JR Kyushu Nagasaki Main Line local train, Tosu to Nagasaki

[Sacto1985]

YouTube member ato5kgyasetaito just released a new, long zenmen tenbou video of a trip on a local train on the JR Kyushu Nagasaki Main Line from its beginning at Tosu Station all the way to the end at Nagasaki, taken from a 415 Series EMU:

 

Note being a local all-stops train, it takes over three hours to complete the one-way trip. I think I'll take the Kamome limited express instead, if only for way more comfortable seating.

[katoftw]

Wow long trip.  Imagine the time taken if you added in the Hakata to Tosu section.

Hakata to Nagasaki on the Kamome is just on 2 hours.

[Sacto1985]

One other thing you notice from this video is how LOUD the air compressor on the 415 Series EMU is, particularly in the last 35 minutes of the video. And it's really spooky waiting at the Hizen-Mikawa Signal Station inside the 6,173 meter-long Nagasaki Tunnel for the train going the other way to pass.

[westfalen]

True it is a long trip, but you actually get to see each station instead of flying through so fast you can't even read the station name board. There is something to be said for catching the local and seeing the real JR as well as the flashy, and sometimes not all that comfortable these days, limited expresses.

Edited September 2, 2017 by westfalen

[JR 500系]

Amazing! Weird I thought most trains are driven on the left? It seems like the driver is on the right in the video...

[Sacto1985]

32 minutes ago, JR 500系 said:

Amazing! Weird I thought most trains are driven on the left? It seems like the driver is on the right in the video...

You can easily tell the driver's position is on the left. Otherwise, you'll be looking over the driver in this video.

[Sacto1985]

For those interested, this is the same route as traveled by a much faster limited express train, the Kamome. Taken by YouTube member OleOleSaggy, this is the zenmen tenbou view from a JR Kyushu 783系 trainset. Note this video starts at Hakata on the Kagoshima Main Line, not at Tosu at the start of the Nagasaki Main Line.

 

 

 

[Sacto1985]

YouTube member ato5kgyasetaito just posted another zenmen tenbou video of a trip on the 415 Series EMU, this time on the Kagoshima Main Line from Kumamoto Station north to Tosu Station:

 

 

[Sacto1985]

By the way, being true dual-voltage (1,500 V DC/20,000 V 60 Hz AC) EMU's, I wonder why JR Kyushu is still assigning the 415-1500 Series to run on the Kagoshima Main Line south of Tosu and Nagasaki Main Line between Tosu and Nagasaki. They should have run 811 and 813 Series EMU's on these routes and assigned the 415-1500 Series to exclusively operate between Shimonoseki on the San'yo Main Line and Kurosaki on the Kagoshima Main Line, where the dual-voltage ability is needed due to the crossing from Moji Station to Shimonoseki Station through the Kannon Tunnel uses 1,500 V DC overhead power.

Edited September 6, 2017 by Sacto1985