Unfortunately with little work, I have free time, so I spent the day at Shinjuku Station. My two favorite spots are the at the northern edge of platforms 7/8 (Chou line to Tokyo) and more recently, the southern edge of platforms 5/6. (Narita Express) You can shoot about half of the lines from the former and most of the unusual stuff passes through or near the latter. You can also look at the electronic boards to see what is coming and when, but many are simply noted as out of service. You can't shoot the Sobu or Yamanote lines easily from either of those locations, though.
Today, at platforms 7/8, I noticed a few local railfans looking and shooting south. Then the number grew to six and they all were looking south. I asked one what was coming and he said something rare. So I waited too.
I thought that it was a diesel combo, so I didn't shoot the white center one very well. Sorry. The unusual configuration of the windows would seem to indicate that it may be used to check alignment of the tracks using optical or laser sensors.
Around 11:00 or 13:00 seems to be a lull period as I have recently shot diesels and freight trains passing through Shinjuku at that time. Shot another diesel passing transiting near 14:00.
When the cars passed us, I may have been in the way as I was shooting behind them. I noticed that some of the guys had to run in front of me to shoot them going the other way. Sorry. Didn't think.
The guy with the grey shirt and his friend, nearly hidden, had been shooting in that direction for the previous 20 minutes and checking their shots. It wasn't until later that I realized that they were probably testing settings before the subject arrived.
Best wishes,
Grant
