The Great Train Journey of Japan

[wazzd]

With permission from Admin I am embarking upon this shameless plug for a tour to Japan for railfans. Last year whilst in Japan with my son I convinced him that a special group tour for railfans was a good Idea!

 He works for a small family owned travel company here in Australia that specializes in small group tours and we put this tour together for a Nov 7 -21 period this year. It includes travel on 3 steam hauled trains including an overnight stay on the Oigawa Railway,  Of course Shinkansen travel and visits to the 3 major JR museums as well as visits to Hiroshima, Nara and Okayama and a return to Tokyo on the Sunrise Express. It also will include the Randen and Enoden lines and visits to model shops if group members are interested. I have been to Japan on a number of occasions since 1999 and I want to share  the amazing country, people and places of interest for railfans with as many as I can as it is so different from the way things are here in Australia. The tour is certainly open to International interest and is fully escorted. If you would like to know more you can visit https://japanholidays.com.au/great-train-journey-japan-autumn-2019/ for an Itinerary, I will post details with a link on the JNS facebook page to make it easy....Oh and the tour also includes some visits to non railfan places of interest too.....As many of you know this doesn't even scratch the surface of what's available for railfanning in Japan...but we have to start somewhere! Again thanks to admin for allowing me to post.

[paolo]

Very interesting!

In a few weeks I'll take a trip in South Japan. I didn't know about the Sagano Romantic train, it looks very cool, I'll add it to my itinerary.

Thank you for sharing!

 

Paolo

[ben_issacs]

Paolo

The Sagano Scenic train, a better name than the silly 'Romantic' runs along a very scenic river gorge for about 7 km, on what was the old Sanyo Main Line, it is easily accessible from Kyoto by suburban electrics. 

The cars are both open sided and enclosed, five or six of them, hauled by a small diesel-hyd. loco.

It is a popular run and can be quite busy at certain times, probably weekends and holidays.

Don't think that a JR Rail Pass works on it, but one of the local passes might.

As an additional attraction, from the outer terminal, which is close to the river, one can take a somewhat hairy boat ride back down the river through the rapids, back to somewhere in Kyoto.

Probably not cheap, but could be an interesting experience, weather permitting..

Put Sagano Scenic train or Sagano Romantic train into Googly, this should give you plenty of information, including times and days of operation.

Regards,

Bill,

Melbourne.

.

 

[paolo]

Thank you Bill, I found the official website.

It's a 20 minutes ride, not sure if it's worth it, since I'm not planning on spending too much time in Kyoto

[ben_issacs]

Paolo,

If you're a bit tight for time in Kyoto, the Sagano setup might not be possible, it could be that when you get to the station, the train is full and you have to wait for the next, so the whole trip, including back and forth to Kyoto, might take a couple of hours or more.

Regards, 

Bill,

Melbourne.