Japanese Vacation No.9 (week 3)

[bikkuri bahn]

What the old station looked like from above:
http://star.gmobb.jp/oboro/nishitabi43.jpg

Some old prints of the station approaches. Ummm, railroady...
http://furattorail.web.fc2.com/takamatu.htm

more atmosphere:
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/wing3863/4338028.html

[scott]

The interior of that Asa Kaigan DMU (I'm assuming that's what it is) looks really nice -- comfortable and a little old-fashioned. OTOH, the JR (?) train in DSC07382 is either really worn out, or acid-washed denim seatcovers are catching on. :-)

The tunnel at Kaifu, where JR and the Asa Kaigan Railway meet, defies explanation. It looks like one of those tunnels in a toy train set.

Dang--do they have a bit of an erosion problem? Was there a hill there before? Once again, there's a prototype for everything, no matter how weird.

Kannora looks like a great place--the dead-end viaduct is really odd, but the station building is nice. And thanks for posting the detailed pictures of the shrine--I'd love to see that in person.

Is there any kind of elevator or ramp from the platform at Kannora, or do they have to call in the JASDF if a handicapped passenger arrives? 

[cteno4]

The tunnel at Kaifu, where JR and the Asa Kaigan Railway meet, defies explanation. It looks like one of those tunnels in a toy train set.

Dang--do they have a bit of an erosion problem? Was there a hill there before? Once again, there's a prototype for everything, no matter how weird.

yes there must be a good story with that tunnel!

jeff

[westfalen]

The interior of that Asa Kaigan DMU (I'm assuming that's what it is) looks really nice -- comfortable and a little old-fashioned. OTOH, the JR (?) train in DSC07382 is either really worn out, or acid-washed denim seatcovers are catching on. :-)

The tunnel at Kaifu, where JR and the Asa Kaigan Railway meet, defies explanation. It looks like one of those tunnels in a toy train set.

Dang--do they have a bit of an erosion problem? Was there a hill there before? Once again, there's a prototype for everything, no matter how weird.

Kannora looks like a great place--the dead-end viaduct is really odd, but the station building is nice. And thanks for posting the detailed pictures of the shrine--I'd love to see that in person.

Is there any kind of elevator or ramp from the platform at Kannora, or do they have to call in the JASDF if a handicapped passenger arrives? 

The seats in the 2000 series were actually that colour.

DCS07404 is the Asa Kaigan railcar.

I found the shrine by accident, the building in front of it looks rather new and unassuming and I only noticed the shrine when I went to look through a hole in the door of the garage like building that held the portable shrine. You never know what's around the next corner in Japan.

The only way up to the platform was the stairs.

[westfalen]

What the old station looked like from above:
http://star.gmobb.jp/oboro/nishitabi43.jpg

Some old prints of the station approaches. Ummm, railroady...
http://furattorail.web.fc2.com/takamatu.htm

more atmosphere:
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/wing3863/4338028.html

That aerial photo at the top makes more sense to my memory of the place. It sure has changed.

[westfalen]

Some ferry interior shots.

When I woke up this morning and it was pouring rain I thought of ditching the sea crossing and going by train, but I decided to carry on as before the bridge was built there would have been no other way. I took a few pictures as the ferry passed through the breakwater into the Inland Sea and retired to the warmth inside for the rest of the voyage. I still had a walk in the rain to my waiting train at Uno though, I was the only one doing it, I guess not many people make the ferry to rail transfer these days. For the same reason the longer distance between station and ferry at Takamatsu probably doesn't matter to many people either.

[westfalen]

I wonder how many paint schemes the kiha 40/47's have worn over the years.

The departure boards on the platforms at Okayama thoughtfully tell you when freights are coming.

The small bus dropped passengers off at Banshu Ako where I had to change onto the Special Rapid for Tsuruga to get me to Osaka.

[westfalen]

I grabbed a few quick shots at Noda station after dropping my bag at the hotel.

[westfalen]

I went and had a look around the new Osaka station, you get a good view of the freight yard from the top (if it wasn't raining). While I was there I lost another hour of my life looking around Yodobashi Camera, if they opened a store in each capital city in Australia with the same range of merchandise other retailers would be going out of business they knew what was happening. I picked up a Sankei building kit one of the club members was looking for and a couple of packs of 66mm curves for my Tomytec busses. I spent quite a while browsing the model railway department, there's nothing like actually seeing stuff in person on the hobby shop shelf.

The first layout is at the Tetsudo Plaza gift shop on the top floor, 'kids' can put coins in the slot and run the trains.

The other displays and layout were downstairs in the Nippon Travel Agency.

I have a nice view of the Osaka skyline from my window and if I lean out I can see the Osaka Loop Line between the buildings.

The Toyoko Inn JR Noda Ekimae that was recommended by someone on the forum is a good place to stay, right at the station and with dozens of eateries of all types lining the street next to the station and under the viaduct. I ate at Mos Burger though, from the tables at the second floor window you can watch the trains go past.

Tommorow afternoon I am going to try and get to the Ginga 21 railfan store whose ads I've been seeing in Japan Railfan Magazine for 21 years, they are open till 7pm Sunday so I'll spend the day riding the Hankyu and the Osaka Monorail, and maybe the Nose Railway and check them out later in the afternoon. It would be good to get some railway souveniers other than the usual museum gift shop stuff.

[Nick_Burman]

There was one older car at the shops, they moved it from behind some other cars and parked it outside the shop building while I was there.

The shunting neck at the Busshozan depot once was the starting point of the run to Shionoe Onsen. The line used gas cars, so much so that the street leading away from the neck (part of the former trackbed) is known as "Gasorin Michi" (Gasoline Alley).

Cheers NB

[linkey]

Love the photo of the shinkansens and also like the photo of the platform of the station, makes me want to cry as I wished Melbourne Train station could be like that if they put their brains into gear and do the right thing.

[The_Ghan]

West,

I had a rail-free weekend ... gave me the shakes!  Mrs_Ghan planned things like her office Christmas party and the like.  Anyway, I’ve now had a good look at your posts since the 18th.  I’ve been looking at your interior shots in relation to where and how people sit.  In another thread, keitaro is populating his cars with Z scale people.  They look just like these interior shots, confirming that keitaro has the right idea in going Z scale.  Did you notice in your photos just how little of a person is above the window sills?  It is often just shoulders and head, or breast, shoulders and head.

That tunnel at Kaifu is unbelievable.  Does anyone know anything about it?  Is there something special above it? ... and the new train with orange doors?  I don’t recognise it, what is it?

Cheers

The_Ghan

[westfalen]

West,

I had a rail-free weekend ... gave me the shakes!  Mrs_Ghan planned things like her office Christmas party and the like.  Anyway, I’ve now had a good look at your posts since the 18th.  I’ve been looking at your interior shots in relation to where and how people sit.  In another thread, keitaro is populating his cars with Z scale people.  They look just like these interior shots, confirming that keitaro has the right idea in going Z scale.  Did you notice in your photos just how little of a person is above the window sills?  It is often just shoulders and head, or breast, shoulders and head.

That tunnel at Kaifu is unbelievable.  Does anyone know anything about it?  Is there something special above it? ... and the new train with orange doors?  I don’t recognise it, what is it?

Cheers

The_Ghan

I can usually lean my elbow on the window sill but there might be less of a Japanese person showing.

You might be onto something with the tunnel. That was one of my thoughts because I remember seeing a story about a family cemetery in a shopping centre car park in the US, when the owners of the land sold it to the developers they stipulated that the family's graveyard not be disturbed so when the ground was leveled for the car park a raised section about a story high remained with the graves on it. There does appear to be something on top of the tunnel, maybe a grave or shrine or something of that nature. You would think it would be easier to build the railway a few metres to either side though.

I assume you mean the refurbished JR Shikoku 8000 series, they've been around since about 1994 because they were the design QR's Tilt Train was based on.

[westfalen]

I spent this morning riding some Hankyu lines I hadn't been on. I started out at Umeda terminal, one train was getting a lot of attention from the local railfans so I thought I better join them.

[westfalen]

After watching a few trains come and go, (on a Sunday morning back home it's one train on each line every hour ), I caught an express out to Takawazuka and worked my way back doing branchlines on the way.

[westfalen]

The first branch was the Nose Railway which is effectively a branch of the Hankyu though the trains do have a different logo. The train I caught from the junction at Kawanishi-Noseguchi was a through train to Myokenguchi so I went there first. Through trains alternate between Myokenguchi and Nissei-Chuo with two car shuttles between the termini and Yamashita running in between.

[westfalen]

The next branch was the Mino-O line. (starting with the last two photos)

[westfalen]

After lunch and a bit more train watching at the junction, Ishibashi, I went on back towards town to Toyonaka to see if I could find the Ginga 21 railfan shop. The GPS took me to a house in a residential neighborhood that had bits and pieces of railway memorabilia laying round in the yard but there didn't appear to be anyone home, it looks like he may be mainly a mail order operation. The sun came out however so it was a pleasent 20 minute walk through the suburbs to the Osaka Monorail station at Shibahara were I recommenced my journey.

[westfalen]

I took the monorail to the end of the line at Osaka Airport were I managed to get some video of the crossover in operation.

[westfalen]

It was then on to Banpaku Kinen Koen from where I went up the branch to Saito Nishi.

[westfalen]

On the way to the other end of the Monorail at Kadomashi where I caught the Keihan back to downtown I got a couple of shots of Shinkansen lined up in the depot.

Note there is only one lonely 300 series.

[The_Ghan]

...
I assume you mean the refurbished JR Shikoku 8000 series, they've been around since about 1994 because they were the design QR's Tilt Train was based on.

Yes, that's the one.  I just found the MicroAce model on HS, not that I want one.  Great looking consist.

Cheers

The_Ghan

[The_Ghan]

Hey West,

I’ve been to Osaka only once and I’m unfamiliar with the Hankyu railway, nonetheless I’ve got a Hankyu 6300, Kato 10-050/1, which I bought simply for the colour scheme.  I’ll probably never run it as it doesn’t fit with my themes, but it is a beautiful train. 

Your Hankyu photos are great.  Some of those platforms look clean enough to sleep on!!!  I can’t see one photo of a train with a dirty roof.  The catenary are rust-free, gardens well maintained, shit, I could even identify you in a line-up from your reflection in the close-up of the Hankyu logo, those trains are so clean.  Hankyu is obviously very proud of their fleet and network.

That yellow maintenance equipment up the end of the first branch line (is the station called Myumiguchi?) has been there for ages.  I found the place on Google Earth at 34°54'40"N, 135°26'40"E but can’t pronounce the name.  Anyway, if you look at the photos you’ll see the same equipment in the same place.  It’s good to see that the shopkeeper is putting his umbrella out each day too!

Finally, I have to ask, what is that crazy thing before the photos of the shinkansen?  Has anyone had the guts to model it?

Cheers

The_Ghan

[bikkuri bahn]

what is that crazy thing before the photos of the shinkansen?  Has anyone had the guts to model it?

It's the centerpiece/symbol of the World Exposition held back in 1970.  Called "taiyo no tou" (Tower of the Sun).  It's been done in 1/350 scale:

http://www.kaiyodo.co.jp/products/taro_taiyo_350.html

[bikkuri bahn]

one train was getting a lot of attention from the local railfans so I thought I better join them.

That's the "Kyo Train", a refurbished 6300 series with Japanesque interior touches.  It runs on weekends between Umeda and Kawaramachi as a tourist train.  Earlier in the the year, it was used on runs between Umeda and Arashiyama, which was a revival of an old service- usually you have to transfer at Katsura for the branch line to Arashiyama.

interior of the train:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/k2vhrpvkrJM" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/k2vhrpvkrJM</a>

[westfalen]

A bit late getting home tonight, got sidetracked browsing in Tam Tam at Amagasaki.

Headed out to Amagasaki this morning on the Hanshin. At one station I saw the guys in blue loading bicycles into the back of a truck, if they get left there too long do they get taken away?

I walked from Hanshin's Amagasaki station to the Sumitomo Tube Mills only to find, in typical fashion, that there was a bus stop just down the street. For the benifit of those following in my footsteps the No.70 bus to Second Clean Center (whatever that is) runs irregularly but generally twice an hour from the station. Sumitomo's narrow gauge plant railway seems to make regular crossings of the main road dividing the two sections of the plant and I got a few telephoto shots of shunting going on inside the plant.

[westfalen]

I saw one reason for the long drawbars used as couplers, a loco pulled a wagon into an adjacent track using the long drawbar and took off back the way it came.

The Hanshin's Mukogawa Line starts off from a platform below and at right angles to the mainline, the connection is via a switch back with tight curves and grades to move equipment to and from the line. One two car set was in use and another was stored on the connecting track, maybe they use both in the peak hours.

[westfalen]

The end of the line at Mukogawadanchi-Mae has a second platform that looks like it rarely, if ever, gets used, the rails were well rusted and the track had no signals.

The mainline platforms at Mukogawa are built entirely on the bridge over the river of the same name.

I continued on to Kosoku-Kobe where I found the underground terminus of the Kobe Electric Railway, or Shintetsu.

[westfalen]

I rode the line, which climbs into the mountains behind Kobe on some of the steepest grades I've been on apart from rack railways, through to Sanda with detours on the branches to Arima Onsen and Woody Town Chuo.

[westfalen]

I got the JR back to Amagasaki and checked out the hobby centre where Tam Tam is located. There was a rental layout complete with trains you could rent and a smaller store specialising in small layouts and dioramas. Tam Tam has a good selection but not as much as their Akihabara store.

[westfalen]

At the diorama store I picked up this tram, it's unpowered but if I can find a suitable mechanism it will make a good heritage car for my tram layout when I get around to building it.

[bikkuri bahn]

The Hanshin's Mukogawa Line

You may have noticed, but the rolling stock (7801,7901 series) uses the van dorn couplers which were once common on Hanshin rolling stock.