September 2017

[westfalen]

At Hagure an empty limestone train soon arrived and waited to cross an opposing passenger train and a loaded train. Soon after it had cleared the section another loaded train arrived and waited to let the following passenger overtake. I took the passenger train to Takekawa to get video of the loaded train arriving there but in doing so I missed getting shots of Chicibu's yellow painted loco which my train crossed between Yorii and Takekawa, oh well you can't win them all. I did get 102 and 103, Chichibu's oldest locos built in 1954.

 

Empty train waiting in the third road at Hagure.

 

 

First loaded train arriving.

 

 

Second loaded train.

 

Limestone hoppers.

 

 

 

Edited October 8, 2017 by westfalen

[westfalen]

Takekawa, on the Chichibu Railway.

 

[velotrain]

Somewhat?  I'm surprised that the national consciousness would allow this level of rundown-edness.

[westfalen]

The weather was a bit hot to try this but it sounds good.

 

[westfalen]

3 minutes ago, velotrain said:

Somewhat?  I'm surprised that the national consciousness would allow this level of rundown-edness.

You don't have to go too far off the beaten track to find that not all Japan is pristine and spotless, finding scenes like this practically on Tokyo's door step is one of the things I enjoy about poking around out of the way places.

[katoftw]

Yeah I noticed that also.  Funnily though is you can go into a neighbourhood that looks like half abandoned houses, but every garage or carport has a near new and freshly cleaned hybrid car.

[velotrain]

On ‎10‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 1:15 AM, westfalen said:

Curiously enough the truck was the only vehicle waiting even though the gates were down for just over 8 minutes. I did notice the driver reading a newspaper so maybe he uses it as a way to have a break while other motorists avoid it.

 

I don't understand why the gates would be down for long, unless there was a close succession of trains?

 

BTW, I really like the atmospheric images of Ishibashi.

 

[westfalen]

1 hour ago, velotrain said:

 

I don't understand why the gates would be down for long, unless there was a close succession of trains?

 

BTW, I really like the atmospheric images of Ishibashi.

 

Very close succession of trains coupled with many of the trains stopping over the crossing while waiting for an outbound train to clear a platform at Shinagawa station.

 

I was hoping for a fine day at Ishibashi for shots of the bridge with the sea in the background but the overcast day did make for some good shots.

[westfalen]

Day 4 was more Tobu, this time up to Kinugawaonsen to get some video of C11 207 on the SL Taiju.

 

I posted some shots of the C11 on the thread already running on the subject so here are some other shots from the day starting with a couple of the Revaty Ltd Exp sets at Tobu Asakusa terminal in Tokyo.

 

 

I had never caught a train there before and the cramped station platforms and the crossing of the Sumida River immediately after departure reminded me a bit of some of the London southern region termini.

 

[westfalen]

For the diesel fans (like me) here are some shots of immaculately clean DE10 1099 waiting to run around the train at Kinugawaonsen.

 

[westfalen]

Just south of Kinugawaonsen.

 

 

Between Shin-Takatoku and Okuwa

 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2017 by westfalen

[westfalen]

I think I found the prototype for the Tomytec garage at Shin-Takatoku.

 

 

A stone mason's workshop at Shin-Takatoku.

 

 

And abandoned roadside shop near Shin-Takatoku. My phone translation of the sign indicated it may have been a travel agent.

 

 

The Western Village amusement park had also fallen on hard times, unless they were trying for the ghost town look.

 

[JR 500系]

Wonderful pictures... I am enjoying them, thanks for sharing!!

 

That REvalty is beautiful indeed... and that spacia always amazes... And I am still waiting for the 253 in Kinugawa colors...

[cteno4]

West, those are great. Western village is especially good. Should get it onto one of the abandoned places websites. Japan has such a variety and like you say if you look you can find it. Good to think of to add a bit in a corner of the layout, nice little thing for the viewer to stumble across. Maybe tomytec will do a series, they did the Destroyed buildings!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[westfalen]

Day 5, Sunday 10 October, continued the steam theme with a day out on the Oigawa Railway. I have ridden the SL on previous trips so I decided again to go for some lineside video, most of the moving train shots were taken with my Sony video camera while I was videoing.

 

The junction with the Tokaido Main Line at Kanaya always struck me as being an interesting station to model with the twin tunnels at one end and two sidings between the main lines for holding trains.

 

 

All the Oigawa's regular services were being operated by former Kintetsu EMUs.

 

 

An ex Nankai unit was operating the extra Ltd Exp service that runs on days the steam trains operate.

 

[westfalen]

I think the Oigawa's regular steam operation is the most authentic of all the 'SL's in Japan at the moment.

 

C11 190 was doing the honours the day I was there.

 

The ancient electric locos doing the banking duty are just as interesting.

 

[Densha]

Strange to see one of the Nankai 21000s on a ltd. express service. You would expect them to use one of the Kintetsu units for those service as they are way more comfortable.

[westfalen]

Of course the star of the day to the hundreds of kids present was C11 227, alias Thomas.

 

Every seat in the 7 car train seemed to be occupied by excited children and their parents.

 

 

Thomas and his friends were posed in a fenced off area of the station yard at Senzu and for a charge of 500 yen you could get in and get up close and personal. Percy appeared to have been made from the small tank engine that used to be on static display at Kanaya station.

 

 

Rusty was giving rides up and down the yard in some troublesome trucks.

 

 

The gift shop had every Thomas merchandise you could imagine including potato chips and toilet paper.

 

[westfalen]

12 minutes ago, Densha said:

Strange to see one of the Nankai 21000s on a ltd. express service. You would expect them to use one of the Kintetsu units for those service as they are way more comfortable.

I thought that was odd too. Maybe the the Nankai units are getting old and they don't want to run them as much.

[Kiha66]

Thanks for the pictures!  Its funny how they modified a 9600 class to look like a D51.  I wish they had left it though.  Looks like a fun trip, I may have to add this to the list for an eventual japan trip.

[JR 500系]

it is indeed very scary seeing Thomas up close...

 

Nevertheless thanks for sharing these wonderful pictures! Having so much fun just looking at them!

[westfalen]

Day 6. The JR pass paid for itself today starting with Haybusa #1 to Shin-Aomori.

 

Aomori station seemed a forlorn looking place on a dull overcast day now that the several long platforms are used mainly by a few local trains.

 

 

The yards leaving Aomori were full of stored 485s awaiting their fate.

 

 

At Kanita I changed to a pair of trusty old Kiha 48s to take me further north to the JR East outpost of Mimmaya colouring another new line in my rail atlas.

 

 

Mimmaya station.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 14, 2017 by westfalen

[westfalen]

The reason for my long trip from Tokyo to Mimmaya was an half hour walk from the station.

 

A park and viewing area has been set up at the south portal of the Seikan Tunnel.

 

 

Made complete with an Hayabusa shaped toilet.

 

Of course the main attraction was the trains. Although a Shinkansen timetable is posted on a notice board there is plenty of warning of approaching trains as a loud warning siren goes off a few minutes before their arrival.

 

I thought the most interesting thing was that although until the recent opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel this was the longest rail tunnel in the world yet there is nothing out of the ordinary about it, it looks just like any other tunnel.

 

[westfalen]

Sign made out of old wind turbine blades.

 

 

Ever get the feeling you're being watched?

 

 

There were a lot of abandoned buildings around Mimmaya and Tsugaru-Hamana.

 

 

This one looked like everything was left behind the day the occupants left.

 

 

Edited October 14, 2017 by westfalen

[westfalen]

I caught this red Kiha 48 back to Tsugaru-Futamata which is right beside the Okutsugaru-Imabetsu Shinkansen station.

 

 

I had an hour and a half to wait for the last train back to Tokyo at 1927. Not the most frequent Shinkansen timetable either.

 

 

They thoughtfully provide reading glasses to see the fine print in the timetable.

 

 

The 1901 train going north discharged about a dozen passengers.