International Railroad Discussion > Miscellaneous from 2015 (Japan)

Here are some random video clips from my trip to Japan in 2015.

I'm at Oyama Station in the first clip, about to board the first Tokyo-bound Tohoku Shinkansen in the morning. I had planned a chase of JR Freight #3076, which runs from Utsunomiya to Tokyo Freight Terminal. I had just nabbed it, and was going to ride this Shinkansen and beat it to Omiya and Nishi-Urawa. Here's a thread of the chase posted years ago:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,3894749

After nabbing #3076 again, I went back to JR East's Musashi-Urawa Station to hop on the Saikyo Line, and decided to document the typical commute hour congestion in Japan, second clip. This station is in Tokyo's suburbs in Saitama Prefecture.

Third clip is at Aizu-Wakamatsu, where Aizu Railway's experiential "Aizu Roman" train is about to depart. An elderly lady who's about to miss the train bows, then the engineer decides to stop the train and lets her board. I thought that was neat. In urban areas (Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, etc.), the engineer would have ignored her, since she could have caught the next train with only a 2-10 minute wait.

"Aizu Roman" is a unique train, with an open air car, and an observation car at the rear. I've yet to ride this train, but it is supposed to go through beautiful river and mountain sceneries.

Lead car is the AT-103 DMU, which has the Japanese style "Ozashiki (お座敷)" interior and seating. Its use was discontinued in 2016, so I unintentionally got a historic footage.

Second car is the AT-351, open air DMU, but with the windows closed for this trip. Note the cat characters painted on the car, and I pan on the "slipping cat." This was likely making references to the famous cat station master.

Third and last car is the AT-401 observation DMU.

I document a regular Kiha 47 DMU set departing Aizu-Wakamatsu, fourth clip. Kiha 47 is basically a 2nd generation Kiha 40, and is definitely Showa Era. This particular set was likely discontinued in 2019.

In the fifth clip, I'm at Kinshicho Station, about to board Limited Express Shiosai for a trip to Choshi to visit the Choshi Electric Railway. Class 255 EMU is Heisei Era styling, rounder and curvier. They are still in service along the Sobu Line.

In the sixth and final clip, I document another Showa Era EMU, Class 189 used primarily for Limited Express services. They were limited to specials and charters by 2015, and by 2019, they were all gone. I was at Yoyogi Station, trying to document JR Freight #3086, but I got triple-blocked by other trains. However, I got this historic footage as a consolation prize.

- Class 255 Limited Express Shiosai at Choshi Station.

That's it for the report.

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Interesting video, thanks for posting. The operator stopping for the lady is priceless.

Posted from iPhone

Erik Leeper
Phoenix, AZ