International Railroad Discussion > Changing Traction at Goryo

Goryokaku in  southern Hokkaido

where the electric hauled freights from the Japanese mainland run via the Seikan tunnel and change to Diesel traction here near the city of Hakodate for the run northwards

this was once a Fortress town in the mid  19th century  with fear of a  sea based Russian invasion that never happened 

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Great stuff !!
I await further installments.

DaveL

Great job! I really enjoyed the flags and their signals. Thank you. wag216

The northbound Kiha 40 DMUs actually head west to Kikonai on the Third Sector Donan-Isaribi Railway (a.k.a. South Hokkaido Railway), which used to be a JR Hokkaido main line before the Hokkaido Shinkansen started service.

While South Hokkaido Railway is still electrified, they use DMUs for passenger service because Kikonai Station has converted to the Shinkansen voltage of AC 25k Volts (instead of 20k Volts) and there are no dual-voltage passenger EMUs available.

No problem for JR Freight, who now use the dual-voltage EH800 which utilizes the electrification. You caught that locomotive in both your videos.

When South Hokkaido Railway was part of JR (as the Esashi Line), one could enjoy a semi-circle trip around Tsugaru Strait and Hakodate Bay, and enjoy the view of City of Hakkodate across the water from the train. That could have been done onboard the Sleeper trains Cassiopeia and Hokutosei, and the limited express EMUs Super Hakucho... but thanks to the opening of Shinkansen, that enjoyment is no more.

Good thing is, the traction change at Goryukaku hasn't changed for JR Freight, except that EH800 is now used in place of EH500. Nice catch of the diesel-electric DF200 ("Red Bear") and thanks for the great video!
 

Great videos.

I would love to see videos of the intermodel operations, meaning the yard/terminal where the containers are removed and added.