International Railroad Discussion > Bucolic side of Japanese rails

Not all Japanese trains are gleaming Shinkansen or packed city locals. Note the wonderful Iiyama Line, with its 1-car RDCs trundling along a grassy right-of-way. It stops at Tsunan, where my son lives. The 8:53 for Nozawaonsen has just left Tsunan as it accelerates (but not too much) past rice fields. Eventually it'll reach Iiyama where passengers can switch to bullet trains to Tokyo.

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The stations are small, too, though the single car can be crowded -- especially when school kids are coming home.

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Here's the 8:01 for Tokamachi. Switch to a regional train to Yuzawa there and you can connect to a different bullet train route to Tokyo.

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Tsunan has a slightly bigger station, and someone is sure to have flowers at the end of the platform.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/18 04:24 by symph1.

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No ribbon rail here. The traditional clackity-clack is heard riding these tracks. But winter is harsh here, so snow equipment is close at hand. Thanks for looking.

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meter gauge?

1067 mm or 3 feet 6 inches

Very nice photo series. Back in 1990 I traveled on a couple diesel-car equipped rural trains in Hokkaido. Fun rides.

John

Nice! You are way out there in western Japan.

Wonderful pictures, thank you for sharing!!! :):):)

symph1 Wrote:
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> The stations are small, too, though the single car
> can be crowded -- especially when school kids are
> coming home.

Great report! Lucky for those kids, it's not standing room only yet.

Kiha 110 (the DMU) is currently the workhorse of "local" lines within JR East. Trains run once about every one hour on the Iiyama Line, according to the passenger timetable I'm looking at now.

longhaul Wrote:
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> Nice! You are way out there in western Japan.

Yeah. But when a good portion of those miles are on a Shinkansen, it's only around 3 hours.

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