Gifu 600v lines in 1999

[bill937ca]

It will soon be five years since the Gifu interurban lines closed.  

 

 

[bikkuri bahn]

Thanks for posting those.  I'm more of an interurban and heavy rail person than streetcar fan, but the Meitetsu Gifu lines are something special.  Seeing those takes me back to 1997 or 1998, when I made a pilgrimage to the (soon to be closed) Seki-Mino section of the Minomachi Line.  The Mo 510 type interurbans were still running then, and I had a feeling in my bones that these units and the line itself were living on borrowed time.  I took the "rinji" Shinagawa-Ogaki rapid overnight train using JNR 165 type EMUs (another long gone train) that ran as an extra to the regular "Moonlight Nagara". Got off at Gifu at the crack of dawn.  At the far end of the line near Mino, I remember the train staff handing off a tablet at a passing track (can't recall the station name- it was in a rural valley).  The Mo 510's were all I expected them to be- living museum pieces still earning (a little)revenue, cracks in the wooden floorboards where you could see the track and ballast rushing past below, plus that sweet traction motor sound.  Later in the day, went to Inuyama, to see the (also now gone) combined road/rail bridge over the Kiso River.  Happy days...

 

[bill937ca]

A couple more from 2001 during commemorative runs prior to the closure of the Tanigumi line.

 

 

 

 

A blog post on these lines from my Japanese Trams and Light Interurbans blog.

 

http://jtrams.wordpress.com/2009/10/25/meitetsu-tanigumi-line/

[ToniBabelony]

JNR 165 type EMUs (another long gone train)

 

Still ran by the Shinano RR (169 Series), Fujikyuu RR and Chichibu RR. Derratives of the 165 Series are still in use at the Izukyu RR I believe as well (100 Series).

[bikkuri bahn]

Thanks Bill, for the addtl. vids.  Yes, it was the TANIGUMI line that I rode.  I got it mixed up with the other line which I believe was located on the other side of Gifu.  The similarity of Mino and Tanigumi terminus threw me off.  The Mo units had the all red Meitetsu house colors too. The station where tablet exchange occured was Kitanobata, I think.

 

http://nagoya.cool.ne.jp/mitisato/kitanobata/kitanobataindex.html

[bikkuri bahn]

Still ran by the Shinano RR (169 Series), Fujikyuu RR and Chichibu RR. Derratives of the 165 Series are still in use at the Izukyu RR I believe as well (100 Series).

 

Point taken.  But not the same as riding a "Shonan" (mikan orange and green) color 165 series on their original route of the Tokaido Line.  Still regret not catching the 165 series express "Tokai" back in '96- back then alot of old JNR types were still running about, as the inverter types were just starting to proliferate.

[ToniBabelony]

Point taken.  But not the same as riding a "Shonan" (mikan orange and green) color 165 series on their original route of the Tokaido Line.  Still regret not catching the 165 series express "Tokai" back in '96- back then alot of old JNR types were still running about, as the inverter types were just starting to proliferate.

 

True, true. I've never experienced the 165/169 though. I hope to ride one soon, as the Shinano RR had one repainted in Shounan colours recently. I also hope to ride one of the 113/115 Series on the Toukaidou that are still around and are quite rapidly being replaced with newer types.

[scott]

From that second video in Bill's first post, I think I'd be seasick on that thing! The bouncing and waggling seem pretty bad.... :-P

[bill937ca]

From that second video in Bill's first post, I think I'd be seasick on that thing! The bouncing and waggling seem pretty bad.... :-P

 

Maybe if you sat right at the back, otherwise you would just get a hard jolt once in awhile.  But really no one but railfans were riding these lines.

 

Modern 100% low floor streetcars are much worse.

[scott]

Didn't mean to criticize--I just thought it was funny to watch.

 

Should have used one of these: 

[bill937ca]

Didn't mean to criticize--I just thought it was funny to watch.

 

Should have used one of these:   

 

I didn't think it was criticism Scott.  I rode the Riverside line in Boston when the track was like that in the late 60s.  The cars were known as swing-sway trolleys.  But because they were PCC cars and had seats right at the back, you got the full shakedown!    I never found the hard sideways jolt as bad as hitting say a large pothole right on in a bus or car. On that Gifu car the operator is only one right at the end of the car and the only getting the full force of the wavy track.

[scott]

Maybe if their revenue is falling they could re-market the line as a thrill ride....

[disturbman]

I think it's too late for that.