Best time to see Mitsui Miike Railway?

[westfalen]

I'm planning a day trip down to Omuta to try and see the Mitsui Miike Railway in operation and ride the Nishitestu while I'm in Hakata in November and I'm wondering if anyone knows which is the best time of day to see the Mitsui Miike in action.

[bikkuri bahn]

Apparently the tanker trains run according to demand from the plant, times are determined on the day of running (includes Sat and Sun).  A blog report from one day in 2008 had two AM roundtrips from the Miyaura Yard to the JR main line interchange (dept. Miyaura at 9:20 and 10:40), and one round trip at 13:00, with some days having an additional trip at 15:00. There also is container traffic, that runs in early AM to the interchange (7am?).  Please note this info is old.

 

Consulting my 2010 JR Freight timetable, there is a daily container train #1152 originating at Omuta bound for Kita-Kyushu terminal, departing Omuta at 12:02.  In the opposite direction, the container train #1151 from Kita-Kyushu arrives Omuta at 8:01. 

[bikkuri bahn]

Speaking of Nishitetsu, if you have time, I recommend a visit to the Nishitetsu Kaizuka Line, which is the haunt of the 313 series, currently the oldest rolling stock in use on any of the major private railways in Japan (excluding Kintetsu's narrow gauge lines).  The 313 series is also notable in that it was the first monocoque body design in Japan (1952), and was the inspiration for the more famous Tokyu 5000 series "green frog" EMU design which came two years later.

 

[westfalen]

Thanks for that info. I think I'll head down there first thing in the morning and then see where the day goes from there. I rode the Kaizuka line in 2006.

[The_Ghan]

My wife thought these were so cute ... until I suggested that I buy a couple ... 

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan