International Railroad Discussion > Blue Train Cafe (Toyama, Japan)

After jumping out of the Ogoya Railway time machine in Komatsu, I took a ~53 miles Shinkansen ride NE to Toyama, a city I've visited before. This time, I was determined to visit the Blue Train Cafe, an old school coffee shop and a throwback to Japan of decades ago. But the primary attraction was the operating model railroad layout inside the coffee shop.

Modern Japanese "coffee shops" are basically restaurants serving western-style food, but Blue Train's food menu only had cakes and breads, like Starbucks. I ordered a ~$6 egg sandwich, which ended up being satisfying slices of omelette sandwiches, not egg salad. Went well with the iced coffee.

Only a handful of people rode the Toyama Streetcar ("Centram") to visit Blue Train, as I found later. Most visitors drove, and used the parking provided. It is located about a mile away from JR Toyama Station, so more than a walking distance away from all the activities. It's less than half mile west of Toyama Castle Ruins.

"Kei Cars" are smaller-than subcompact cars available in the Japanese car market. I've rented them before, and its small engines struggle up mountain roads, but obviously great gas mileage and discount on toll roads (need yellow license plate).

- Visitors parked their "Kei Cars" at the front.
- Found an angle unblocked by the "Kei Cars."
- Video of operating model trains and Toyama Streetcars

(more next)

---

---

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

Blue Train refers to the Class 20 passenger cars that first appeared in 1958 at the pinnacle of government-run JNR's (Japan National Railway) locomotive-hauled trains era. They were used on limited express sleeper trains. For those interested, here's an English wikipedia entry:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Train_(Japan)

First model train in the video is an HO scale "Blue Train" pulled by EF81 locomotive. Runs right by my iced coffee order.

Blue Train, the coffee shop started in 1982, near the height of Japan's economic expansion, and when Blue Trains were running everywhere in Japan. In the 2nd photo above, the awning says "Coffee Station. Blue Train. Operating model railroad." It has been in business for 43 years now.

Most visitors (according to various sources) visit there for the nostalgic atmosphere. It's like stepping into a time machine. I was the only one who acted like a train geek - other visitors were coffee shop geeks.

The second train in the video (and the thumbnail) is an HO scale Kintetsu Railway "Vista Car" limited express EMU. It looks like the 3rd generation Class 30000 which started service in 1978. During Japan's economic expansion in the Showa Era (post-WWII to 1989), private, non-JNR railroads like Kintetsu and Odakyu Railways offered innovative experiential travel, like double decker and front/rear observation limited express EMUs.

Last model train in the video is an HO scale "Santram" streetcar. It runs by other HO scale Toyama streetcars.

- Outside display: Shinkansen, Class 185, non-sleeper "Blue Train" coaches.
- HO scale variety (EF66-1xx, streetcars, EMUs, steam).
- More variety - behind the counter.

---

---

---

A handful of Internet posts wrongly claim an N scale layout inside Blue Train Cafe. Nope. Train related items are almost all HO scale or real railroad goods, like sign boards.

N scale models have dwarfed HO scale in Japan's model railroading market today, mostly due to tighter living spaces in urban areas, and improved manufacturing methods that made N scale reasonably accurate for modeling purposes. I suspect that in the middle of Showa Era (1960s to 1980s), HO scale was more popular, relatively speaking, based on export of brass HO scale models from manufacturers like Tenshodo and Katsumi (KTM). This is before N scale and Kato became dominant. And it seems Blue Train Cafe is a throwback to that era, with HO scale models inside.

I was told some of the seemingly "rare" models displayed inside Blue Train were handmade/kit-bashed by the shop's owner.

- Railroad Era I don't know - open autoracks in Japan, 1950s-1960s.
- Streetcars from Kyoto, Nagasaki, Hong Kong...
- "Wide View" Kiha 85, Rapit, "Streamline Era" in the 1950s, and an N scale steam.

---

---

---

I had no more railfan missions the rest of the day, so after a relaxing visit to the Blue Train, I randomly "foamed" the Toyama Streetcars at Yasunoya, stop closest to the coffee shop. And as luck would have it, a pair of Steinzeit Era Class 7000 streetcars showed up (video).

Actual cross-section of rail from the Hokuriku Shinkansen project is displayed inside Blue Train. And when I was leaving, the Kei Cars were gone, so I got the classic composition of the entrance to Blue Train, often seen on tourist pamphlets promoting Toyama.

Many unsuspecting people might wonder why Blue Train is far away from the post-Shinkansen era economic activities by the Toyama train station. Steinzeit has commented in the past on how the area (Fukui, about 100 miles away) has dramatically changed since he visited in the 1970s, and that's a clue. Toyama changed, but Blue Train decided to stay the same. It must have been normal for people to venture out here in the Showa Era, as Toyama Station decades ago was far less urban than it is now.

---

---

Here's a link to my visit to Toyama in 2015:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,3773952

Back then, Portram and the rest of Toyama's street car system (Centram) were separated by JR Toyama Station, Portram on the north end, and the rest on the south end. In 2020, Toyama completed the connection between the systems, involving a modification to the ground floor of Toyama Station.

The so-called "advocates" on the Passenger discussions, who lamely celebrate the Sacramento Valley Station, or cheapskates who whine about "waste of my tax dollars" have no idea on the significance of providing passenger convenience. Now, Toyama visitors can stay inside the station complex and choose which direction to go. Fewer walking steps. More logical HSR to streetcar transfers. Only seconds "saved" in bench racing terms, but mentally more satisfying way to change transportation modes.

And most of all, thanks to through streetcars, folks from one end (north or south) can choose a one seat ride through JR Toyama Station to the other end without detraining to transfer. Portram has become part of the rest of the Toyama Streetcar system. In the video above, I caught Portram streetcars poking south out of Toyama Station, which did not occur in 2015.

I am readying a report from another city, where the project is even more dramatic.

Toyama's tourists were mainly from the Kansai area (Kobe/Osaka/Kyoto) before the Hokuriku Shinkansen arrived in 2015. They rode Cape Gauge (1067 mm) limited express trains, and the corridor between Kyoto and Toyama was famously named "Tokkyu Kaido" or Limited Express Boulevard. Trains like the Thunderbird and Shirasagi, as well as Raicho and Snow Rabbit in the past provided frequent service up and down the Japan Sea corridor.

Arrival of Hokuriku Shinkansen has dramatically changed the tourist demographics, where more visitors are from the Kanto region (Tokyo and the suburbs) now. I witnessed that firsthand, as I was unable to nab a rservation for two consecutive Shinkansen trains back to Tokyo, the quickest Kagayaki trains. I settled for the slower Hakutaka service, making more stops and taking ~30 minutes longer to Tokyo.

Unfortunately for the Tokkyu Kaido, extension of Hokuriku Shinkansen to Tsuruga in 2024 has forced Kansai tourists to transfer trains there, from non-HSR to HSR. Tourists and railfans still grumble about giving up the one seat ride, even if they are saving about 30 minutes travel time on the Shinkansen/Tokkyu combination, with more pain on the wallet, of course.

So it's not all about bench racing that clueless advocates with near ZERO HSR experience is advocating in the Passenger discussions. But that might be short-lived, once Hokuriku Shinkansen decides on routing and go all the way from Tsuruga to the Kansai Region, Kyoto and Osaka. Regardless of cost, or possible corruption associated with the extension project, it's money well spent if the project is completed AND adds to passenger convenience.

- In 2015, I wanted to catch a red Portram. Got it 10 years later.
- Classic Class 7000 tram painted red.

---

---

What?!?  They don't deliver the pastries by model railroad?  (haha)