Planning a 2012 trip. Questions...

[TestudoToTetsudo]

Hi, this is my first post here.

 

I'm planning a trip to Japan in 2012 and, if my previous trip to Japan last year is any indication, I will be spending every conceivable spare moment riding trains (other than when I'm visiting relatives or sightseeing, and even then going to the relatives' place or sightseeing involves taking a train...).  Glad to see there's a forum online where I can discuss Japanese Rail topics in English, as I still haven't quite broken the language barrier.

 

I have a few questions and this looks like the perfect place to ask them (if it's not please let me know)...

 

1) Has JR West/JR Kyushu announced what the planned Sakura Shinkansen will do when it's on Honshu?  Will it replace/augment Nozomi service, Hikari Rail Star Service, Kodama Service, or will they have it do a completely new set of stops?  Any word on what the Shin-Osaka to Kagoshima trip time will be yet?

 

2) Is JR West's Setouchi Marine View a year-round service, and can I use a Japan Rail Pass on it?

 

Any information would be great.  The 2012 trip is a long way off but it's always fun to think ahead.  Thanks in advance!

[qwertyaardvark]

Welcome to JNS Forum~ 

 

This is indeed the perfect place for questions about traveling in japan! I give these answers as more of a good guess, but should roughly answer your questions.

 

1) The Sakura service will be doing mainly through-service from Shin-Osaka to Kagoshima Central Station (Kyushu) and won't start till spring 2011. Since it is doing mainly through-service, my guess is that it wont be replacing Hikari, Kodama, etc. Also, since it wont be open for another year, I don't think they have figured out the timetables, thus the exact trip time, but an article I found from Asahi says the trip will be around 4 hours.

 

2) JR West's Setouchi Marine View is not a year-round service. It runs only a few days at a time during several months as a tourist train. I'm still looking into finding an actual schedule. Also, since it is not regular train, my guess is that it is not covered by the JR West pass, but I would check about that. Since one of the two cars is non-reserved seating, you might not have to pay extra for it.

 

Hope this helps 

[TestudoToTetsudo]

Thanks qwertyaardvark for the help.

 

Sounds like Sakura Shinkansen will do a pretty good clip on Honshu, as it would have to have a Shin-Osaka to Hakata run time comparable to Nozomi or Hikari Rail Star in order to make it all the way to Kagoshima Chuo in 4 hours (I read that the Kyushu stretch, Kagoshima-Hakata, will be a little over an hour).

 

Thanks also for letting me know how rare the Setouchi Marine View is...I guess when the summer schedule rolls around I'll sweep Hyperdia to see if it comes up.  Other special trains (like the Yufuin No Mori) seem to come up in there...

 

Thanks again!

[westfalen]

Thanks qwertyaardvark for the help.

 

Sounds like Sakura Shinkansen will do a pretty good clip on Honshu, as it would have to have a Shin-Osaka to Hakata run time comparable to Nozomi or Hikari Rail Star in order to make it all the way to Kagoshima Chuo in 4 hours (I read that the Kyushu stretch, Kagoshima-Hakata, will be a little over an hour).

 

Thanks also for letting me know how rare the Setouchi Marine View is...I guess when the summer schedule rolls around I'll sweep Hyperdia to see if it comes up.  Other special trains (like the Yufuin No Mori) seem to come up in there...

 

Thanks again!

Many 'special' tourist trains are available to Japan Railpass holders if the train is operated by JR, I've ridden the Yufuin No Mori several times, any steam excursion run by JR can also be ridden using a JR pass. You have to reserve a seat but there is no charge for that. I don't have any personal experience with the Setouchi Marine View, you could always go to a JR ticket office when you get there and ask for a seat on it and see what happens.

 

I like your signature,

5:30 AM -- Leave Toyoko Inn

6:15 AM -- Board Shinkansen

6:45 AM -- Begin Railfanning 50 miles away

7:45 AM -- Board 2nd Shinkansen of the day

8:30 AM -- Return to Toyoko Inn, meet family for breakfast

 

I often do this when I'm on a group tour, by the time the others come down for breakfast I've already gotten in a couple of branch lines I haven't ridden before. I'm already thinking up schemes for a trip I'll be doing in Aug/Sep.

[TestudoToTetsudo]

Thanks Westfalen,

 

Thanks for the info on the Japan Rail Pass. 

 

The signature is what I did both mornings in Kyoto this past trip to Japan.  Many mornings in Tokyo I did something similar, but on local trains.  It allows you to get across the Tokyo area to get to whatever spot you want to see during the AM rush in time to see it pretty easily.  My folks were in Japan for a week before I got there, so they were already acclimated to the time change, whereas I wasn't as much and it worked out pretty well for me in the end.

 

And I hear you on "thinking up schemes" for upcoming trips.  I'm trying to get my family to think ahead to what they want to do during the 2012 family trip sooner rather than later, so I can know where my pockets of time to ride trains will be, and what trains I'll get to ride incidentally when we as a family travel from one part of the country to another...

[TestudoToTetsudo]

Planning is still preliminary but family commitments and other travel commitments make it look like I will likely be able to ride:

 

1.  The JR Nikko Line

2.  The Tsugaru Railroad

3.  The JR Gono Line

4.  The very northern trip of the JR Ou Line

 

Anyone have any experiences riding any of these?  Anything interesting I should be on the lookout for?

 

It's pretty far out in 2012 but I know when I go I plan to take a ton of photos (and I'll try to post a link here from wherever I post them to share 'em!).

 

Thanks!

[qwertyaardvark]

Of the four, I've only ridden the JR Nikko line on my way to Nikko, riding on a 2-car Series 107 i think :) (It's been two years since i went) Nikko itself has lots of temple/shrines to visit/take pictures of, and there's also a waterfall in that area as well. Also a very easy to use/understand bus system, though be sure to write the shrines/waterfall's names in Kanji so u can ask locals how to get there. Very beautiful place out there in the country and an easy day trip from Tokyo. Left Tokyo around 8 AM to Utsunomiya, and from there you can enjoy your Nikko line! Stayed in Nikko till about 6-7PM. Note, the rural trains run infrequently (once every... 15-30 mins?) and stop running much earlier than the city trains (maybe 8pm?) I would definitely check for those times in a timetable as my memory is a bit rusty. If you just want to simply walk through the temples, maybe one day is enough, but if you are wanting a really good photoshoot (i am not a photographer myself) i suspect maybe a two day-trips are in store to scout the place and figure out what pictures/scenes u want.  

[westfalen]

The Gono Line is very scenic as it hugs the coastline most of the way, so close in fact, that at some stations high fences are placed beside the track to stop spray from the waves wetting waiting passengers. There is a tourist train with large windows for viewing the scenery during the summer, but it can book out quickly. Trainaway Tours, a local Brisbane railfan tour operator was unable to obtain seats on the northbound train in 2006 but will be trying the southbound run on their tour later this year as there is a regular railcar service that can be used if the tourist train is full. I rode the line northbound in November 1996 after coming overnight from Osaka on the Nihonkai sleeper train.

 

When I got to Goshogawara I had planned to ride to the end of the Tsugaru Railway, but at the first passing siding my railcar met their winter only Potbelly Stove Train, two old coaches heated by potbelly stoves and pulled by a 1959 vintage centre cab diesel with side rods on the trucks, which I hadn't heard of before (it pays to do a bit of research before traveling, easier today with the internet). Needless to say, I bailed out of the railcar and caught the Potbelly Stove Train back to Goshogawara. I'm going to try and make it to the end of the line this year while the rest of the group are doing the Gono line. In 1996, at least, the Goshogawara yard was full of old passenger and freight equipment.

[to2leo]

Wow those pictures looks very unique and the trains toy like.  They minded me of the narrow gauge railroad in Thomas and Friends. 

 

Thanks for the pics.

[TestudoToTetsudo]

Thanks for the info!

 

I'm not 100% sure which of the above I'll actually be riding, as things are a bit far a ways out still, but it's great to know that the Nikko and Gono lines will be very interesting and worthwhile to ride if I get to ride either!