It's Time to Play...Guess the Station!

[Fat Al]

I took these photos on one of my trips back in October. Not sure what the knowledge level in here is, but who knows? It could be fun.

 

[scott]

I've never been to Japan, but my vote is for Manza-Kazawaguchi station in Gunma Prefecture.

[Fat Al]

Wow, that was quick Scott. Haha. You're absolutely right though.

 

Anyone else have pics?

[scott]

Just let me pop over there for a few days, and I'll come back with some. :-)

[Martijn Meerts]

 

Just let me pop over there for a few days, and I'll come back with some. :-)

 

I'll join, so we can take twice as many pictures in the same amount of time ;)

[Guest ___]

Wow, that was quick Scott. Haha. You're absolutely right though.

 

Anyone else have pics?

 

Holly grap!! How'd you do that Scott!?

[miyakoji]

Holly grap!! How'd you do that Scott!?

 

Yeah really.  Even narrowing it down to a 185 series, and that it's a station at a tunnel... still gotta be pretty good with maps if you've never been there.  Below is my (first) contribution.

 

[scott]

Holly grap!! How'd you do that Scott!?

 

 

185s only run on so many routes, and the scene clearly wasn't at the Tokyo end of those lines, and the terrain didn't seem right for the Izu peninsula. I could tell the track was running northeast/southwest or perpendicular to that from the sun angle. There was also one huge landmark--the terraced hillside with the woods at the top/end. I picked one of the three limited-express routes (I went with the Agatsuma line first since I'm interested in it), and started at the (most rural) end of it, looking at the satellite view on Wikimapia, and planning to work my way Tokyo-ward station-by-station. I got really lucky--the first station I looked at, the end of that LEX run on the Agatsuma line, was on a northeast/southwest section of line with that huge terraced hillside in the right place. Et voila.

 

Watson: Well, Holmes, now that you've explained it, I can see that the whole matter is quite clear and simple.

Holmes: <groan>

[stevenh]

Below is my (first) contribution.

 

 

Hashidate service approaching Nijo Station?

I wikipedia'd it and... well... the image on the page seems to be the same location  :glasses2:

 

And so next is:

[miyakoji]

is that the new and improved Fukuchiyama Station?  I've only seen it from below, while the old platforms will still in operation.  I really liked the '60s era JNR stations.

 

How about:

[stevenh]

I cannot find a station (I've only scoured from Osaka to Maibara so far, based on the EMU) with a single track platform.

But I'll continue to search, once I find time :) ... feel free to give cryptic pointers though, like in which direction to search from Osaka, or some-such :)

[bikkuri bahn]

I cannot find a station (I've only scoured from Osaka to Maibara so far, based on the EMU) with a single track platform.

But I'll continue to search, once I find time :) ... feel free to give cryptic pointers though, like in which direction to search from Osaka, or some-such :)

 

Yeah, that's a tough one, I wish I had more time to sleuth.  Other possible hints relate to the adjacent platform that's walled off- perhaps a private railway line platform- the benches there look non-JR to me, but I may be wrong, as I'm not a Kansai guy. Another hint that the adjacent platform may be for a different company is the advertisements on the wall- I don't think these would be placed between plaforms used by the same company.  But I may be mistaken, Kansai does things differently from Kanto practice. Also, this may be a terminating train or a train beginning its run- note the briefcase w/umbrella on the platform, perhaps placed by a train staff member awaiting his/her turn of duty.  Platform canopy design as well as stairwell configuration may also be a clue- this looks to be a "middle aged" facility, with a ground level arrangement as opposed to an elevated setup.

 

Lastly, it's a 207 unit, normally used for local services, but judging by the colors of the destination board, this may be a rapid service, and the destination station is written with two characters.

[miyakoji]

stevenh - stay around Osaka.  Very around it.

 

bikkuri - very observant.  However, the arrangement of the platform, with the barrier, is deceptive.  I don't know if the briefcase and umbrella belong to the motorman, but it's possible; according to JRW, the line behind the train has one name (well actually two), and the line ahead of it has another.  Hint there, I think 

 

btw stevenh... is that the new Fukuchiyama Station above?

[stevenh]

btw stevenh... is that the new Fukuchiyama Station above?

'new' as in 2007 :P. It definitely is.

 

Meanwhile, I was thinking Tennoji or Nishikujo, but the former has no single track platform and the latter has no overhead.

[bikkuri bahn]

I got it! It's Kyobashi Station (lower level), on the JR Tozai Line. The train is a Tozai Line train. The track is the one serving platform 1.  The other behind the wall is platform 2.  I suppose a similar arrangement would be JR Shibuya station on the Yamanote Line. Here's another picture, this time at platform level:

 

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AB:Kyobashi-Tozai_Line_Home.JPG

[miyakoji]

 

Kyobashi indeed, platform 1 on the Katamachi/Gakkentoshi/Tozai Line--although my sign picture here is from the other platform, indicating that Shigino is next.  I took that pic almost 4 years ago now, hard to believe.  I'll have some more in the next few days, gotta dig them out.

 

On a slightly related note, the "shigi" in Shigino is 鴫, which according to Wikipedia are birds like the sandpiper, curlew, and snipe.

[scott]

On a slightly related note, the "shigi" in Shigino is 鴫, which according to Wikipedia are birds like the sandpiper, curlew, and snipe.

 

Interesting--I wonder why. Those are all shore birds, and this isn't *that* far from a river. I wonder if this area was once marshy.

[bikkuri bahn]

On a slightly related note, the "shigi" in Shigino is 鴫, which according to Wikipedia are birds like the sandpiper, curlew, and snipe.

 

Interesting--I wonder why. Those are all shore birds, and this isn't *that* far from a river. I wonder if this area was once marshy.

 

Could possibly be.  The other character 野, means an open wild space, so this area may have once been teeming with birds.

[bikkuri bahn]

This is not one of my pictures, it's from a recent article in the SF Chronicle (actually a good one about shinkansen- and it's very rare to get any good reporting on HSR in America), but I put it out here because the caption is wrong.  Hint: the station is most definitely not in Tokyo, nor is the train going towards Tokyo (it's a "down" train).  This one is not too hard, IMO.

 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2010/05/09/MNU01CVL1U.DTL&object=%2Fc%2Fpictures%2F2010%2F05%2F08%2Fmn-Shinkansen09__0501569031.jpg

 

the article itself:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/09/MNU01CVL1U.DTL

[bikkuri bahn]

source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2010/05/09/MNU01CVL1U.DTL&object=%2Fc%2Fpictures%2F2010%2F05%2F08%2Fmn-Shinkansen09__0501569031.jpg

 

bumping this thread- nobody responded, so I'll give the answer: It's Shizuoka Station.  Clues to the location are: 1. the station configuration- platforms on the sides, rather than an island type, with central though tracks, and (most importantly) 2. the platform number is No. 6, and Shizuoka station is the only station with this number for shinkansen tracks in this configuration. FYI, the No. 6 platform is the down platform (no. 5 is up), so this 700 series train is going in the Nagoya/Shin Osaka direction.

[miyakoji]

Bikkuri, maybe not an obscure station, but some obscure information!  I was going to guess Hamamatsu, but I think that's one that on a curve, no?

 

Sticking strictly to the topic (I have a few interesting where's-this pics, but they're not at stations), here's my next entry:

 

 

It's a little difficult to see, but that's bound for Takamatsu.

[bikkuri bahn]

My guess: Tadotsu Station, in Kagawa Prefecture, on the Yosan Line. The 121 series in the front is on the no. 1 track, picture possibly taken at ground level from the station headhouse?

 

*yes, about Shizuoka Sta.  It's pretty straight, while Hamamatsu is on a curve (saw my last 500 series passing through there last summer), both are otherwise quite similar in layout.

[miyakoji]

Tadotsu it is.  I always get Tadotsu and Utazu mixed up.  多度津　宇多津.  Not totally dissimilar.