Home Town Tochigi for Kuroiso to retire in Dec.

[gmat]

I was told that this will retire in Dec, so people have been showing up to snap photos. Here are some that I've took recently. I've become interested in 185 series as it mixes old style design with being different from the more common commuters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[miyakoji]

I was told that this will retire in Dec, so people have been showing up to snap photos. Here are some that I've took recently. I've become interested in 185 series as it mixes old style design with being different from the more common commuters.

 

Nice photos there, Grant.  I'm a fan of the 185 series too.  It looks like the Hometown Tochigi and Ohayo Tochigi services will indeed end with the revised schedule effective December 4th.

 

The headmark does say tokkyu, so I assume they are charging full limited express fare for this?  I wonder why it's not classified as a homeliner/ohayoliner, those have a 310 yen surcharge, if I recall correctly.  Seems a lot more appealing.

[bikkuri bahn]

The headmark does say tokkyu, so I assume they are charging full limited express fare for this?  I wonder why it's not classified as a homeliner/ohayoliner, those have a 310 yen surcharge, if I recall correctly.  Seems a lot more appealing.

 

Well, come the new year, long distance commuters will have to pay more anyway* to take the shinkansen, so they may actually remember these as "cheap".  JR East is really taking the axe to these marginal ltd. express services, which is a pity, as it adds variety to otherwise mundane activity on capital region main lines.

 

*or rather their employers, if they're lucky

[miyakoji]

I don't know what I'm doing wrong here, I thought base fares were the same over almost all of the JR network, but here's a quick comparison of the Hometown Tochigi versus the Hanwa Liner:

 

• JR East Hometown Tochigi: Shinjuku to Furukawa, 61.8 km, 61 minutes, 1,110 yen base fare, 900 yen non-reserved limited express fare, total 2,010 yen
  
• JR West Hanwa Liner: Tennōji to Wakayama, 61.3 km, 59 minutes, 830 yen base fare, 310 yen "Liner" fare, total 1,140 yen
  

 

I know which I prefer.  Certainly there are other factors, the existence of a shinkansen, competing private railways, etc.

 

references: http://transit.goo.ne.jp/ and http://ekikara.jp/

 

 

JR East is really taking the axe to these marginal ltd. express services, which is a pity, as it adds variety to otherwise mundane activity on capital region main lines.

 

 

Agree completely.  I don't know what name it was under, but once upon a time (like JNR era) there was a limited express service connecting Tennōji and Nagoya--via the Kisei Main Line!  I think it was operated with KIHA181s, even now that route is not entirely electrified.  What a great ride that must have been.  This would of course be a JR West/Central service, but your point is dead on.

[bikkuri bahn]

I don't know what name it was under, but once upon a time (like JNR era) there was a limited express service connecting Tennōji and Nagoya--via the Kisei Main Line!  I think it was operated with KIHA181s, even now that route is not entirely electrified.

 

That would be the limited express "Kuroshio" in its first version.  The service used the original kiha 80/81 diesel ltd. express units (ex-Hatsukari?) with the famous "lions head" (my term) cab fronts.  When the Kisei Main Line was electrified as far as Shingu in 1978, this long distance service was split up, with the electrified portion served by the "Kuroshio" with 381 series, and the non-electrified portion Nagoya-Shingu by the "Nanki" with kiha 82 units.

 

http://www.railstation.net/duke/ressha/ltdexp_kuroshio.html

[miyakoji]

One more day!

 

[gmat]

I'm sitting in the first car but on the opposite side. Only rode to Omiya.

 

Asked a nearby railfan to snap my photo.

 

 

 

Snapped it after getting off at Omiya.

 

 

List of changes at Shinjuku after tomorrow.

 

Not noticed very much, but the 20:30 Homeliner Odawara is also ending.

The weekend Akagi at 18:02 is pushed back to 21:04.

 

Grant

[miyakoji]

Nice pics gmat.  I think the first one is not showing, however.

[gmat]

Sorry, Miyakoji, I should have made it more clear that I was in the preceding video, if it was shot yesterday.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[gmat]

After the last train has left, the maintenance crew updates the boarding signs and schedules.

 

After the the last Hometown Tochigi had passed. I missed it as I had a class. I happened to speak to a railfan who said that the crowd wasn't as large as previous send off crowds, about half the size. There were only a few to shoot the Home-Liner Odawara at 20:30. Two to shoot it actually depart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some passengers appear pretty nonchalant while people work around them.

 

 

 

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[gmat]

This is after the Home-Liner Odawara had passed, but still working on the same platform. The 20:30 had used the opposite platform, but the new one will use platform 6.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[miyakoji]

lots of good pics there, thanks Grant.  Too bad about the end of this service.

[bikkuri bahn]

I happened to speak to a railfan who said that the crowd wasn't as large as previous send off crowds, about half the size.

 

Maybe they were all in Northern Tohoku to see the end of ltd. express services on the Tohoku Main Line, before the opening of the Shinkansen to Shin Aomori...