International Railroad Discussion > The Imperial train in Kyoto, 1971

On a gloomy October Saturday morning I was standing on the approach to the road bridge over the throat of the east side of the Kyoto passenger station, and took photo 1:  a pair of DF50's and a sb 581 arriving.  It then began to sprinkle, so I adjourned to the passenger station to take photos of rolling stock from under cover.  After the rain stopped it cleared up a bit so I returned to the bridge, and was promptly surprised  (2) by a very clean  DD13 120 and a five car set about to form an Imperial train:
   (3)  Power car 460
   (4)  Support car 340
   (5)  the Imperial salon 1
   (6)  Support car 330;  this looks like the communications / security vehicle
   (7)  Baggage / brake 461;  both this car and 460 ride on 6 wh trucks

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Photos 4,5,6:

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(8)  The train with DF50 8 and 26 attached, and the special insignia on the front.
I did not stay around to see it depart, as I had a train to catch -- but it certainly was a pleasant surprise as it was.  These cars have all been retired, and replaced by a special emu formation, but I believe that has not been used by the Emperor for over five years.

I used crops of some of the above photos when looking for that Kyoto station Platform 0 as discussed on another thread.

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(9)  Just to use the third photo slot, here's a photo taken on the west side of the station earlier:  A bilevel auto rack

Best regards, SZ

 

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Steinzeit2 Wrote:
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> I used crops of some of the above photos when
> looking for that Kyoto station Platform 0 as
> discussed on another thread.

Was hoping to see the uncropped shots, especially of DF50 diesels in action. As for your comment on the possible use of Kyoto's old Platform 1 for the Imperial train, I find that plausible, too, although I haven't found anything yet to reaffirm that.

Thanks for another priceless look back at the Steinzeit Era, and especially of the Imperial train.

The consist was set up for the 26th National Athletic Meet to be held in Nara Prefecture.
Since the Nara line was non-electrified at that time, a pair of DF50s was prepared for the trip.
BTW, the DF50 is a diesle electric locomotve.

Hiroshi