Moonlight Shinshu 189 29 Dec 2018

[gmat]

The seasonal overnight train Moonlight Shinshu is running this weekend. I missed it on Friday, caught it last night and plan to shoot it tonight, It uses the 189 Asama in the green stripe scheme. 

 

Here are some photos I took last night. Sorry that they aren't more sharp.

 

N102, N for Nagano depot, I guess.

Some of the fans gathered.

Starting off.

Try to get better pics tonight.

Grant

 

Edited December 30, 2018 by gmat

[Beaver]

Wish I'd found out earlier! No time to get my camera, will have to make do with phone.

[gmat]

Was that you on platform 10? I was opposite you. Seems that this might be the final Moonlight Shinshu. Two different staff seemed to indicate that it won’t run next year. Perhaps that’s why it was pretty crowded tonight. 

Film at 11:00.

Grant

[bikkuri bahn]

Grant, there were indications this autumn that it wouldn’t even run this year, but JR East decided to run it after all.  They are deliberately coy in announcing the schedules of these trains.  JR East definitely wants to end these services, and divert any pax traffic to Shinkansen services, as the 189 series is on its last legs, and expensive to run (and staff, both on train and in the intermediate stations). Unfortunately for us railfans, the patrons that formerly used these trains (students, budget travelers, and skiers) have pretty much shifted to using overnight buses to get to their destinations (perhaps ironically from the same start point at Shinjuku Basuta just above the platforms).

[Densha]

I remember reading somewhere that this 189 series formation will be retired with the March 2019 timetable.

Edited December 30, 2018 by Densha

[Sacto1985]

On 12/30/2018 at 8:38 AM, bikkuri bahn said:

Unfortunately for us railfans, the patrons that formerly used these trains (students, budget travelers, and skiers) have pretty much shifted to using overnight buses to get to their destinations (perhaps ironically from the same start point at Shinjuku Basuta just above the platforms).

 

Small wonder why the various JR companies are investing a LOT in buses in recent years. And a lot of people in Japan are willing to ride overnight on buses to get to their destinations at reasonable prices.