Favorite Blue Trains Poll

[1954G]

I thought it would be interesting to find out which blue trains were the most popular among this site's users.  I apologize if one of your favorite locomotive-hauled sleeper trains isn't on the poll (I could only add 20 choices).  

 

My tastes tend toward trains that use the 24/25 series passenger coaches and have distinctive liveries.  So I had to pick the Twilight Express (retiring this month) and Hokutosei, as well as the Asakaze.

 

The early 1970s Taisetsu also makes my list because the D51 was one of the classes of locomotive that hauled it. 

 

Although it isn't really a blue train, the Cassiopeia's streamlined look and matching EF510 placed it in my top five.  

 

 

 

[JR 500系]

Interesting Poll!

 

For me the Cassiopeia takes the cake, both in terms of the carriages and the interior. It just feels like a Hotel on wheels and the sleek Grey with the multi-coloured stripes are just pleasing on the eyes, along with the EF-81 Special Livery or the EF-510. Amazing.  

 

The Twlight Express is a close second. The green is slick, but the Cassiopeia's grey grows on me more.   :)

[HantuBlauLOL]

Twillight for me, because it uses EF81 until its death and I've seen one in real life..

 

 

Off topic: Indonesia used to have a blue train sleeper service too back then in 70's, Named Bima (Biru Malam, or Blue Night)

 

[Sacto1985]

I believe the last of the true Blue Train sleeper trains is Akebono, but I wouldn't call it a true overnight train because in recent years, Akebono no longer had a dining car like you have with Hokutosei and Cassiopeia. 

[Guest keio6000]

akatsuki for the win.

3 different locos (at least), interesting variety of wagons, formerly jrpass compatible (in the legato seat car). And my then girlfriend now wife had that legato seat wagon to ourselves a couple of times say no more say no more.

And the tomix commemorative set is really nicely detailed and still available at a reasonable bargain.

Full respect for those who voted for some of the more obscure ones.

 

Edited March 8, 2015 by keio6000

[miyakoji]

Full respect for those who voted for some of the more obscure ones.

I've got to read some background on routings and history before making my selections :).  Off the top of my head I'm thinking Taisetsu and Izumo...

[spacecadet]

Twilight Express is the most luxurious of the remaining blue trains (and might be the most luxurious ever), at least until it's retired. Then that honor will fall to Cassiopeia, although Cassiopeia was probably always in second place by that criteria anyway. But if I remember reading right, it'll be the last train in Japan with dining car services.

 

I can't remember when it's also being retired but I hope I can ride it this year. If it's still there next time I go, I plan to get tickets however I have to. I've kind of given up on getting the suite room in the end car (wife and I tried for it several times already), so I plan to just take whatever we can get while we still can.

[bikkuri bahn]

Asakaze and Ginga for me.  Rode both.  Asakaze just a year or so before it was axed, start of journey at Shimonoseki in the early evening.  Ginga also just before the axe fell.  I prefer the more "blue collar" trains, aimed at the everyman, where a B shindai berth was welcome for the long trip.  They were transport for those who needed to get to the big city for their first job or start of college, and to get home for the holidays, as well as businessmen who wanted a full day at the work site but couldn't stay overnight. Cassiopeia and Twilight express are not Blue Trains IMO, they're cruise trains for tourists.  Hokutosei is debatable, it's historic in that it began with the opening of the Seikan Tunnel, but its history existing in the JR era rather than JNR and its cruise train trappings make it less worthy in my eyes.  Not on the list, but perhaps my favorite and most ridden for me, is the overnight express Hamanasu.  Now that is definitely not a tourist train.

Edited March 9, 2015 by bikkuri bahn

[utrainia]

Not on the list, but perhaps my favorite and most ridden for me, is the overnight express Hamanasu.  Now that is definitely not a tourist train.

 

*Shudder*... I took that one on my JR pass, thinking I was in for a real Blue Train sleeper. Instead I got a student-special in peak holiday season. All the overhead storage was taken, so I had my backpack in the cramped leg space. The seats barely reclined and weren't designed for westerners... me head towered over the headrest. And the carriage lights were bright enough to do surgery under... no fancy dimming there lol! The A/C was super noisy and the engineer ran the slack in and out of the train 3 times at every stop so you wouldn't miss your station. Nothing like being jolted awake every hour throughout the night!

 

So now 14 series carriages are my most hated JR carriage, I refuse to run them on my railway :-) To make matter even worse, I was in carriage #3, and the first 3 carriages were 24/25 class sleepers. But they were numbered 1, 2, 21, 3... so I just missed out! So yes, definitely NOT a tourist train lol. I would still like to take a 24/25 class train, but I suspect they'll all be withdrawn by the time I return to JR-land.

[Sacto1985]

That's why I think Akebono was the last of the old time overnight trains from Aomori to Ueno stations. Its emphasis was on being a basic overnight sleep train, not a luxurious cruising experience like you got with Twilight Express, Cassiopeia and Hokutosei. 

[spacecadet]

Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but when did we start aspiring to having *worse* accommodations on a train?

 

I'm sure we can all outdo each other with tales of cramped, terrible train experiences. To me, that's not what a night train is supposed to be.

[katoftw]

 

Am I a blue train?  :icon_scratch:

[JR 500系]

According to JR East website, it says Cassiopeia and Hokutosei both have dinning car services...

 

http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/routemaps/cassiopeia_hokutosei.html

[Guest keio6000]

JRW_series285_Sanyo.JPG

 

Am I a blue train?  :icon_scratch:

 

thank you :).  In my mind even casseiopeia and the like are not 'blue trains.'  blue trains should be blue.

 

i mean, "am i a blue train?"

 

[JR 500系]

Just to add on, here's a list of JR overnight trains, with corresponding fees to pay, either with JR Pass or without:

 

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2356.html

 

I'm amazed the Twlight is the longest journey train ride, and it's also cheaper than the Cassiopeia!

[katoftw]

I had to google the Izumo.  I had no idea what it was.  Really stupid considering I'm a Seto fan. haha

[bikkuri bahn]

Shudder*... I took that one on my JR pass, thinking I was in for a real Blue Train sleeper

 

You get what you pay for.  I make it a point to get a B shindai lower berth.  A coach seat is just that, like a bus seat.  As for the non-luxurious overnight accomodations trains, would I take them again?  Yes, in a heartbeat- in this age of lookalike speed and convenience-oriented transport, the quirky and slightly uncomfortable is what makes for the memories- and memories they are for the most part, as they continue to get axed- I recall riding a 165 series in proper shonan colors on the extra train (Ogaki yuki rinji ressha) that preceded the Moonlight Nagara, waiting for hours on the extra platform at Shinagawa Station to get a good unreserved seat, and getting off at Gifu just after the sunrise, to ride the streetcars (also gone) there. Not comfortable, but damn it was full of atmosphere.  Eventually you'll only have nasty overnight buses driven by sleep-deprived drivers to get to your destination cheaply but gambling with your life.  Now that is something I don't want to experience!

Edited March 9, 2015 by bikkuri bahn

[JR 500系]

After studying the cost and time table provided by JR East, I REALLY wanna try to get on board at least one over night train! Perhaps not this trip... The next trip (hopefully) i'll be able to get on the Sunrise to get to Shikoku since I have NEVER been there... Or perhaps an overnight to Hokkaido via Cassiopeia or Hokutosei since I barely covered much Hokkaido in the last trip... 

[katoftw]

Setos will be the only ones left if you don't do it in this trip.

[JR 500系]

Setos will be the only ones left if you don't do it in this trip.

 

Darn...

 

Perhaps the Seven Stars of Kyushu?

 

When I strike lottery that is....   :(

[katoftw]

The Twilight Express has 3 days of life left.  Sad.  Cassiopeia will probably go with the timetable revision next March.

[Sacto1985]

Setos will be the only ones left if you don't do it in this trip.

 

I believe the Sunrise Seto/Izumo may be the last true overnight train left in Japan in regular service once Cassiopeia, Hokutosei and Twilight Express end their regular service in March 2016 when the Hokkaido Shinkansen service starts.

[1954G]

akatsuki for the win.

 

3 different locos (at least), interesting variety of wagons, formerly jrpass compatible (in the legato seat car). And my then girlfriend now wife had that legato seat wagon to ourselves a couple of times say no more say no more.

 

 

By the way, what did you think of the accommodations in the Legato car? Those seats look really comfy!

 

I'll have to pick up a copy of the Tomix farewell set from Yahoo JP Auctions when I have the cash.  This reviewer seemed quite taken with it: http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/toyotagt68/35544951.html 

[SantaFe1970]

I chose Seto, only because I might get a chance to ride it some day... (Glad I have memories of other overnight, sleeping-car train journeys.)

[westfalen]

I picked the Ninhonkai because of a trip I did in 1996.  I  travelled overnight from Osaka to Higashi Noshiro, where I got off in the early hours of the morning, rode the Gono Line, checked out the Tsugaru Railway then got another blue train from Aomori back to Tokyo, I think it was the Hakutsuru, there were so many to pick from back then.

 

In those days they weren't the tourist trains they morphed into in their later years but still just a means of transport.  It was fun waking up in the middle of the night at some little town watching watching passengers boarding with families there to see them off with sleepy eyed kids in their pyjamas, and railwaymen going about their business when everyone else was home in bed, then watching the deserted streets of the town dissappear as the train continued on to it's next stop.  It was the same with sleeping car trains the world over, those that are left are mostly tourist oriented and just whisk you from one tourist spot to the next without all the atmosphere.