International Railroad Discussion > Takatsuki Freight Parade (Japan)

Takatsuki (高槻) is located about midway between Kyoto and Shin-Osaka in the Kansai Region, probably closer to Osaka geographically. It is only about 5 miles SW from Yamazaki, where jonjonjonjon posted some reports of the Hankyu Railway and Shinkansen 2 years ago:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,3832778

(There are two more links within that thread for Yamazaki area railfanning)

Even before the first passenger trains start running in the area around 5 am, the Tokaido Line (nicknamed "Kyoto Line") is already busy with freight trains. I couldn't rely on riding a train to a location in that early morning hour, so I had to find a station with hotels nearby, and arrive the night before, which is what I was trying to do when I caught the rail train in the previous report. Takatsuki happened to be one of the busier stations on the line, and had hotels within walking distance.

I woke up around 4 am, grabbed some microwave-able breakfast at a nearby convenience store, then took a short stroll to JR Takatsuki station... lo and behold, I just missed a westbound freight train!

No sweat, my #1 target shouldn't have passed yet, the Super Rail Cargo. In less than 20 minutes, I get 3 westbounds and 1 eastbound, Super Rail Cargo being the 2nd westbound. Locomotive variety was interesting: EF66-1xx (second generation), EF510 ("Red Thunder"), and the normal EF210, 1st, 3rd, and 4th train respectively. EF510s are usually assigned to trains that eventually go to the Japan Sea side, so that eastbound was a short-timer on the Tokaido Line.

My guess was that Super Rail Cargo might run near 130 km/h (81 mph) at this station, but in the video, it seems it was obeying the 110 km/h (68 mph) limit through Takatsuki. I researched later and found out the 130 km/h running occurs further east.

The 4 track main of the Kyoto Line has the faster trains running on the outside tracks, and the slower ones running on the inside tracks. So it's common for the "faster" freight trains to overtake passenger trains (locals) in this territory. After the 4th train passed, I hopped on a local to record a little demonstration.

I'm onboard a westbound local in the next clip, fifth clip, standing in the last car, and the 5th freight passes just as the doors open (Settsu-Tonda Station). I detrain at Ibaraki (next stop), change direction, and get another second generation EF66 leading the next westbound, sixth clip as I'm back at Settsu-Tonda again.

In the last clip, I get my 2nd intended target, the westbound Fukuyama Rail Express as I'm arriving back at Takatsuki. Nice little parade, I say.

I had more railfanning to do, so I walked back to the hotel, packed my belongings, and headed to Shin-Osaka to hop on a Shinkansen, Kyoto Railway Museum being the eventual destination later in the day.

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great video and very interesting. i don't think i have ever seen a video covering japan's freight trains. thanks for posting this......

66

goneon66 Wrote:
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> great video and very interesting. i don't think i
> have ever seen a video covering japan's freight
> trains. thanks for posting this......
>
> 66

You're welcome. I got even more JR Freight materials to post.

With the abundance of passenger trains in Japan, the media/pop culture (both there and internationally) rarely mentions freight railfanning, but I've met quite a few railfans in Japan who show considerable passion. I'm waiting to see if they'll coin a new term, freight foamers (Kamotsu-Tetsu, or 貨物鉄), to add to the already popular terms photogs (Tori-tetsu), riders (Nori-tetsu), and train sound foamers (Oto-tetsu). As it stands, freight foamers fall under the Tori-tetsu category.

Again, thanks so much for posting freights and passenger trains from Japan. Really enjoy seeing trains that are not too long and rail cars that are not too big being pulled by box-cab electric engines. Hope you keep posting!

Tom

Thanks for sharing !!! I watched all of the video's very interesting !!!:):):)

Man that was neat - thank you for sharing Charles!

A big thumbs up. Loved the door opening scene. Great timing!

More please.

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