Takasaki Depot, September 2020

[railsquid]

I forget the reasons, but it was a hot late summer Saturday and on a whim I ended up at Takasaki and decided it would be an opportune moment to check out the depot, which is not too far from the station. Stupidly I had not planned ahead and only had my mobile on me, but it the light was good and it sufficed.

 

Plenty of KiHa 110s:

takasaki-2020-09-05_03 by Rail Squid, on Flickr]

 

Something new-fangled looking:

takasaki-2020-09-05_04 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Somewhat old-fangled:

 

takasaki-2020-09-05_10 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

takasaki-2020-09-05_06 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Public road right through the middle of the depot:

 

takasaki-2020-09-05_09 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

"Please do not drive on the tracks"

 

takasaki-2020-09-05_30 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Some classic electric traction:

 

takasaki-2020-09-05_12 by Rail Squid, on Flickr
 

takasaki-2020-09-05_14 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

takasaki-2020-09-05_25 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

A view through the sheds:

 

takasaki-2020-09-05_29 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Old and new:

takasaki-2020-09-05_18 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Time-travelling Showa-era scene:

 

takasaki-2020-09-05_20 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Back to the future:

 

takasaki-2020-09-05_17 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[miyakoji]

I saw the video below last week and was going to make a thread about it, but that seems a little redundant now.  Based on the map it looks like the roughly western half of the overall grounds belongs to JR East while the eastern part is JR Freight.  There are separate Japanese wikipedia pages about both, JR East's Takasaki Sharyo Center and JR Freight's Takasaki Locomotive Depot.  The page about JR East's portion shows its total area at 37,000 square meters, and a lot of rolling stock based there, including

• 2 485 series joyful trains totalling 12 cars, and 134 211 series cars
• D51 498, C61 20, and apparently Chichibu's C58 363 under contract
• 4 EF64s, 1 EF65
• 2 DD51s, 10 DE10s
• 21 KIHA110s for the Hachiko Line
• 14 passenger cars of various types
• 3 CHIKI6000 rail carriers and 7 HOKI800 ballast cars
• previously, 185 and 183 series, E233s, 107 series, and KUMOYA 145-107, various DMUs, EF60-19, and some 12 series coaches

Operations on the site go back to 1884 when it began as an engine shed.  The freight yard opened in 1943, and JRF has 25 EH200s based there including the prototype 901.

 

video by Ikitan

 

 

 

Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/wkFYSnPZd4Wc23tG6

JR East Takasaki Sharyo Center: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/高崎車両センター

JR Freight Takasaki Locomotive Depot: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/高崎機関区

 

[katoftw]

E231 in shonan colours. Didnt know they still ran.

[disturbman]

That GV-E400 is in its Gono line livery. The KiHas 40 should be soon a distant memory.

[railsquid]

1 hour ago, katoftw said:

E231 in shonan colours. Didnt know they still ran.

 

Err yeah, plenty around, sometimes coupled with E233s. Bit long in the tooth now, my handwavy internet armchair speculation reckons they'll be replaced by E235s and partially cascaded down to replace the remaining 211 series.

[Dentobu93]

2 hours ago, katoftw said:

E231 in shonan colours. Didnt know they still ran.

Did you mean the 211? since the E231-1000's is still the main rolling stock on the lines it's used (Tokaido/Utsunomiya/Takasaki/Enz) with no replacement announced yet.

 

211-3000 fully replaced the 115 and 107 series an few years ago, there are an total of 134 cars (23x4 + 7x6 sets).

211 is the main traintype used on the Agatsuma/Joetsu (Till Minakami Station)/Ryomo and Shin-Etsu (Till Yokokawa Station) Lines.

[Dentobu93]

2 hours ago, disturbman said:

That GV-E400 is in its Gono line livery. The KiHas 40 should be soon a distant memory.

There still is Kyushu/Shikoku/JR West, likely for many years.

South Hokkaido Railway has only Kiha 40's and is unlikely to replace them any time soon.

Nishikigawa Railway bought 1 Kiha 40-1000 in 2017.

Kominato Railway bought 2 Kiha 40-2000 in 2020, this one is around 1 hour travel time (Local train) from Tokyo center.

[disturbman]

Thanks for the detailed answer. Sorry I was not more precise. I meant on the Gono line. All KiHas 40 should be replaced on March 13 iirc.