International Railroad Discussion > Japan Trip Part 8 - JR Around Nagasaki

While we were staying in Nagasaki I had the opportunity for a half day of railfanning, so I rode from Nagasaki to Chiwata and back, and spent a few hours hanging out in Isahaya at the junction watching the action on JR and the Shimabara Railway.   One of the surprising aspects of the JR system around Nagasaki is that they have recently decommissioned the electrification on the whole Cape gauge system around Nagasaki, in favor of hybrid MUs.   There is a relatively new JR Shinkansen line into Nagasaki, which does not connect to the rest of the Shinkansen system, but requires a Cape gauge shuttle train between the main Shinkansen line and the Shinkansen to Nagasaki.   The Cape gauge network still exists, but has been somewhat downgraded now that the Shinkansen has reached Nagasaki.  I have not been able to find any info on when the Nagasaki Shinkansen will be connected to the rest of the Shinkansen network.  Hopefully soon!

1) JR-Kyushu YC1 hybrid MU stopped at Chiwata station, next to Omura Bay.   Train is on a northbound Nagasaki to Huis Ten Bosch working.  That's some super!
2) Chiwata station - unlike any other station I saw in Japan! 
3) YC1 set coming back south into Chiwata, along Omura Bay.
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/25 15:21 by dwatry.

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4)  Southbound train pulling into Chiwata.
5)  Interior setup for driver to sell and collect tickets.
6)  Shot of train we were meeting.
 

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7)  Isahaya is a big junction about 30 miles north of Nagasaki.  Here's a class KiHa 47-40 series DMU coming southbound into Isahaya.
8)  YC1 hybrid MU coming north from Nagasaki into Isahaya.  All of that OCS visible is not used currently and has been partially dismantled.
9) Shimabara Railway DMU leaving Isahaya for Shimabara.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/25 21:28 by dwatry.

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10) Shimabara Railway train leaving Isahaya.
11)  JR YC1 set leaving Isahaya for Nagasaki.
12)  JR YC1 set southbound to Nagasaki, about to enter a tunnel south of the Isahaya station.
 

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This has been a fantastic series to follow!  Thank you for taking the time to post all of these.  I was in Japan for a couple weeks in 1995 and was fascinated by the rail scene, and would love to revisit it again.  

Jerry
ATSF5669

dwatry Wrote:
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> One of the surprising aspects of the JR system around
> Nagasaki is that they have recently decommissioned the
> electrification on the whole Cape gauge system around
> Nagasaki, in favor of hybrid MUs.

Actually, rural and low density suburban residents in Japan have caught on to this "surprise" or this malicious trend...

> There is a relatively new JR Shinkansen line into Nagasaki,
> which does not connect to the rest of the Shinkansen system,
> but requires a Cape gauge shuttle train between the
> main Shinkansen line and the Shinkansen to Nagasaki. 

Outside the busy corridors (Tokaido, Sanyo, and others), Cape Gauge networks get deliberately downgraded by the JR Groups, because Shinkansen is more profitable, and they "spin off" the Cape Gauge network as "Third Sector" railroad, which operates with far smaller margins, and if not profitable, get local subsidies. JR Group shareholders love that (JR Central, JR East, JR West, JR Kyushu, all publicly traded now).

> The Cape gauge network still exists, but has been somewhat
> downgraded now that the Shinkansen has reached Nagasaki.
> I have not been able to find any info on when the Nagasaki
> Shinkansen will be connected to the rest of the Shinkansen
>  network.  Hopefully soon!

"Soon" depends on how you look at it. Compare to CA HSR, yes, it will be ”soon” (within 2 decades). Compared to other Shinkansen projects in Japan, it's going to take a while. I'm readying a report on the Nishi-Kyushu (a.k.a. Nagasaki) Shinkansen with photos and videos I got only a month after it started service in 2022. I didn't post a report right away, because as I was doing more research, I found out Saga Prefecture (eastern end of the Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen) did not approve of the project, and construction hasn't even started on that segment yet.

Contruction on the difficult western side of the line in Nagasaki Prefecture took about 10 years - lots of tunnels. Hope I can discuss the details when I'm ready to post the report. It's a fascinating story.

Anyway, love the report on both JR Kyushu and the Shimabara Railway, one of the very few historic railroads in Japan that never got nationalized or merged with JNR/JR. Shimabara Railway started service in 1911, and its first locomotive was Japan's first ever steam engine, now displayed at the Railway Museum in Omiya, made by Vulcan Foundry in England:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,3584637,3584656#3584656