My 2016 Trip

[westfalen]

The JR Passes arrived today so everything is done except actually getting on the plane.

 

There will be four of us on this trip, all railfans so the only shrines and temples we will have to visit are stations and loco depots and the only shops will be hobby shops. :)

 

Day 1. 03 September

Fly from Brisbane to Narita arriving at 1900. (No airlines fly from Brisbane or Gold Coast to Kansai anymore.)

Overnight at Mecure Hotel Narita.

 

Day 2. 04 September

Travel from Narita to Nagoya via NEX and Tokaido Shinkansen arriving at 1117.  Spend five hours or so in Nagoya area then continue to Maibara by Tokaido Line New Rapid (for no other reason than I've never done the Ogaki - Maibara section in daylight).

Overnight at Toyoko Inn Maibara. (Brand new hotel just outside station.)

 

Day 3. 05 September

Maibara to Wakayama in morning to ride Wakayama Electric Railway and visit Nitama the station master cat (my friend and I both like cats as well as trains), then on to Gobo to ride the Kishu Railway.  If time permits we will spend some time later this afternoon/evening in Osaka on our way back to Maibara.

Overnight Toyoko Inn Maibara.

 

Day 4. 06 September

All day at the Kyoto Railway Museum and a visit to the new Kato store.

We were planning on heading to Toyama this evening to allow us to spend a whole day in the Toyama area to get some shots of the JR Freight DE10s and paper mill private railway at Futatsuka on the Johana Line but I discovered they now truck out the containers to Takaoka, so we are now spending another night in Maibara to give us a more relaxed day in Kyoto.

Overnight Toyoko Inn Maibara.

 

Day 5. 07 September

Travel from Maibara to Toyama.  We may split up for this section, I am planning to go via Fukui to colour in a couple more lines in my rail atlas.

Overnight Toyoko Inn Toyama.

 

Day 6. 08 September

Hokuriku Shinkansen to Tokyo with a stopover in Takasaki to go out to Yokokawa to visit the Usui Pass Railway Park.

Overnight Mets Hotel Tabata.  (We are breaking from Toyoko Inn here because Chris Tarrant stayed at this hotel in the "Extreme Railway Journieys" TV series.

 

Day 7. 09 september

Free day in Tokyo.

I say free day in Tokyo but there are enough things in the Tokyo area I want to do to keep me busy for six months.

Overnight Mets Hotel Tabata.

 

Day 8. 10 September

Steam day.  Plans are for a long day out to ride the SL Banetsu Monogatari from Niigata to Aizu Wakamatsu, will hopefully also get us a ride on an E4 Max Shinkansen before they disappear.  If we can't get on the Banetsu Monogatari we will do the Chichibu Railway as plan B.

Overnight Mets Hotel Tabata.

 

Day 9. 11 September

Hokkaido Shinkansen all the way to Shin Hakodate-Hokuto, we may even splurge out and go Gran Class, then on to Tomakomai.  We are staying at Tomakomai because of the freight activity at the paper mill there and it is only a short trip into Sapporo for a tram ride (I have to do the new bit that connects the two downtown termini).  We should get a bit of freight action with DF200's.

Overnight Toyoko Inn Tomakomai.

 

Day 10. 12 September

Day railfanning the Tomakomai/Sapporo area.

Overnight Toyoko Inn Tomakomai.

 

Day 11.  13 September

Travel Tomakomai to Sendai.  Stopover in Hakodate to shoot the freight loco changes at Goryokaku.

Overnight Toyoko Inn Sendai.

 

Day 12. 14 September

Train to Ishinomaki then ferry to Tashirojima (Cat Island), to see more cats and a relaxing day out.  Of course if we see some DE10 hauled freight at the paper mill in Ishinomaki we won't pass it up.

Overnight Toyoko Inn Sendai.

 

Day 13. 15 September

Travel Sendai to Tokyo.  My plans are to go via the Suigun Line and the Hitachinaka Seaside Railway then the Joban Line.

Overnight Toyoko Inn Otsuka.

 

Day 14. 16 September

Free day in Tokyo.

 

Day 15. 17 September

Last minute visits to hobby shops in Tokyo.

Fly out of Narita at 2040.

 

Day 16. 18 September

Arrive home in Morning.

Edited July 26, 2016 by westfalen

[JR 500系]

Very interesting plan West! It's always fun to travel with fellow rail fans since the main interest will be unanimous and there were not be complains standing at station platforms taking photos of trains ~  :)

 

Hotel METS Tabata! That is one of the Rail fan's must go places... Wished I could go too...

 

Could we anticipate lots of photos when you return?  :P

[westfalen]

There will be a friend from work and another member of the model train club who have both been on several overseas trips with me and my nephew on his first trip to Japan.  Some days we may split up so we don't all end up with identical photos of the same things such as the day we travel from Maibara to Toyama, I'm planning going via the Hokuriku line and my friend is thinking of going via Gifu and Takayama.

 

The Mets is the most expensive hotel of the trip, but hey it's got location. :)

 

Will probably post some photos as we go as usual, might as well make use of Toyoko Inn's free wifi.

 

P.S. added dates to itinerary.

[katoftw]

Looks like fun.  I enjoyed your update and photos from your last Japan trip

Edited July 26, 2016 by katoftw

[tridentalx]

Enjoy your trip. I'll be there for a couple of days just before you. Would like to stay and do your trip though.

 

Can we see some photos when you are back please.

[westfalen]

A few photos from our first full day in Japan on Sunday.

 

Obligatory Shinkansen shots at Nagoya.

[westfalen]

Johoku Line in the Nagoya suburbs.

 

[cteno4]

Ooooh wonderful another virtual Westfalen adventure!

[bikkuri bahn]

Day 4. 06 September

All day at the Kyoto Railway Museum

 

Make sure to get there early.  It is bedlam midday, a veritable dumping ground for screaming toddlers and indifferent mothers.

 

* the museum gift shop gets so congested that they have to institute timed entrances.

Edited September 6, 2016 by bikkuri bahn

[JR 500系]

Ohhh... it's already 6th September, you should be having a fun day at the Kyoto railway museum! Nice!

 

 

One silly question struck me while I ponder at your shinkansen pictures at Nagoya.. I know some 700 series are still being used as Nozomi services, which is strange, given that the N700 can make top speed of 300 km/h which is the speed for Nozomi, right? I think the 700 series couldn't hit the 300km/h mark, so would there happen to be a difference in timing between a N700 and a 700 Nozomi service?

[katoftw]

That half finished viaduct with position lights into a 1 car maintenance tent is one of the weirder Japanese things I have seen.

[cteno4]

That's what I love about modeling Japan, seems there is always a prototype for odd ideas that come up!

 

Jeff

[Bernard]

Wow Westfalen...another great trip.....Out of curiosity how is the exchange rate in Japan?

[maihama eki]

Ohhh... it's already 6th September, you should be having a fun day at the Kyoto railway museum! Nice!

 

 

One silly question struck me while I ponder at your shinkansen pictures at Nagoya.. I know some 700 series are still being used as Nozomi services, which is strange, given that the N700 can make top speed of 300 km/h which is the speed for Nozomi, right? I think the 700 series couldn't hit the 300km/h mark, so would there happen to be a difference in timing between a N700 and a 700 Nozomi service?

 

Between Tokyo and Osaka, I think Nozomi trains hit a maximum speed of 270 kph.  We were on one of the fastest scheduled Nozomi trains (on N700A) from Tokyo to Kyoto in April and my speedometer app never showed us going more than approximately 270 kph.  I think that matches what I can find online.  I have read somewhere that the 700 has been cleared for 285 kph on the section between Osaka and Hakata, so I can imagine that they can somehow make that work mixing 700s with N700s,  I am in general impressed that they can mix Kodama, Hikari, and Nozomi trains on a pretty tight interval and make it all work out.  I suppose it is because the time spent at maximum speed is relatively small compared to the overall journey time.

 

Edited September 6, 2016 by maihama eki

[JR 500系]

Between Tokyo and Osaka, I think Nozomi trains hit a maximum speed of 270 kph.  We were on one of the fastest scheduled Nozomi trains (on N700A) from Tokyo to Kyoto in April and my speedometer app never showed us going more than approximately 270 kph.  I think that matches what I can find online.  I have read somewhere that the 700 has been cleared for 285 kph on the section between Osaka and Hakata, so I can imagine that they can somehow make that work mixing 700s with N700s,  I am in general impressed that they can mix Kodama, Hikari, and Nozomi trains on a pretty tight interval and make it all work out.  I suppose it is because the time spent at maximum speed is relatively small compared to the overall journey time.

 

IMG_3279.PNG

 

Sorry for the Off Topic, but I recall Nozomi reaching speeds of 300km/h around Himeji or so beyond Shin Osaka, so unless the 700 series terminate at Shin Osaka, I was wondering how the 700 series Nozomi match up in terms of speed as compared to the N700 sets...

 

 

West should be in Toyama today, riding the beautiful trams ~

[bikkuri bahn]

High speed trains rarely travel at their top speeds for any significant time (as maihama mentioned) as the ATC usually kicks in due to the traffic ahead, so likely the differences in spec are not especially cumbersome for JR West to alleviate, through scheduling based on peak/off peak and allocation of stock to specific diagrams.  More important than top speed is acceleration and braking performance, especially on services like the shinkansen, with its timed overtakes and tight headways.

Edited September 7, 2016 by bikkuri bahn

[westfalen]

Make sure to get there early.  It is bedlam midday, a veritable dumping ground for screaming toddlers and indifferent mothers.

 

* the museum gift shop gets so congested that they have to institute timed entrances.

 

You're not wrong there.

Wow Westfalen...another great trip.....Out of curiosity how is the exchange rate in Japan?

About 75 yen to the Australian dollar, not sure what it is in US$.

 

Will post more photos as I find time, just getting to bed now at midnight in Tokyo and off at 6am to Niigata to ride SL Banetsu Monogatari.  Green car booked out and only a few seats left in ordinary when we booked a few days ago.  Word is C57 will be assisted by a diesel (DE10?).

 

A note about Mets Hotel Tabata, only single rooms have view of railway tracks, nephew and I in double only seeing EMUs on Tohoku Main Line out the back.

 

Spent free day today going out to ride Fujikyu Railway for first time and return via Kofu and Shizuoka.

[westfalen]

Day 2

 

We went down to Wakayama to ride the Wakayama Electric Railway, and of course visit Nitama, the new station master cat Kishi and Tama's shrine on the platform.

 

No hot dogs in the station cafe.

 

Once again the Tama train wasn't running during my visit but at least this time it was positioned so I could get photos.

 

After Wakayama we continued along the coast to Gobō in pouring rain to have a look at the Kishū Railway.

[JR 500系]

Love these pictures... thanks for sharing! Would love to ride one of these Wakayama train, like the Tama train or the Ichigo train, Omocha train or the newest fish train... I heard the Ichigo train smells of strawberries in the train?

[westfalen]

Love these pictures... thanks for sharing! Would love to ride one of these Wakayama train, like the Tama train or the Ichigo train, Omocha train or the newest fish train... I heard the Ichigo train smells of strawberries in the train?

We rode the Ichigo train for part of the return trip and I don't remember smelling strawberries, in fact the interior of the train was starting to show a bit of wear and tear.

[bikkuri bahn]

Wakayama is known for its mandarin oranges and plums, don't know where the strawberries theme comes from, other than it appeals to women more than the former two.

[kvp]

Imho it's this place near Kishi station: http://en.visitwakayama.jp/venues/venue_61/

Edited September 21, 2016 by kvp

[westfalen]

The next day we headed for Kyoto and JR West's new museum, but not before a short trip on the Ohmi Railway from Maibara to Hikone.

 

The Ohmi Railway is one of those that never seem to scrap anything, they just park it in the yard at Hikone.

[westfalen]

The Kyoto Railway Museum, what can I say?

 

The spotless new steam shop was overhauling D51 200 for mainline certification.

 

The old Umekoji roundhouse is still much as it was before the new museum was built with C62 2 working the short steam train rides in the grounds.

 

The HO model railway however seemed quite uninspiring after the one at JR Central's SCMAGLEV and Railway Park in Nagoya.  I just took a few shots as I walked through.

Edited September 23, 2016 by westfalen

[westfalen]

The new Kyoto Kato store, more like a jewelery store than a hobby shop and about as worth visiting as one.  Tucked up in an out of the way spot on the 9th floor of the station I don't see them doing very well here or the logic behind the move.  Everything was, of course, at the full catalog price.

Edited September 23, 2016 by westfalen