1 car operation

[MangakaRailfan]

Are there any real life Japanese railway lines that operate single unit Dmus or Emus?

[Junech]

The two railways that I know by heart with single unit DMUs service would be Tarumi Railway and Nagaragawa Railway. Both have models in N scale and Tarumi Railway has one H0 model too.

[N-Osoi]

2 hours ago, MangakaRailfan said:

single unit Dmus

The Geibi line in Hiroshima does 

Geibi Line

 

and a couple of us have this special livery DMU 

Edited June 6 by N-Osoi

[SL-san]

4 hours ago, MangakaRailfan said:

Are there any real life Japanese railway lines that operate single unit Dmus or Emus?

Wakasa Railway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakasa_Line is a third sector operator that often runs single DMUs and Tomytec produced a version of WT3000 https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10883308 that can be powered with Tomytec TM-23 power unit.

I have WT3001 powered and WT3003 unpowered trailer in an earlier livery that I ran on my Wakasa no Sakura layout😁

Cheers,

Graeme

[DenshaTen]

I believe single Kiha 110's have run between Aizu Wakamatsu and Niitsu on the Ban'etsu West Line, with Greenmax making such a model.

[Gunzel]

Pretty sure I’ve been on a single car diesel railcar on every single JR, and plenty of private and third sector railways also run single car diesel railcars. 
 

Electric is a lot rarer in my experience and the only one I’ve been on is on JR West in the Yamaguchi area. This photo is at Ube station. 

 

The Gakunan Railway also run single electric cars but I haven’t made it there yet. 

[Tony Galiani]

The South Hokkaido Railway runs single car trains out of Hakodate.  KiHa 40s.

Nimo5 has a video showing single car DMUs on the Hakubi line.

The Shimabara Railway in Kyushu also runs single car trains.

There are a couple of lines in Shikoku that also run single car trains though I do not have the specifics handy.

Ciao,

Tony

[Beaver]

Single car electric services used to be very common in the Showa period. A lot of the early electric stock, especially the cheap stuff built for local lines, was simple electric railcars with no multiple unit capability. When a multi car train was required the railcar would just pull some simple loco-hauled style passenger cars and run around them at each end of the line like a locomotive would. You will find huge numbers of beautiful historic single unit electrics of this sort available from the likes of Tomytec.

 

In the modern context the single car electric is rare indeed. With fossil fuels much cheaper since the 1950s there is no longer nearly as great an incentive to use electric traction on low traffic routes.

[MangakaRailfan]

Thank you guys! I’ve been wanting to run a single car emu or dmu on my layout for a bit (the curves are sharp so any more would probably derail the train.) I wanted to replicate the use of Budd rdc cars on railway lines in my province.

[Cat]

The Minato Line regularly runs a single Kiha.  Sometimes 2–3 for big events.

 

[bill937ca]

Japanese language Wikipedia listing Japanese diesel railcars.

 

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:日本の気動車

 

 

[MangakaRailfan]

2 hours ago, Beaver said:

Single car electric services used to be very common in the Showa period. A lot of the early electric stock, especially the cheap stuff built for local lines, was simple electric railcars with no multiple unit capability. When a multi car train was required the railcar would just pull some simple loco-hauled style passenger cars and run around them at each end of the line like a locomotive would. You will find huge numbers of beautiful historic single unit electrics of this sort available from the likes of Tomytec.

 

In the modern context the single car electric is rare indeed. With fossil fuels much cheaper since the 1950s there is no longer nearly as great an incentive to use electric traction on low traffic routes.

Which area of the hobbysearch website might I find them on?

[bill937ca]

Well there are railway service EMU/DMUs.  Many of them run solo.

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/list/1720/6/1

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/list/1732/6/1

[lighthouse]

I think, every local railway line has times, where only 1 car is running.

 

My examples from Hokkaido:

 

Hanasaki Line (former Nemuro Line) - 1 car KiHa 54, in busy season 2 cars, between Kushiro and Nemuro

Sassho Line (Gakuentoshi Line) - 1 car KiHa 40 between Hokkaidō-Iryōdaigaku and Shintotsukawa (till april 2020)

Soya Line - mostly 1 car KiHa 54 / H100, sometimes KiHa 40, between Nayoro and Wakkanai

Hidaka Line - 1 car KiHa 40 between Tomakomai and Mukawa

Yubari Line - 1 car KiHa 40 between Shin-Yubari and Yubari (till april 2019)

Rumoi Line - 1 car Kiha 40 / KiHa 54 between Fukagawa and Rumoi till April 2023 (till december 2016 to Mashike)

Rumoi Line - 1 car KiHa 150 / KiHa54 between Fukagawa and Ishikari-Numata (till march 2026)

Esashi Line (South Hokkaido Railway) - 1 car KiHa 40 up to 3 cars in busy situations

Esashi Line (JR Hokkaido) - 1 car KiHa 40 (till may 2014)

Senmo Line - 1 car KiHa 40 / KiHa 54, up to 2 cars,  between Abashiri and Kushiro

Furano Line - 1 car KiHa 150 / H100 in calmer time, up to 2 cars between Asahikawa and Furano

 

Edited June 7 by lighthouse

[ED75-775]

Don't forget the Moka Railway in Tochigi Prefecture. Their diesel railcars typically operate solo as well. Though from the looks of things only the Moka 63-series DMU cars have been produced as models in the past, not the current ones, so they might not be as easy to come by.

[bill937ca]

Some examples of models.

TOMIX Kiha 120

 

 

 

[Ekiben]

On 6/6/2024 at 8:12 AM, Tony Galiani said:

There are a couple of lines in Shikoku that also run single car trains

A few of the one car DMU and EMU cars I was lucky to see and/or ride during a recent trip to Shikoku. I hope to post a more detailed trip report at some point.

 

Kiha 32 and Kiha 54 on Yosan and Yodo Lines 

Series 1200 and 1500 running on various lines out of Tokushima Station

Series 7000 (EMU) on Yosan Line (on electrified section east of Matsuyama)

Series 1000 on Dosan Line

 

7000 Series EMU at Imabari Station (April 2024)

 

KIHA 54 at IYO-OZU Station (April 2024)

 

KIHA 32 at Matsuyama Station (April 2024)

1000 Series at Tsubojiri Station (April 2024)

KIHA 54 at Tosa-Taisho Station - Welcome to Nanyo livery - (April 2024)

KIHA 32 at Matsumaru Station (April 2024)

KIHA 32 at Tosa-Taisho Station - Hobby Train 0 Series model - (April 2024)

Edited June 9 by Ekiben

[Tony Galiani]

@Ekiben Personally, I would really like to see your trip report.  I am currently planning a trip to Japan for later this year and hoping to get to Shikoku so any info would be appreciated.  Plus, I always enjoy going to Japan vicariously through the experiences of forum members.

Cheers,

Tony

[Zeether]

I could have sworn the Hokuetsu Express used a single car HK100 EMU (it does in Densha De Go) but most of the photos I've seen of it show 2 cars.

Edited June 17 by Zeether

[Socimi]

On 6/18/2024 at 1:20 AM, Zeether said:

I could have sworn the Hokuetsu Express used a single car HK100 EMU (it does in Densha De Go) but most of the photos I've seen of it show 2 cars.

 

Normal service is indeed 2-car sets, but there are (or were) instances where HK100s were used as single-car trains, probably during off-peak and low-traffic days such as holidays.

 

Here are a few pictures of single-car HK100 in revenue service (scroll towards the latter half of the post)

https://matsumoto-superazusa-1m.blog.jp/archives/46946790.html

[Gunzel]

Thanks, I’d forgotten the Hokuhoku line. The day I saw it at Echigo-yuzawa it was a single car, unfortunately I didn’t have time to travel on it that day as I was going to GALA Yuzawa.
 

[Welshbloke]

There have been quite a few classes of single car EMU going back to JNR days, both passenger carrying and post/luggage/service units. Look for anything called a KuMoHa with a cab each end, or a KuMoYa/Yu/Ni for the non-passenger carrying units.

 

JR converted a whole batch of single cars from retired KuMoNi units, Tomytec offered a few of them as Series 20 of their blind box models years ago. There were also single car variants within the 119 Series IIRC.

[Das Steinkopf]

JR Kyushu also operate a number of single car DMU's with the KiHa 125, KiHa 140-2000 and KiHa 220 used on their rural lines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[marknewton]

The Kominato Railway in Chiba runs single car DMUs. So does the connecting Isumi Railway. 
 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[RS18U]

@Das Steinkopf nice photos!