Just went on a long vacation...

[Fat Al]

Went from Tokyo, to Zao in Yamagata, Sendai, Aomori, Akita, and back to Tokyo.

 

The buzz from the imminent arrival of the E5 is quite huge, especially up north. There seems to be all kinds of promotions relating to it's debut, and I just missed out on a test ride on it when I was in Sendai too!

 

Anyway, I didn't take many pictures train related, but here are a few random smatterings...

 

Senzan line from Yamagata to Sendai

 

 

Shin-Aomori

 

 

Aomori Station from my hotel room

 

 

Just caught the Hokutosei pulling into Shin Aomori.

 

 

The Super Hakucho and Tsugaru from Shin-Aomori. I took the Tsugaru to Akita from there.

 

 

On the way to Akita

 

 

Akita Eki

 

 

The Komachi to Kakunodate and Sendai

 

 

Back to Tokyo

 

 

 

E5!

 

 

Nice day in Tokyo

 

[bikkuri bahn]

Nice grab shot of the E5 in the yards at Tabata.

[disturbman]

E5 and EF510 in Cassiopeia livery!  

[Bernard]

Al - Welcome back and hope you have a nice vacation....it looks like they got a lot of snow there. Nice shots of the E-3!

[Fat Al]

Nice grab shot of the E5 in the yards at Tabata.

 

E5 and EF510 in Cassiopeia livery! 

 

I was quite surprised, because usually when I pass Tabata during the daytime, there norally isn't much to see. Hardly had enough time to turn the camera on this time. ;)

[Fat Al]

Al - Welcome back and hope you have a nice vacation....it looks like they got a lot of snow there. Nice shots of the E-3!

 

Thanks Bernard! It was great skiing at Zao, actually. Then it warmed up to 13C when I got to Aomori. Quite weird actually.

[disturbman]

Nice grab shot of the E5 in the yards at Tabata.

 

E5 and EF510 in Cassiopeia livery! 

 

I was quite surprised, because usually when I pass Tabata during the daytime, there norally isn't much to see. Hardly had enough time to turn the camera on this time. ;)

 

You must have been lucky. I also add that I think there is a second JRE EF510 in Hokkutosei livery just behind the Cassiopeia one.

[westfalen]

And a third behind it next to the white two story building, extra lucky.

 

A few smatterings? That's quite a collection.

 

The train you caught passing through Shin-Aomori however was the Akebono, not the Hokutosei. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akebono_%28train%29 Probably an even better catch, everyone takes pictures of the Hokutosei.

[Fat Al]

Ah, thanks for the correction! I definitely don't know nearly as much as you guys do, so bear with me.

 

BTW, I do find it quite interesting now with the installation of the safety gates you see above at Shin-Aomori. They have the same gates too at Hachinohe. While I think it may deter a few folks from jumping onto the tracks, they can be climbed over quite easily if one so wished. So I'm not sure what the purpose is, but it does make taking good pictures much harder now from the confines of the station.

[miyakoji]

I think they have those gates there because it's a monorail or whatever and there's no conventional track that can be walked on.  The only place I can think of that JR has gates is on the Yamanote Line, and iirc that's brand new and still under construction.

[westfalen]

There are gates at Shin-Aomori, there is a Shinkansen in the photo, normal practice for some years at Shinkansen stations where there are no non-platform tracks for through trains. True people could easily jump over them but Japanese people are not as apt to do things they aren't supposed to.

[miyakoji]

Completely missed that image, obviously .

 

Moderatorial edit: People, try not to quote whole conversations and/or previous the message when answering. It doesn't make sense and make the forum harder to read. Thanks!

[scott]

Nice pictures! The scenery and buildings are interesting (and useful!), and Kakunodate looks like an interesting station. Where did you take the last picture before the Shin-Aomori set starts?

 

Oh, and how was the trip on the Tsugaru? If we ever go, I hope to take that one, and I'd like to find a model of that 485.