Tenri Special: JR East 189 at Nara

[miyakoji]

So, it looks like there are a lot of videos on youtube of charter services to Tenri, I'm guessing for followers of Tenri-kyo.  Here's an interesting one showing a JR East 189 series in Azusa livery pulling in at Nara.  I'd like to see an E351 here!

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjd44DG_N4w

[Kabutoni]

Lol. A rare JR East train quite deep into JR West territory? Awesome find! I found a JR Central unit would be more logical.

 

The E351 probably doesn't have clearance for JR West tracks I think, so you won't find them that fast.

[bikkuri bahn]

Lol. A rare JR East train quite deep into JR West territory? Awesome find! I found a JR Central unit would be more logical.

 

Apparently the JR East 183/189 series are available for hire for chartered trains such as this.  Their rolling stock roster is much larger than JR Central, so that's probably why these units are used.

 

*I find the JR West train arrival warning signal extremely annoying.  I like the new elevated station platform roof details though, such as this one and at Himeji.

[miyakoji]

The E351 probably doesn't have clearance for JR West tracks I think, so you won't find them that fast.

Do you mean physical clearance or some kind of authorization?  Interesting, I had never really thought of that.

[westfalen]

Lol. A rare JR East train quite deep into JR West territory? Awesome find! I found a JR Central unit would be more logical.

 

The E351 probably doesn't have clearance for JR West tracks I think, so you won't find them that fast.

It probably makes sense to use the older JNR era trains as they would have been used all over the network and it may be easier to find crews that would be qualified to run them than the E351's or other newer trains, besides the fact that there are probably spare ones sitting around as they are replaced by newer trains.

[Kabutoni]

Yeah, I was thinking of authorisation as it's a post-JNR type of train. The possible reason westfalen pointed out with the crews is also a good one.

[miyakoji]

it may be easier to find crews that would be qualified to run them than the E351's or other newer trains

 

Ah right, crews have to qualify on rolling stock.  Didn't think of that.

 

*I find the JR West train arrival warning signal extremely annoying.

 

The chime that continues behind the spoken announcement?  It's not that bad is it?  The warning that sounds when a train is ready to leave, that one always freaked me out--I thought it was an air raid or something.

[bikkuri bahn]

The chime that continues behind the spoken announcement?  It's not that bad is it?  The warning that sounds when a train is ready to leave, that one always freaked me out--I thought it was an air raid or something.

 

Yes, what you say, the departure chime, very repetitive.  The other one is ok.  Somewhere in Osaka this past weekend I heard a station chime using the tune from "I've been working on the rr" (JR Station, not Hanshin), which I like.

[westfalen]

The chime that continues behind the spoken announcement?  It's not that bad is it?  The warning that sounds when a train is ready to leave, that one always freaked me out--I thought it was an air raid or something.

 

Yes, what you say, the departure chime, very repetitive.  The other one is ok.  Somewhere in Osaka this past weekend I heard a station chime using the tune from "I've been working on the rr" (JR Station, not Hanshin), which I like.

I've heard it (I've been working on the RR) on the Sanyo Line platforms at Okayama back in 2006.

[bikkuri bahn]

The chime that continues behind the spoken announcement?  It's not that bad is it?  The warning that sounds when a train is ready to leave, that one always freaked me out--I thought it was an air raid or something.

 

Yes, what you say, the departure chime, very repetitive.  The other one is ok.  Somewhere in Osaka this past weekend I heard a station chime using the tune from "I've been working on the rr" (JR Station, not Hanshin), which I like.

I've heard it (I've been working on the RR) on the Sanyo Line platforms at Okayama back in 2006.

 

That's it! I got off a Hikari Railstar at Okayama, and transferred to a local train (115-3000 series) bound for Mihara.  I was only briefly there, but the tune stuck in my mind, but I couldn't recall the location.