Japanese Vacation No.9 (week 2)

[westfalen]

Amagi Railway at Amagi.

[westfalen]

When I got back to the Nishitetsu I caught the next inbound train to Futsukaichi to do the Dazaifu branch.

[Nick_Burman]

I wonder why they don't just make one trip instead of having two light engine movements.

 

What??? And deny the boys their sinecure???

 

 

Cheers NB

[westfalen]

Dazaifu branch.

[westfalen]

For a bit of Japanese culture I had a look around the Tenman Gu shrine at Dazaifu.

 

Tomorrow I'll be doing a big figure 8 to Kokura and back via some JR cross country lines I haven't been on yet and the Chikuho Dentetsu that I did last year after dark and thought I should do it justice and ride it again in daylight.

[The_Ghan]

Epic post West,

 

Looks like you're having a great time and covering quite a few miles that day. I didn't get your big deal about the mildly air conditioned car until I saw the photo.  Your description about the freight handling was great.  I bet those guys have a lot of fun shunting cars around one at a time all day.

 

I noticed on one of those platforms that it was technically impossible to stand behind the yellow line.  That would really give me a Mr Bean moment.  Nice. 

 

Finally, which finger has that girl at the temple raised?  Who is she raising it to, and why?

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[stevenh]

...Finally, which finger has that girl at the temple raised?  Who is she raising it to, and why?...

 

Hah, it nearly does look like the bird... but it's not... it's her index finger, but that's not how they beckon people? So I'm also curious!

[westfalen]

Looks like you're having a great time and covering quite a few miles that day.

I'm getting too old for this, I'll be glad to get back to work so I can have a break.

 

I did a big figure '8' to Kokura and back today via the Kagoshima Main Line, Chikuho Main Line, Chikuho Dentetsu, KagoshimaMain  Line, Hitahikosan Line, Gotoji Line and the Sasaguri Line. It was still light when I got back to Hakata so I decided to do the Kashii Line to Umi and the end of the Nishitetsu Kaizuka line to Shinguu. We did the Kaizuka line from Wajiro to Kaizuka on the 2006 Trainaway Tours trip when we did the Kashii Line to Saitozaki, if we had known most of the rest of the line would close in 2007 we would have gone the other way too, there are times when you could kick yourself.

 

The trams and bus were next to Chikuzen Yamae station the first stop on the Chikuho Main Line after leaving Haruda.

 

I would have loved to travel some of these 'main lines' around northern Kyushu in their heyday, you can tell by the old infrastructure at stations that it was a busier network than it is today.

[westfalen]

My new prize for the most uncomforable seats on JR goes to the 817. While I'm sure one of JR Kyushu's top train designers spent a lot of time and got paid a lot of money to come up with them they feel like sitting on two pieces of plywood.

 

It was easy to find the Chikuho Dentetsu's station in Nagata this time after looking for it at night last year.

[westfalen]

The Gotoji Line runs through the middle of a quarry, which might account for the dirty (by JR standards) window.

[westfalen]

When I got to Umi it was getting late but still light enough to get some pics and videos of the kiha 47's coming and going.

 

Back at Hakata I had to have another look at Tokyu Hand's Christmas display. I wouldn't mind that live steam D51.

 

I also paid a return visit to the hobby shop upstairs at the station as they had a second hand Kato 700 series add on set which one of the club members back home was after. I picked up a second hand Micro Ace A-5945 Motor Rail set (that's the QR term, I don't know what JR called them) and some Hogarakadou Containers to add some colour to my container trains.

[bikkuri bahn]

My new prize for the most uncomforable seats on JR goes to the 817.

 

They look like furniture that would come out of a bachelor pad circa 1985.  Once again, overdesign. I bet these seats will be replaced in the next renewal.  The 813 series seating look much more comfortable, with proper "velour" upholstery, like most train seating in Japan.

[scott]

Yeah, those seats *look* like sheets of plywood. Nice big windows, though.

 

Lots of good pictures again--I'm enjoying this thread.

 

Just wondering--it looks like the trains on some of these lines have a loading gauge that's barely wider than the track gauge. Are they small cars on standard-gauge tracks, or are they just really tiny?

 

Also--is your JR pass good on any of these private lines?

[westfalen]

 

Yeah, those seats *look* like sheets of plywood. Nice big windows, though.

 

Lots of good pictures again--I'm enjoying this thread.

 

Just wondering--it looks like the trains on some of these lines have a loading gauge that's barely wider than the track gauge. Are they small cars on standard-gauge tracks, or are they just really tiny?

 

Also--is your JR pass good on any of these private lines?

The Chikuho Dentetsu is trams running on standard gauge making them look narrow.

 

The Jr pass is valid only on JR so you have to pay on private lines which usually isn't much because they are normally short. The Chikuho Dentetsu from Nogata to Kirosaki for example cost 420 Yen.

[scott]

OK--thanks!

[westfalen]

Did a big loop to the west and south of Hakata today.

 

I started out on a JR Kyushu 303 that ran through from the subway to Nishi Karatsu. I saw JR posters in the train advertising travel to Miyazaki via Shinkansen and bus from Kagoshima, to get passengers off those rough riding 787's perhaps? The Toyoko Inn here has a better breakfast selection which is a good thing because there is nothing to be had to eat within walking distance of Karatsu station at 9am on a Saturday morning.

 

I did a return trip to Imari giving me my first ever ride in a kiha 125 'Yellow One Man Diesel Car'. I noted some 125's running with kiha 47's including one sandwiched between two 47's forming a three car set.

[westfalen]

On the way back I had planned to get off at the junction, Yamamoto, but on the way out I saw there was nothing much nearby except a 7-11 so I went all the way back to Karatsu to avoid a 1hr 7min stop over at Yamamoto which must have been one of those places all countries have that existed for no reason other than it was a place the railway decided to put a junction station. In an odd piece of timetabling for Japan the train to Saga leaves Yamamoto a minute before the one from Imari arrives, in Australia you would have a 50/50 chance the other train would be a couple of minutes late and you would make the connection or a train crew would hold back a minute to let it happen but because it is Japan the Saga train as expected pulled out just as the Imari train approached the platform.

 

In Karatsu I went for a walk through one of those covered shopping arcades with many closed shops, a lot of them had what looked like real estate agents signs on them. Some may have been closed because it was Saturday but the whole place had an air of decay about it, the few open shops, as someone mentioned, looked like they were only there waiting until their owners retired or passed away.

[westfalen]

Even the ice cream parlor at Karatsu was closed down.

 

It was an uneventful trip on a pair of kiha 47's to Saga where I had lunch and took a standing room in the aisles only White Sonic as Kamome #25 to Ishaya to ride to the end of the Shimabara Railway. when I got to Ishaya I just caught a shot of two of the JNR coloured railcars I had seen on an excursion at Mojiko last year departing in the direction of Sasebo.

[westfalen]

Shimabara Railway.

[westfalen]

When I saw the sign on the way to the ferry terminal at Shimabara Gaiko the thought occurred to me, is there a place in Japan named Gillard?

 

I took the ferry across to Kumamoto from where I got an 800 series shinkansen back to Hakata. I remembered the seats in the 800 series from my last ride on one in 2006, I think they were designed by the guy who got a good deal on plywood for the 817 seats and just added a little extra padding seeing it was a Shinkansen.

[westfalen]

Last for today, a digital photo frame for railfans at Tokyu Hands. While browsing there on the way to the hotel tonight I picked up some Wakayama Electric Railway station master cat souveniers for my sister-in-law who is one (a station master that is, not a cat), I plan on going there later in the trip but when I saw them I thought I'll get them just in case.

 

In the morning on my move to Hiroshima I am planning to take an all stations Kodama and spend and hour or so at a Kodama only station enroute to get some video of Shinkansen speeding past.

[bikkuri bahn]

Interesting photo frame there, it's intended for smart phones like iphone or android, and it's an Oigawa Rlwy. officially licensed product.

 

*it's fortunate you chose tomorrow to leave- the Sanyo Shinkansen had a signal foul-up today, causing a 3 hour delay.

[KenS]

I like the "Ocean Liner".  I'm sure it's a variation of the use of "liner" for commuter expresses, but it sure rings wrong to western ears that expect an ocean liner to be a floating hotel (or these days a floating restort complex).

[westfalen]

I like the "Ocean Liner".  I'm sure it's a variation of the use of "liner" for commuter expresses, but it sure rings wrong to western ears that expect an ocean liner to be a floating hotel (or these days a floating restort complex).

Or the first time visitor who gets an airport 'limousine' into town and finds himself on a bus.

[quinntopia]

Really enjoyable photos and stories Westfalen!  Those photos of the two 787's at the top at the station is amazing!  Also digging the steeple cab photos...not something I think about with Japan, but has a very romantic feel to see these old things still running there on small industrial jobs!