International Railroad Discussion > Omiya in 1971 Part II: More rolling stock photos

Here are some additional photos -- passenger and freight cars, individual emu / dmu vehicles, and a loco or two -- that I took during my two visits there:
1)  EF65 1005 with a northbound container train
2)  Baggage 36 2099
3)  Baggage 37 2015

More to come.......

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4)  Emu Grill trailer 165-9
5)  A 481 control trailer
6)  Emu Green Car trailer 455-35

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7)  'B' sleeper 16 2180;  these vehicles are similar to a couchette in concept
8)  Coach 11 2071
     The above two vehicles were in a Ueno bound overnight train
9)  Another B sleeper, 16 2231, configured for day use
 

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10)  A private owner car for limestone, cement, or something similar
11)  The typical JNR guards van for classic freight trains
12)  Another private owner vehicle, a side dump car for gravel (?)

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13-14)  A pair of suburban [ three pairs of doors per side, lengthwise seating ] dmu's, 35 163 and 30 19

15) and to finish, a very poor telephoto shot, taken from a train just south of Omiya station at what I called the Omiya engine terminal, of the unique DD90 1, a one-off which I believe was a collaboration between Toshiba and GE  [ Edit to add:  This loco dates from 1954, and was originally class DD41 ]

Best regards, SZ
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/25 05:42 by Steinzeit2.

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Nice trains. It changed a not since the 1970's, I imagine. Are there space for new railroads in Japan nowadays?

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1

pedrop Wrote:
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> Are there space for new railroads in
> Japan nowadays?

Underground and elevated. Just within Tokyo, there's the Tama Monorail extension, and Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line (subway) extension that's under construction now.

That's not counting the new Haneda Airport access line, using the absndoned freight ROW between Tokyo Freight Terminal and Hamamatsu-Cho. East Japan Railway {JR East) is trying for a "one seat ride" to the airport to bypass the transfer to Tokyo Monorail and their competition, Keikyu Line (Shinagawa to Haneda). Construction started last year.

Only brand new "railroad" is the Utsunomiya Light Rail which started revenue service in August of 2023. Utsunomiya is located about 68 miles north of Tokyo, about 50 minutes by Tohoku Shinkansen - 24 minutes from Omiya.

There's ongoing construction for more HSR lines (Shinkansen, SCMaglev).

 

Steinzeit2 Wrote:
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> 15) and to finish, a very poor telephoto shot,
> taken from a train just south of Omiya station at
> what I called the Omiya engine terminal, of the
> unique DD90 1, a one-off which I believe was a
> collaboration between Toshiba and GE  [ Edit to
> add:  This loco dates from 1954, and was
> originally class DD41 ]
>
> Best regards, SZ

DD90 was retired in 1971, so a very timely catch before it was gone.

E65 #1005 served many more years before retiring in February of 2009. Handful of EF65s (2000 series) still survive, as I caught a few last year, but starting this week, they are no longer on regular assignments. 

The Class 165 "grill" car is called "buffet car" or cafe car, when food service was still available on slower express trains. It is classified as "Sahashi (サハシ) 165". 

The side dumper (Hoki or ホキ 9631) was used for the construction of Narita Airport, part of the 9500-9600 series Hoki cars used to carry aggregates. Narita Airport started construction in 1970.

Hoki 5646 covered hopper carried Carbide for Showa-Denko Corporation, which merged with Union Carbide in 1970. When you caught it in 1971, the corporation was called Union Showa.

Thank you for posting another set of historic gems! 

Thank you for the explanations on the freight cars.  The side dump car then is a JNR car, but in dedicated Narita service ?

I'm not sure why I termed that car a "grill car" -- perhaps internally it reminded me of British Railways !  I don't recall having any meals / purchasing food in one, but it has been a while;  I usually had small meals at stations throughout the day if the wait for the next train I was taking was longer than desired.  I certainly traveled a lot in the 165's rather than on faster trains, due to the more numerous stops I typically made en route.  I think I only took one ride on the NTL as a revenue passenger, and it was just a relatively short trip to start a long day;  I found the NTL pretty boring, as at that time there was basically just the one type of equipment in service, quite a contrast to the traditional lines of those days.

With best regards,  SZ

Steinzeit2 Wrote:
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> Thank you for the explanations on the freight
> cars.  The side dump car then is a JNR car, but
> in dedicated Narita service ?

That seemed to have been the case. After the Narita Airport construction was finished, the side dump cars hauled limestones for various corporations, mostly for cement manufacturing.

> I think I only took one ride on the NTL as a revenue passenger,
> and it was just a relatively short trip to start a long day;  I found
> the NTL pretty boring, as at that time there was basically just the
> one type of equipment in service, quite a contrast to the traditional
> lines of those days.

"Steinzeit Era" was also a transition away from steam, so there was a lot of interesting stuff going in and out of service. The dark olive (brown) EMUs and locomotives were giving way to more colorful trains then. And the new emphasis on aesthetics for limited express EMUs and DMUs must have been very exciting for railfans then.

I barely remember my first Shinkansen ride, from Tokyo to Atami, when Class 100s were new and Tokaido Shinkansen was still dominated by Class 0, the one type. For the return trip, I remember riding the non-HSR Tokaido Line Class 113 (or 111?) to Tokyo to save money.