Possible new rail-interest area - northern Japan Sea coast

[scott]

[There may be inaccuracies or stupid statements below--I've never been to Japan, and I'm new to Japanese rail modeling, so please excuse any lapses. I'm not trying to sound like an expert, just an interested newbie.]

 

I've been interested in the Tohoku region, and the electrified lines of Hokkaido, for a while now. Hokkaido is still somewhere I'd like to go.

 

But lately I've been getting interested in the Japan Sea coast, and the area where JR West and JR East meet, from the JR West Hokuriku Main Line to the JR East Shin'etsu Main Line. There seems to be an interesting mix of trains.

 

There's a whole mess of limited express and express trains along the Hokuriku line, including the Thunderbird, and some overnight trains that connect farther north, like the Twilight Express, the Nihonkai (which I already have a locomotive for), and the Kitaguni night train (583 EMUs, which I really like). The Shin'etsu line has some of the same long-distance trains, plus apparently a bunch of locals, etc.

 

And the south end of the Hokuriku line is at Maibara, which is the end of the line for the Haruka, which I also already have.

 

Anyway, just sort of thinking out loud--I don't know if anybody else is into this, but I've been having fun looking into it. Between a simple atlas of Japan, the various wikis, and the Kitayama site, you can find out  a lot.

[qwertyaardvark]

I have alot of interest in the Hokuriku Main Line and Hokuriku Railway Ishikawa Line as all my visits to Japan had Kanazawa (Ishikawa prefecture) as the destination. The Thunderbird was literally the third Japanese train I ever rode. The Narita Express, and 200 are my first and second respectively. For the weekends I got off from presentations, Kanazawa was my home base of operations, though mainly to travel about instead of railfanning since I wasn't the J-rail fan back then as I am today.

 

Nonetheless my inherent love of trains caught my attention often from the express trains like Thunderbird/Raicho Express on the main line to the two-car EMU local trains on the Ishikawa Line. I was sad to find the station we got off for a field trip (Kaga-ichinomiya Station) was closed in 2009. On a lighter note, I'm excited about the Shinkansen finally reaching Kanzawa, and I hope to visit Kanazawa once again with this expansion complete.

[Guest ___]

I'm sorta weird in that I'm in to Kyushu, Kansai and Hokkaido myself, but as so far as specific lines go, I never really pinned down anything that tight.

[harukablue]

Arnt JR East and JR West on different voltage systems? obviously the EF81 are dual voltage but where are the stations where the two voltages meet up? I have seen operations in Holland/Germany where they change the voltage in the wires on a isolated section for a loco change, but whats the operation in Japan?

 

Lew

[scott]

I never really pinned down anything that tight.

 

Yeah, in  the end, I probably won't, either. It's too time-consuming and expensive to be that focused and accurate--and not all that much fun. But this seems like a good way to get some ideas.

[qwertyaardvark]

Yeah, in  the end, I probably won't, either. It's too time-consuming and expensive to be that focused and accurate--and not all that much fun.

 

Need not to worry, I have plenty of love for all the other lines and trains Japan. ^_^ It just takes a special place in my heart because of my ties there.

[Fenway Park]

Lew asked if JR West and JR East were on different voltages. The common voltage is 1500v d.c. but where AC is used although the same voltage 25 kv but in Honshu the frequency is 50 hz and 60 hz. The EF81 class were the first multi voltage locos as they could work on both the frequencies of 25kv AC and 1500v D.C.

 

Where there are changeovers between D.C. and A.C. there is dead section and the trains coast. Signs show the area and when power can be applied again.

 

The changeover on Kyushu takes place at Moji on the downgrade into the Kanmon Tunnel towards Shimonoseki (AC to DC) and near to the top of the incline coming out into Moji station. The EF30 class although multi voltage were more 1500 v DC locos with limited output on AC. Just enough to haul the train into the yard or platforms. 

 

Maibara was another changeover point and here the E10 2-10-4 tanks were used to haul trains between the two sections until improvements were made. 

 

There was an article in Japan Rail Fan some years ago dealing with this part of JNR history.