One day on the Hankai

[Nick_Burman]

 

Bill will love the shot down the shotengai...

 

Cheers NB

[miyakoji]

excellent find.  I wish I knew more about the finer points of tram operations versus heavy rail, but I can enjoy this just for the neighborhoods it goes through.  It's interesting how some trams have survived while lots of others were pulled up and replaced with buses or subways, and I think that's true in various cities all over the world.

[bikkuri bahn]

I'm not a big tram fan like you Nick (or Bill), being a more of a "heavy rail" guy, but I can't help but rave about the Hankai- the terminus at Hamadera Ekimae is untouched and unadulterated by "modern" improvements, and down the street is Nankai's Hamadera Koen station (another gem, slated for demolition or possibly relocation). One ride on a mo 161- complete with wood interiors, rattling car body and moaning nose-hung traction motors, made me a believer.

[Davo Dentetsu]

That video certainly had some amazing quality to it.  The lighting really brought it alive.

[Ken Ford]

Thanks for posting the video link - it makes it easier to imagine how to properly model Japanese prototypes when you can see them like this.

[bikkuri bahn]

Ken, the Hankai is positively dripping with modelleable scenes.  For some reason, Ayanocho Station in Sakai City had a big impact on me- something about being on a curve with the line leaving the private right of way onto the median in the boulevard, and the down direction platform dripping with atmosphere (the up platform is unremarkable).　I can't find a youtube video that captures the scene as I saw it, the closest is this one, though taken from an up direction service and the down platform is concealed by another tram:

 

pics (series from the third picture):

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/max451124/60663991.html

 

series from the fourth picture:

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/max451124/59345285.html

 

Google street view:

http://goo.gl/maps/88dU

[Nick_Burman]

I'm not a big tram fan like you Nick (or Bill), being a more of a "heavy rail" guy, but I can't help but rave about the Hankai- the terminus at Hamadera Ekimae is untouched and unadulterated by "modern" improvements, and down the street is Nankai's Hamadera Koen station (another gem, slated for demolition or possibly relocation). One ride on a mo 161- complete with wood interiors, rattling car body and moaning nose-hung traction motors, made me a believer.

 

To be fair, neither am I, at least concerning the purely urban systems. The only truly urban system I'm interested in Japan is the Toden Arakawa line, and then mainly after the arrival of the new 8800 series cars. Otherwise I'm more interested in interurban, intercity (yes, there is a distiction between both, as far as I'm concerned) and other trolley systems which don't quite fit any particular class, like, say, the Randen or the Asahikawa Tramway.

 

EDIT: I'm not surprised you got hooked by the Mo160 series cars - other than the wooden interiors, rattling bodies and traction motor noise, the cars also have a passing similarity to a Pacific Electric "Hollywood" car. Maybe by riding the Hankai cars you made up subconsciously for the fact of having missed riding the PE ...

 

Cheers NB

[bill937ca]

Ken, the Hankai is positively dripping with modelleable scenes.  For some reason, Ayanocho Station in Sakai City had a big impact on me- something about being on a curve with the line leaving the private right of way onto the median in the boulevard, and the down direction platform dripping with atmosphere (the up platform is unremarkable).　I can't find a youtube video that captures the scene as I saw it, the closest is this one...

 

Google street view:

http://goo.gl/maps/88dU

 

Here are some videos.  

 

 

 

[dabsan]

Fantastic very high quality video. Good lighting and colour, excellent!!

[keitaro]

i live 10 minutes drive from here been thinking about going on it one day soon

 

http://www.hankai.co.jp/ pretty cheap 480 en all day trip and bus.

 

i guess 15 mins to hamadera-ekimae http://www.hankai.co.jp/waies/index.html

 

looks like a good days trip