Sean Posted January 1, 2023 Share Posted January 1, 2023 Just got back from a 2 night trip to Kyoto just before the new year. We went up specifically because my son wanted to go for a ride on the Randen. It was a good trip. We stayed at a hotel near the first stop, Omiya. Then we took a ride on day 2 out to Randen Saga station, which is one stop short of the terminus at Arashiyama. THe train was insanely packed, if you go during the holidays try to board at the first stop since at some of the stations in between people weren`t able to get on. The big attraction at Randen Saga is the connection to the Toroko Densha at the adjacent JR station, but we weren`t able to do that on this trip. Instead we wanted to see the big HO guage diorama which is there. It was pretty good, the main point of interest is that they have some quite good models of Kyoto`s main temples in the layout. If you are travelling with kids beware that some of the stuff they advertise on the website - particularly the chance to operate the controls of the layout from the cab of a real engine - are not in service. And the coin operated controls next to the layout are also iffy - 2 out of 3 times they worked when I put 200 Yen in, the other time nothing happened. Despite the station itself being packed with holiday travellers almost nobody else went into the diorama while we were there, which is kind of sad to see, I hope the place will stay in business but am not too sure.... Arashiyama`s main attractions are just a few minutes walk from there, its a great day trip to take in the diorama and then walk over to the temples and other stuff. 7 Link to comment
Sean Posted January 1, 2023 Author Share Posted January 1, 2023 Our other train related highlight of the trip was taking the Hankyu line to Kyoto Kawaramachi. I picked up an N-guage version of this last month and my kids were quite excited to ride it for real 😄 3 Link to comment
katoftw Posted January 1, 2023 Share Posted January 1, 2023 One of my fav trams in Japan. 1 Link to comment
Sean Posted January 1, 2023 Author Share Posted January 1, 2023 26 minutes ago, katoftw said: One of my fav trams in Japan. Mine too! It was my first time to ride on it despite having been to Kyoto several times in the past. Link to comment
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