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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.

Hey guys, So, after a few months of planning and thinking, it's finally time to start building this baby! Tomorrow I'll go buy all the material needed for the wooden base and in the weekend I'll start building it. This is the final layout: Since it will go into my living room, and it will be 2.40m long, it will be divided in two parts, almost in the middle, so it will be easier to handle. The base will be of plywood, 1.5cm thick, reinforced with 3x2cm frames. Since the forniture has a Wenge-like color, I'll paint the whole base of a dark color. From below, it should be something like this: The two 45 degrees corners in the front are due to the fact that the 70cm deep base will go against a 60cm deep cabinet, so I'll to cut it in order to avoid hitting my leg every time I walk by. It will go here, below the TV, on an IKEA Besta bench : The TV will limit the space above, I'll have around 30cm to play with, but it should be enough. I'll make videos detailing all the process, which will involve a lot of trials and errors I'm sure, as this is my first build, but that's the fun part! Here's the introduction video:

Most here are already familiar with this process, but it apparently is getting a lot of hits on youtube from outside Japan:

In connection with the 100th anniversary of the opening of Tokyo Station, JR East is running a one-day only revival run of the Blue Train Fuji, which was at one time the longest distance overnight service in the nation, and which was discontinued in 2009. The train will run on Dec. 19, from Tokyo Station to Ito Station in Shizuoka Pref., one-way only. The train will be a 6 car consist. Tickets will not be available through the usual ticket windows midori no madoguchi, but rather through travel agencies. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/20140903-OYT1T50166.html Fuji in happier, JNR days:

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/08/20/national/haneda-monorail-extend-tokyo-station/#.U_S0gKNqOSo *Note that other news reports state that the extension is being seriously "studied", which seems less definite than "plans". nhk report (includes video news report): http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20140820/k10013950381000.html *I have a feeling that JR East (which is a majority owner of Tokyo Monorail) is testing the waters for govt. reaction to this, perhaps fishing for public funding in light of the olympics. They would likely never propose this if there was no possiblity of govt. funding.

Having had addresses in Japan that were not too far from unelectrified lines, this doesn't seem like such a big deal to me, but I guess Tokyo Station doesn't see a lot of diesel equipment. On November 2, a one-time revival(?) of the Amanokawa, once upon a time a sleeper service for Akita via the Joetsu Line, will run. It looks like the DD51 will provide traction only to Takasaki, where an EF81 will take over. Seems like a lot of effort to appeal to railfans, I'd be satisfied with just running the route and maybe a nice bento . So, break out your camera gear and look out of the kimoi tetsuota at Omiya! Here's a thread on Ompuchaneru with an image of the poster, plus a shot of DD51 842 (the Emperor's own DD51!) with 2 24-series (maybe) passenger cars parked at former Manseibashi Station, Tokyo's most mysterious siding: http://rail-uploader.khz-net.com/index.php?id=1119639