International Railroad Discussion > Mission: Shinkansen Series 500 (Japan)

It has been 17 years since the Shinkansen 500 series started revenue service with a top speed of 300 km/h (186 mph), to match the speed of the French TGVs.

Today, the 500 series sets are no longer used on the prestigious "Nozomi" service, but have been demoted to the local "Kodama" service, shortened to 8 car sets instead of 16, and the top speed lowered to 285 km/h due to removable of some exotic hardware, including the unique "winged" pantograph, now replaced with a regular hinged one.

Despite all that, the 500 series remains the most popular Shinkansen by Japanese railfans, primarily due to its bullet-nosed, aircraft-canopy front with the sleek tubular body. There's also a lot of sentimental value associated with the 500, due to it being the first Shinkansen to achieve the 300 km/h barrier in revenue service.

I missed my chance to catch the 0, 100, 200, and 300 series Shinkansens again before they were retired and scrapped in recent years, so I wanted to make sure the 500 series didn't retire before I had a chance to document them some more. FYI, I posted a video of the 0, 100, and 300, 700, and 500 series Shinkansens several years ago using my old VHS camcorder in this thread:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,1788388

- 500 series at Okayama last Wednesday morning.
- Looking at its nose from the rear.
- Video clips taken that Wednesday, to be described below.

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After riding the Cassiopeia from Hokkaido to Tokyo on my 3rd and 4th days in Japan, I decided to spend most of Tuesday researching Japan Railway schedules before I hopped on the Sunrise Sleeper Limited Express from Tokyo to Okayama that night. I had to study the schedules to make sure I knew how to nab the 500 series Shinkansen as many times as possible in one day. Because it had been demoted to Kodama service where it makes every station stop, the challenge was to find at least one location between stations, and I was going to try this without using a rental car.

I was looking at all sorts of maps, paper and digital, to figure out all sorts of scenarios. That meant I sacrificed a day of railfanning Tuesday, so failure on Wednesday to catch the 500 series was not an option...

After I detrained the Sunrise Sleeper Wednesday morning, I headed straight up to the Shinkansen platforms to catch Kodama #727 deadhead into Okayama Station. That's the first clip.

I couldn't wait for #727 to depart, as that gave me less than 4 minutes to rush down the stairs to catch the Ako Line local train to try my first scenario, catch Kodama #733 running between tunnels at Bizen-Katayama, a 40 minute train ride and a 1 mile walk. Fortunately, the plan worked, got an eastbound 700 series, second clip, and the 500 series Kodama #733, third clip.

I walked back to Bizen-Katayama and hopped on the next eastbound Ako Line local and went to Aioi, to catch the Kodama #730 arrive and depart there. Fourth clip shows its arrival, and fifth clip shows it being passed by N700 series Nozomi #14 headed to Tokyo. Aioi is a known 300 km/h zone, so the N700 was travelling near or at that speed. Ironic that 500 series used to do that here.

My next ride shows up in the sixth clip, a "Hikari Railstar" paint scheme 700 series running as Kodama #737. It had to wait to get passed, so I snuck in the seventh clip before I hopped onboard, Kodama #730 departing Aioi.

Things went so well, I decided not to visit the 2nd and 3rd "between stations" locations, one near Kurashiki which required a 2 mile hike, and one near Higashi-Okayama where the 500 series would be running slower due to its proximity to the Okayama Station. I detrained Kodama #737 at Okayama and hopped on the next available N700 Series Sakura and went straight to Hiroshima to do some streetcar foaming.

- Ako Line local at Bizen-Katayama.
- Kodama #730 at Aioi.

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After a fun day in Hiroshima, I continued my journey west toward Kyushu (Yatsushiro, near Kumamoto, to be specific). With knowledge gained from Tuesday's research, I did not panic when I found out I was 20 minutes late to hop on Kodama #743, another 500 series Shinkansen out of Hiroshima. I hopped on Sakura #559 to catch the #743 at Kokura.

Eighth clip shows Kodama #743 arriving into Kokura, which is on NE end of the island of Kyushu. That means I had already crossed world's first underwater railroad tunnel (opened in 1942, then 1975 for the Shinkansen) through Kaimon Straits.

Ninth clip shows how a 500 series normally accelerates out of a station. The camcorder is pointing south at the JR Kyushu tracks, and you might spot some MOW equipment. If you listen carefully, you can hear the 500 series go in "turbo mode" around 4:08-4:09 and the the pace quickens.

I wanted to show what "freeway traffic" (toll roads in Japan) looks like from onboard Shinkansen, and you see that briefly in the tenth clip, along with some Kyushu scenery before the train speeds into a tunnel.

I caught one more 500 series Shinkansen at Hakata, before I headed out of the station for dinner. Kodama #754 is departing east toward Okayama in the eleventh clip. There's a railfan with an expensive lens in the background, who was probably documenting as many 500 series as possible, similar to what I was doing.

- Closer look at the nose of the 500 series (at Aioi).
- Interior of the reserved section inside the 500 series, 2x2 seating. Only I got reserved seats onboard Kodama #743 between Kokura and Hakata. Everyone else sat in the unreserved section.

That's all for the Shinkansen chase.

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I think that's my favorite shaped Shinkansen as well. Rode it at least once on one of my trips.

Thanks for the pictures.

Again makes me miss Japan.

-Mike

Mike Massee
Tehachapi, CA
Photography, Railroading and more..

Thankyou for all the fine pics.Sounds like your holiday was well planned ,and executed.
Regards,DK

Great stuff Charles. Your capture on video makes it much more interesting!

Regards, Jim Evans