Spiral Time on the Hokuriku

[Mudkip Orange]

South of Tsuruga, the Hokuriku line splits and crosses over itself a couple times. "Down" trains head uphill via a set of spiral tunnels, while "Up" trains coast down to Tsuruga on a more direct (and substantially steeper) parallel route.

 

Photos:

-Tsuruga Station has a bit of an art deco theme.

-Tsuruga Station platform

-Shin-Hikita Station

-Route Map

[Mudkip Orange]

Here's a cab ride from Tsuruga to Shin-Hikita. At about 3:10 it turns to cross the valley, crossing over the "Up" line at 3:24.

 

At 7:49, you enter the crossover tunnel. The lines cross again in the tunnel, and when you exit the "Up" line is once again to your right.

 

[Mudkip Orange]

Shin-Hikita isn't a bad place to railfan, with a center express track for Tokkyu and express freights with a need for speed.

 

[Mudkip Orange]

Heading back downhill, here's an "out-the-window" view of the terrain as seen from the right-side window of a Tsuruga-bound local. At about a minute in you can get a feel for how steep this line is by comparing it to the "down" tracks, and then realizing that *those tracks are also heading downhill*.

 

Your train crosses under the "down" line in the first tunnel, then again for a split-second between 2:59 and 3:00. Don't blink, you'll miss it.

 

[Mudkip Orange]

The spiral is also a decent place to catch trains, if you don't mind a bit of a hike. Check out the substantial speed difference between the express at the beginning and the fully-loaded freight a couple trains in. Twilight Express makes an appearance at 2:53.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA9spAytyjU

[Mudkip Orange]

Up for another run? This guy catches some cool reflections from the 521's instrument panel inside the spiral tunnels.

 

[Mudkip Orange]

A couple of expresses and a blue train at Shin-Hikita.

 

[Mudkip Orange]

The kids just love Twilight Express. Here's an AWESOME perspective shot of a "down" train, from the top of the valley, and an "up" train at Shin-Hikita.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TriH4ZlR7E

[Mudkip Orange]

But hey, reality sucks, so why not just play video games?

 

Here's an "up" train exceeding the speed limit and failing to make the required station stops. Shin-Hikita starts at about 6:48. The unmistakable downgrade starts shortly thereafter.

 

[scott]

Looks like good stuff--the downloading has begun.

 

Shin-Hikita is a cool little station by the look of it.

[qwertyaardvark]

Pretty cool line! Love the rural-ness, and man do i miss being in the Hokuriku area~ ^_^

 

As far as the Densha Go! game goes, i don't think he was supposed to stop at those stations, as its was a commuter express train that he was driving. I kept wondering why he kept getting points for bypassing the stations... :P

 

Welps, my morning you-tube video quota is filled with many thanks to this thread 

[scott]

Pretty cool line! Love the rural-ness, and man do i miss being in the Hokuriku area~ ^_^

 

I've never been, but I'd like to go. I think I'm in danger of trying to "focus" on the entire Japan Sea coast...

[qwertyaardvark]

I've never been, but I'd like to go. I think I'm in danger of trying to "focus" on the entire Japan Sea coast...

 

At the financial rate im going, there'll be a Hokuriku maglev line by the time i return.... ;_; If you need a guide, translator, or slave/personal servant while in Japan, I'd be more than happy to be one ^_^

 

I wouldn't blame ya if you focused on the Japan Sea coast. Me practicing to model rural areas and my layout being rural (despite all but 1 of my 15 trains being Shinkansen/HSR) are driven by my experiences on the Hokuriku line and Hokuriku railway. ^_^

[scott]

At the financial rate im going, there'll be a Hokuriku maglev line by the time i return.... ;_;

 

You're on that plan, too, eh? :-/

 

If you need a guide, translator, or slave/personal servant while in Japan, I'd be more than happy to be one ^_^

 

I can offer slave wages, but definitely would need translation services--that might violate some sort of labor law.

 

I wouldn't blame ya if you focused on the Japan Sea coast. Me practicing to model rural areas and my layout being rural (despite all but 1 of my 15 trains being Shinkansen/HSR) are driven by my experiences on the Hokuriku line and Hokuriku railway. ^_^

 

I can believe it--from the bit of research I've done lately, it seems like a really interesting area, plus there are more cool trains going through there than I had realized.

[Guest ___]

Hmmm, I could use a slave over there... A week of lugging gear around gets old pretty quick.