetable.

On March 15, JR East will introduce the limited express "Shonan" (weekday AM and PM peak service only) between Odawara and Tokyo/Shinjuku, using refurbished e257 stock. These will replace 185 series and 215 series stock used in the various existing "Shonan Liner" services, which will be discontinued. There will be a total of 10 "up" services each weekday, and 11 "down" services. Trains will be 9 car consists, with the exception of three services in each direction having 14 cars. timetable: https://www.jreast.co.jp/ltd_exp/tokaido/pdf/pdf_202103timetable.pdf Ayokoi video of the 185 and 215 series on the liner services at Odawara:

Last Thursday saw the Super Rail Cargo train run during the midday, due to a seven hour late start. Typically runs during the night, so hard to catch in light except early AM in the spring and early summer. At Inazawa, Aichi Pref. Later, in the Numazu area, Shizuoka Pref.

HO scale model maker A Class will be releasing plastic body kits for the JNR 80 series "Shonan densha" sometime this spring. Both unpainted and painted body shells will be offered. You will have to purchase bogies, underfloor details and motors separately. A Class suggests Nikko Models bogies and underfloor details for these. So far details are sketchy, here is the info provided by A Class (click on the picture): http://www.dcraft.co.jp/aclass/a_top.html Example of a Nikko bogie that can be used for trailer cars (TR48 type): http://shopping.hobidas.com/shop/rail-hobidas/item/NKM-0036.html

Spring is still some two months away where I am, and thoughts drift to scenes of greenery and life, rather than the deathly silent white outside my window... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LfjRORnvBA *the clouds move across a perfect blue sky, rice fields swaying with the summer breeze, the cry of the insects, and heavy traffic on the Tokaido Line somewhere in the Tokai region- what a nice scene... by the same contributor, light not as nice with the heavier cloud cover, but at 0:30 you see the Toyota Long Pass Express pass by, some Nittsu 31ft Big Echo Liner containers are mixed in along with the auto parts containers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jY4uu_a6gQ