The photo that inspired my interest in Japanese railways

[Szdfan]

Years ago, a friend gave me a book featuring the railway photography of Victor Hand that he didn’t want anymore. 
 

I recently found online the picture that inspired me to be open to researching and modeling Japanese railways.

 

https://railphoto-art.org/collections/victor-hand-collection/japanese-national-railways/#!jig[1]/FL/49704694762

 

It’s a photograph of D52 414 along the sea wall at Rebun, Hokkaido In January 1971. There’s just something atmospheric about the sea wall and strange rock formations that captured my imagination.

 

Jeremy 

 

[cteno4]

Japanese train photography is an art all unto itself! There is something about the setting esthetic that really makes it different than most of the train photography I’ve seen from elsewhere. I love it.

I have a few Japanese train art photography books I open every so often to just go, wow!

 

jeff

[Kamome]

3 hours ago, Szdfan said:

Years ago, a friend gave me a book featuring the railway photography of Victor Hand that he didn’t want anymore. 
 

I recently found online the picture that inspired me to be open to researching and modeling Japanese railways.

 

https://railphoto-art.org/collections/victor-hand-collection/japanese-national-railways/#!jig[1]/FL/49704694762

 

It’s a photograph of D52 414 along the sea wall at Rebun, Hokkaido In January 1971. There’s just something atmospheric about the sea wall and strange rock formations that captured my imagination.

 

Jeremy 

 

Well thanks a lot @Szdfan  I now have to procure a rake of Koki 50000 and a couple of Kokifu due to your unadulterated "inspiration" of 2x DD51 double heading a JNR container train. The missus will not be pleased.

 

But awesome website.  I think because Japan has such diverse landscapes in such a small area, you get incredible scenes like this. The mountain vistas with the rocky coastlines are just so tempting to model.  I just love coastal railways.  Thanks for the awesome link.

[Szdfan]

47 minutes ago, Kamome said:

Well thanks a lot @Szdfan  I now have to procure a rake of Koki 50000 and a couple of Kokifu due to your unadulterated "inspiration" of 2x DD51 double heading a JNR container train. The missus will not be pleased.

 

But awesome website.  I think because Japan has such diverse landscapes in such a small area, you get incredible scenes like this. The mountain vistas with the rocky coastlines are just so tempting to model.  I just love coastal railways.  Thanks for the awesome link.

I’m happy to oblige. Please let me know if you need any additional inspiration. 

[Kiha66]

Wow, these are some really excellent high quality photographs!  I'm going to have to save these as reference material.

[lighthouse]

Thanks for sharing the website including some excellent quality photographs! This wilderness is why I started in the northernmost island Hokkaido with JNR-vehicles. Some of these photo-areas i know from a calendar wich i bought years ago. Today, some of the calendar-photos are saved, I use it for a framend collaboration in my house.

[Szdfan]

On 7/1/2021 at 4:34 PM, cteno4 said:

Japanese train photography is an art all unto itself! There is something about the setting esthetic that really makes it different than most of the train photography I’ve seen from elsewhere. I love it.

I have a few Japanese train art photography books I open every so often to just go, wow!

 

jeff

There’s something different about Japanese steam locomotives. They don’t look either American or European. 

[cteno4]

Yes for some reason Japanese steam always feels a bit lighter to my eye, not as massive or hulking feeling a lot of the time. I’ve never really tried to look at the evolution of their design compared from the kin they were borne from and I don’t have a vast experience in worldwide steam, just the usual exposure to us steam history. It may be a lot of just the esthetic of how they were historically photographed. A lot of my visual memory of us steam is more up close and in yards and places of massive trains and infrastructure so just made them feel more massive in the mind.

 

jeff