Double duty

[velotrain]

This fellow not only has to drive the train, but also process the tickets.  He also looks at the school girls and thinks of his youth.

 

" In single track between JR chayamachi station ~ JR Uno Station
Rashiku all this intermediate station is unmanned station
It Unten-shi's has been working collecting bills"

 

 

 

 

[katoftw]

Welcome to Japan Charles.  Very common.  They always bow and are polite when you exit.

 

Once on the Randen I saw a driver chase a passenger down the platform for their ticket as they exited by the rear door.

Edited July 1, 2015 by katoftw

[bikkuri bahn]

Yeah, I think it got started with bus services, driver only now, but which used to have attendants who called out the stops, collected fares, and sold ticket booklets (kaisuken).  I remember back in the 1970's seeing them on the Keikyu monocoque body buses I rode often in Kamakura.

Edited July 1, 2015 by bikkuri bahn

[Sacto1985]

This is what you get with shorter, one to two-car passenger trains that operate in rural areas of Japan. It's known by the Japanese name wanman (ワンマン), a transliteration of the English phrase one man. You can clearly see this on the green placard sign on a JR West KiHa 120:

 

[Kabutoni]

A funny -and rather complex- example of mixed wanman and staffed station operations can be found on the Kanto Railway Jyōsō line. Between Shimodate and Mizukaido only Shimotsuma and Ishige are staffed, so all trains, except rapids are wanman operated (rapid service (eilzug??O_O) is only between Shimodate and Moriya, to Toride is all stop).

 

The timetable however sees wanman operated trains operate all the way until Toride, but in reality passengers have to change regularly at Mizukaido to another train (direct connection). There are however trains with direct local operations between Shimodate and Toride that operate on both wanman and staffed station principle (staffed between Mizukaidō and Toride, as well as Shimodate, Shimotsuma, and Ishige). With this, you have to show your boarding ticket to the station staff and pay there instead of at the driver.

 

P.s. if you want to get a whiff of flat-out Ibaraki-ben, travel in the morning after rush hour and listen to the old ladies chatter. It's not pretty, but it sure is funny-dappē.

Edited July 1, 2015 by Toni Babelony

[Kiha_120]

This fellow not only has to drive the train, but also process the tickets.  He also looks at the school girls and thinks of his youth.

 

" In single track between JR chayamachi station ~ JR Uno Station

Rashiku all this intermediate station is unmanned station

It Unten-shi's has been working collecting bills"

 

 

 

 

Nice photos - and btw,  I have seen dirtier canteens/cafeterias than the inside of this unit. It's a shame that conductors/guards have been taken off these rural service trains - apart from my time on railways, I have also driven busses and 'wanman' is a real PAIN !

[velotrain]

Kiha - not my photos, but I ran across them, appreciated the quality, and found it interesting - not realizing how common it was.

 

I noticed how the ticket stand has to be put away before he can continue driving.

 

 

Toni - I forget where it was, but I once ran into a group of Japanese women and they were about the pushiest people I've ever encountered.

[westfalen]

On one railfan tour I was on we had a driver run down the platform after one of the group, he had given the driver too much money and he was after him to give it back.

 

The ticket machine is also a change machine that takes up to Y1000 notes and gives you a variety of coins, and I've never seen one that didn't work.  You drop your ticket and your fare in the top and it is carried away into the bowels of the machine on a conveyor belt.  On the Yōrō Railway a couple of years ago I saw a Japanese woman put a Y1000 yen note in the top instead of the change slot and it gummed up the works, luckily the station was attended and the station master literally ran down the platform with a set of keys and just about dismantled the machine to get the note out and give it back.

 

The ticket stand is usually only rolled to the side when the next station is attended and the detraining passengers need to keep their tickets to be collected by the station master, or sometimes there is just a flap that the driver flips over the opening where you deposit your tickets.

Edited July 2, 2015 by westfalen

[kvp]

I've seen a photo about a japanese private railway a few years ago where the fare collection box was a chair with a bowl and people just put the fare there. I don't know the actual date of the photo though, but the train was old.

[NuclearErick]

by my expecience this not the only line to do this kinda service or work, in the JW in the San'in-Line in Shimane the KiHa 120 but the blue version, in the Iida/Chuo-Line between Toyohashi and Kamisuwa Stations, and the Minobu-Line Fuji/Kofu Stations, not all the stations the double duty is require but in those lines or trains the stop is up to 1 mim each station

 

i hope 1 day  the companies place a IC card reading in the train will be more fast

Edited July 2, 2015 by NuclearErick

[miyakoji]

In the upper right of the second picture you can see KUHA21x-103, I think.  The only car number that fits this is 212-103, in this picture: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JRW_EC_Tc212-103_20060318.jpg .  I guess the blocked-out windows (toilet?) would be out of the frame, to the right of the photographer.  I remember riding these when they were on Marine Liner service, prior to the arrival of the 223-5000 plus JR Shikoku 5000 formations.  Nice interiors (which by my standards just means non-box cross seats :)): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JRW-Series213-inside.jpg

[kvp]

So this huge unused space between the ticket machine and the cab is because this car was rebuilt into a control trailer from a normal trailer by cutting one end off above the frame and bolting a new cab on it. If i understand the wikipedia article correctly, then the set previously ran with a saloon control trailer on one end which was removed when the train was cascaded to commuter operation.

[miyakoji]

the set previously ran with a saloon control trailer on one end which was removed when the train was cascaded to commuter operation.

Yes, this was the green car up to October 1 ,2003: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kokutetu213_marinnraina-11.jpg