Diesel Railcar Local Lines 1970's in Color

[bikkuri bahn]

Found this excellent website with lots of quality color pictures of JNR local lines using diesel railcars. Pictures mainly taken in the 1970's just after the end of steam.  Not only are the trains interesting, but the some of the lines and infrastructure no longer exist.  You can see semaphore signals, local freight cars on sidings, express package service, and now almost extinct express (kyuko) trains:

 

http://www7b.biglobe.ne.jp/~kidousha/index.html

 

some sample lines covered-

 

Suigun line in Ibaraki/Fukushima, a typical Japanese secondary line:

 

http://www7b.biglobe.ne.jp/~kidousha/7-suigun/7.suigun.html

 

Hachiko and Kawagoe Line on the outskirts of Tokyo/Saitama, before electrification:

 

http://www7b.biglobe.ne.jp/~kidousha/4-hachikou/4.hachikou.html

 

Tenpoku Line in northern Hokkaido, now long abandoned, was an alternate meandering route to Wakkanai, even saw a diesel loco hauled (DE 10) express "Tenpoku":

 

http://www7b.biglobe.ne.jp/~kidousha/25-tenpoku/25.tenpoku.html

 

different website with pictures of aforementioned local hauled train:

 

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/kogechatora/15769688.html

[ToniBabelony]

Thanks so much for these links! The photos of the 1970s look like they were taken a few days ago and provide a massive amount of inspiration! Very nice to see so many different types of DMU all mixed together. Must have been a daily choice for the commuters in which car to get to get the most comfortable seats.

[Fenway Park]

Thanks for the link. Despite many hours searching the web I have not seen this site before.

[Guest ___]

Awesome link, that rocks!

[bikkuri bahn]

Thanks for the link. Despite many hours searching the web I have not seen this site before.

 

Yes, I usually come about these finds by accident, usually when searching for something else.  Even searching using Japanese, it requires technique.  For example, when looking for an old station picture, just entering the station name will yield mainly boring pictures of the station facade in modern times, or even ads for real estate ("located near xxx station").  The key is to add specific words, like "showa" (for the time period) or the railway line the station is located on (e.g. Tokaido Hon-sen)

[Guest ___]

Thanks for the link. Despite many hours searching the web I have not seen this site before.

 

Yes, I usually come about these finds by accident, usually when searching for something else.  Even searching using Japanese, it requires technique.  For example, when looking for an old station picture, just entering the station name will yield mainly boring pictures of the station facade in modern times, or even ads for real estate ("located near xxx station").  The key is to add specific words, like "showa" (for the time period) or the railway line the station is located on (e.g. Tokaido Hon-sen)

 

Yeah, I bought this train from Showa 82. Always confused me cause I thought that period ended in 65. Go figure, someone has as sense of humor.

[scott]

Those are great pictures--the scenery and details are really nice, even if the trains *are* stinky diesels... ;-)