The Various Random Mutterings of Kite

[FQ]

A fun read. I've never had a 171 but want to try them sometime. Are they just like 170s?

Lord Techni - He won't have more if the 170s that have come down from Scotland are dud.

 

[backontrack]

A fun read. I've never had a 171 but want to try them sometime. Are they just like 170s?

Yes, but more crowded and the seats are itchier. This is on the Marshlink Line, anyway.

 

[Techniquest]

A fun read. I've never had a 171 but want to try them sometime. Are they just like 170s?

Lord Techni - He won't have more if the 170s that have come down from Scotland are dud.

Very much like 170s, identical apart from the coupler.

Aren't the 170s from ScotRail being renumbered into 171s? If so Lord Kite and everyone else will need them!

 

[Kite159]

Good work clearing that lot out, I don't envy the bike rides though! Fingers crossed your last 171 turns up soon, although you'll have more to go and find soon enough when they finally finish the works on them!

I really need to get on with some DaySave action, I hope to do so in the spring when the weather's better but we'll see.

The job of sorting out the photos must be quite a daunting one!

I still need to try and hunt down 803 & 805 (as well as 729 which is the sole remaining /7).

The 8s should be easier to try and grab floating around London Bridge - East Croydon, whereas that remaining 7 could pop up on an Uckfield or on an Ashford service.

--------

Agreed, pretty much a 170 inside

 

[Kristofferson]

Super productive trip - some of those stations are definitely "shacks"! Will be good to see some Japan photos

 

[Kite159]

Super productive trip - some of those stations are definitely "shacks"! Will be good to see some Japan photos

Your wish is granted:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsk5P383N

Also some various other pictures of the country:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsknHWCXz



(I had a rare Sunday off today, I was originally going to go visiting the North Downs Line, however the last Salisbury train suddenly turned into a bus after Basingstoke last night and so I didn't get in until ~ 01:45 (as Overton & Whitchurch stations are quite far from the main-road down little side streets, so I make the most of it and visited the city centre, although the chance to visit the driver's cab of 159103 might have had something to do with it with )




They even had a 158 cake:

 

[Techniquest]

Looks like you had fun, a nice and relaxed day after a ridiculously long one yesterday!

I doubt I'll ever see Japan with my own eyes, despite it being on the bucket list (slowly making it!) so I'm glad to have had the opportunity to see it via your photos. Looks like a really nice place, well looking forward to the read of the trip report!

Just for reference, my bucket list of places to visit is, in no order:

More of the USA (after my New York trip of course)
Norway
Canada
Japan
Australia
New Zealand
Spain
Italy
Austria

 

[Kite159]

Kite in Japan day 3

The first day of the touring holiday proper, these sort of holidays are not for everybody, those who prefer to work out their own plans at what to do probably wouldn't like a touring holiday where hotels are all booked and you tour the area via coach. Anyhow after a good night sleep I woke up and headed down to the restaurant on the 3rd floor for some breakfast which was included in the holiday price (hand in a voucher to claim your free breakfast).

Bit of a queue this morning, 15 or so deep when I arrived but soon got moving and it was a mix buffet, Japanese style breakfast items one side, "western" style breakfast items the other side so I had a mix of both before heading back to my room on the 9th floor to pick up my rucksack to head downstairs to meet the rest of the group and the tour guide. Bit of confusion as there were two groups and after checking my note from the previous evening saw me in the group led by Rumi and we headed to the bus for the first day visits, 19 of us in the group and as always I was the youngest, although at a rough guess not by much.

The first stop was at the Meiji Shrine, a Shinto monument (Shinto is one of the religions of Japan, which has many Gods), and it was quite interesting to see and hear of the history, we got given little radio receivers and earphones from Rumi so she could talk to us when out without having the worry of noise from other parties, on route passing the governmental buildings, emperors palace, official guest house, and other businesses/high rise accommodation blocks. The shrine was interesting to visit and make a wish. Back to the coach and via a short drive via some of the highlights of the city (shopping area known as Ginza and the electronics district known as Akihabara (which I will come back to later)

Anyhow the coach soon arrived at the first Buddha temple of the tour, the “Akakusa Kannon” Temple which is located (going by my tour itinerary notes) in the Nakamise Shopping arcade, so after a quick look around (sampling the delights of McDonalds in Japan for lunch as I wasn’t brave enough to try something from a street vendor) and looking at the “thunder” gate and the temple itself (quite a nice building), we were back to the coach where we had the rest of the afternoon free, we could either get off at Akihabara, at Ginza or back at the hotel. Myself and around 5 others jumped out at Akihabara to have a look at some of the electronic wonders (and other stuff around), picking up several leaflets promoting “maid cafes” (google it).

After an hour or so (time flew) I had my Tokyo Subway Map in hand, and headed to Akihabara JR station (JR is Japan Railways, which used to be owned by the state, but since privatised, there are various other private lines operated by other companies dotted all over the place, it’s a bit crazy, but it gives competition in places), to the TVM where a helpful JR route map is displayed listing the fares to the various stations, as it appears to work on a distance based system, so I picked a station the other side of the so-called Yamanote Line (which is basically a circle around Tokyo, run by 11-coach trains every 3-4 minutes increasing at peak-times), but my first Japanese EMU was one working on the “Keihin-Tohoku” line, a E233-100 series which I believe was set 163 taking me the short hop to Tokyo station itself, which is one of the big hubs of the network, after a couple photos of some rather funky looking EMUs (which I’m guessing were the expresses going out to faraway places which required seat reservations and special tickets).

Anyhow, to the E233, all longitudinal seating with sliding doors between cars, nice wide doors designed to reduce dwell times. Over to the Yamanote line platforms which have chest height platform edge doors (some sort of automatic train running in operation?) where a E231-500 series rolled in, set 521 I believe (although who knows!) for a nice long trip to Shinjuki station, pretty much all the stations called at had connections with other lines, and got quite busy. I jumped onto a service advertised as “rapid to Tokyo”. Shinjuki station is massive, 16 through platforms for JR, plus various other platforms dotted around for other services. It was onto a Chūō Line service formed of an E233-0 series (set T09) for the first stop at Yotsuya, it was over to the “stopper” platforms to jump onto a 209-500 series train (set 509) for the hop back towards Shinjuki, where I got confused and jumped out one stop early at Yoyogi.

Deciding to give the Yamanote line another go, I had a 5 minute delay between services (this was at peak-time) and allowed the first couple sets depart as they were absolutely rammed solid, with the 3rd I decided to get on (set 543 of the E231-500s) for the short hop to Shinjuki where I set about trying to locate the “Toei” subway platforms which were far away, a good 10 minute walk, passing the bay platforms for the line operated by “Keio”, and finally after purchasing a “transfer” ticket [which allowed me to cross over from the Toei subway to the Toyko Subway network, just picture if the Sub-surface lines were run by another company and you had to pay extra if your journey involved a trip on a S7/8 train). Anyhow found myself onto the platform where a “Keio 9000 Series” train had rolled in, full of passengers as I jumped onto it, set “9747” going from the numbers I had down. Similar as the other services in being longitudinal seating, but with AC, as I jumped off at Ichigaya to transfer to the subway platforms (getting mixed up with the transfer gates as I used the wrong side and tried to transfer to the JR platforms!).

It was to the Toyko Metro Namboku Line platforms, no idea of the train type, but it looked old inside as it had no AC (just random fans enclosed attached to the ceiling), taking it one stop to Yotsuya, where I transferred to the Marunouchi line, with a 02 Series train set 10, taking it to stop M-13 (all the stations have numbers to make it easier for tourists, dual languages in Japanese & English), which is Akasaka-Mitsuka, which was the closest station to the hotel where I was staying. Found myself outside (the barriers eat the tickets), and pretty much opposite the hotel (Akasaka Excel Tokyo). After grabbing a bite to eat (sadly McDonalds again) and a quick snack from the 7-eleven next to the hotel (Japanese people must love their convenience stops as they pop up all over the place) before retiring for the evening.

Anyhow a selection of random rail related pictures from day 3 (or as I’m calling it Day 1 as the first 2 days were travelling)

An unknown service (has a couple coaches which are double decked) rushing pass Akihabara

The inside of an E233-100


Track machinery outside Tokyo station!


A random funky looking EMU (I assume) heading somewhere:


Chest-high platform doors installed but not operational, but remember stay behind the yellow line:


On the Toei-Subway


A 02-Series rolls into Yotsuya

 

[Techniquest]

This lot must have taken a lot of research, fair dos.

Quite a lot of confusing systems in operation, I think if I ever go to Japan I'll have to do so much research before I go there than I normally do before a trip!

A really good insight into how the East does things, looks like it was a good time. Agreed that a package holiday won't be for everyone, I think I'll be organising things myself if I do ever go. After all, I'd be after maybe a couple of days in Tokyo then trains to each end of the country to see the countryside.

 

[Kite159]

Kite in Japan – Day 4

After a half-decent sleep (after unplugging the fridge) I was up for a 8:00 departure, so alarm set for 6:45 to head down to grab breakfast, and back to the meeting point to head with the rest of the group to the coach, it wasn’t the coach from the day before, but a different one, one with hardly any leg-room (god help if this was the coach for the rest of the tour I through), today we were heading north towards Nikko, so the early start would help escaping the traffic of Tokyo (which to be honest isn’t that bad compared to other cities, harsh car parking charges probably puts a stop to that).

The speed limit on the main expressways (which are mostly toll roads) appeared to be 80 KM/H (so 50 MPH) so not the fastest place, and with the toll gates you couldn’t really speed as I suspect there are cameras which will work out your average speed. Anyhow once the high rises of the suburbs were passed, it was soon into countryside, pausing at a little service area with rather good views of Mount Fuji, and another stop overlooking a rather large lake, before we reached the Toshogu Shrine. Quite a large area which is part of a world heritage site, I liked the images of monkeys which were showing the human life cycle.

After a walk up many steps to see the tomb of one of the old Shoguns, it was some free time to explore parts before heading back to the bus to stop off at a convenience store to buy lunch, and the first “what the heck is that” challenge for food, as some looked a bit strange (strange to western people, probably common-place for Japanese), and it was back onto the bus to eat and head up the Iroha-Zaka road, two roads which go up a mountain via many switchback corners (22 up, 26 down), the bus driver earning his pay (and probably the reason for the smaller coach) going up (and coming back down later)

Not my photo –

Brilliant views from the roadside (in the parts where the trees disappeared), brilliant colours on the trees, and soon we reached Lake Chuzenji, which is where a lot of foreign ambassadors have their summer houses (for summer it gets quite hot and humid in the city), and it was a very beautiful lake, I felt at ease, the next stop was to a large waterfall (Kegon Waterfall) which comes from the lake, but there was a lot of school children around (as Runi was saying, October is a good time for school trips due to the weather being rather good). Soon enough it was back to the bus for the drive back down the mountain, counting the number of corners and back onto the open road, reaching Tokyo after dark to see it all lit up was quite good. Into the tunnels and we reached the hotel around 6pm, which gave me the idea to go visit the Toyko Tower for some pictures. So after dropping off some stuff from my bag in my room I went to the subway station located opposite the hotel (Akasaka-Mitsuka) and headed to the Marunouchi line.

I decided to do a bit of a zig-zag trip towards the station nearest the tower, so it was set 02 of the 02 series train to Kokkai-Gijidō-mae, before transferring to the Chiyoda line with a “6000 series” set, which was number 18 (which I can’t remember much about it), for a couple stops to Hibiya, before transferring to the Hibiya Line to Kamiyacho. This time on a 03 series subway train, number 41, where I exited the subway system and headed to the tower following the signs, and where it might not be as tall as other TV towers in the country, it was still impressive.

Back to the subway system, and set 17 took me back to Kasumigaseki, where I transferred to the Chiyoda Line again to Kokkai-Gijidō-mae, this time on set 01 (6000 series). Following the signs I found myself on the Ginza line platforms at the adjoining Tameike-Sannō station, so it was onto a 01 series train (set 37) for the trip to Aoyama-Itchōme, and onto the Hanzōmon Line to take me back to Nagatachō station which is adjoining my original starting point of Akasaka-Mitsuka, so I exited the station the same way I headed in, and had a very interesting Japanese style pasta for my last night in Tokyo, it was another 8am start in the morning, this time with bags.

The future?


A nice yellow service:


I’m assuming this poster shows some of the various trains on the various lines:


They have guards on the Tokyo subway, open the doors, press the little button which plays a little tune before heading back to close the doors and give the all-clear to the driver.



---

Kite in Japan Day 5
My normal holiday continued, with a similar story to yesterday morning, apart from my main bag was all ready and packed up as I headed to the bus, thankfully it was either the same or similar to the coach on the 1st proper day, one with good leg-room for the long days. The final destination today was Toyama on the west coast, Tokyo is on the east, so it was a trip into the mountains, with the first stop (other than a rest stop at a little service area) being Matsumoto where we were to visit Matsumoto castle, a castle built in 1504 (so was quite old, and hence we had to remove our shoes before being able to go inside)

Not my picture:

Anyway, it was inside to see a range of ancient weapons used when Japan was at war with itself (when it was a series of states ruled by various warriors), and to climb to the top, involving some steep narrow stairs for some rather good views of the city and surrounding area, after we climbed back down (where I nearly bashed my head on a low beam) and had some spare time to enjoy the sunshine, some sort of event was due to take place in the castle grounds in the next couple days so there was a lot of activity with tents being put up.

Back to the bus and onwards for the next trip, via some absolutely brilliant roads for viewing out of a coach window, mixed up with some long tunnels as the road goes into the mountains, some bridges which must have had some engineering put into them, the glimpses of railways I spotted was a mix of electrified lines and non- electrified lines, most was single track. But would probably be an amazing journey if you did it by rail. The area was nicknamed the Japanese Alps, anyhow it was to a Buddhist temple next, Zenkoji temple, which had a nice long shopping street located outside, and some interesting buildings, the temple itself is good inside, with an old statue with is hidden from view. This temple has a passageway which goes underground which is in total darkness, which is quite spooky as you feel your way around, feeling to find the “key to enlightenment”. Quite an interesting experience it was, being careful not to walk into the person in front.

Anyhow, after some more free time spent exploring the area around the temple, it was back towards the bus for the final drive (stopping once more for a break) to the city of Toyama, of the city itself I can’t really remember much, other than the hotel was nearly opposite the main railway station and it has trams. The station is split into two, with JR located above for the Shinkansen (bullet trains) and other lines [which I didn’t go up to see], plus some bays for a private station run by a company called “Dentetsu” which I took a moment to grab some pictures of the units, but again didn’t actually ride on them (which is a slight regret in hindsight), anyhow grabbed some food before heading back to the hotel to sleep, the end of a rather enlightening day crossing the mountains.

Trams!

[/url]

Trains at the Dentetsu side of the station:

 

[Techniquest]

As always a fascinating read, and some excellent scenes to see!

 

[crehld]

Sorry I've been absent from the trip reports section for a bit (work's taken over lately) but your tales from Japan have been a delightful return.

All I can really say is that I'm incredibly jealous of your trip. It sounds as if you've been having a fantastic time

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

Very interesting read of your Japanese adventures.

Occasionally, the JR staff will stop you from taking pictures for whatever reasons - but playing up your "Englishness" and explaining you've come hundreds and hundreds of miles just to take a picture of said unit normally gets you by... Seems they can't understand trainspotting like this

Interesting fact:- Japan is the only country in the world running trains that does not have one unders... They are officially termed "Unauthorised Passenger/Train Interaction" and the TOC concerned will bill the family for the clean-up costs involved!

 

[Kite159]

Thankfully the only issue I had with JR staff is when I stood next to one of the barriers to take a picture of the station, as I was standing in front of the yellow line.

Anyhow time for the next day:

Kite in Japan – Day 6

The 6th day of my travelling holiday began with breakfast on the top floor of the hotel, giving quite good views of the city of Toyama, plus of the shinkansen tracks running into the station, so breakfast was spent watching various bullet trains taking a quite sharp looking bend into/out of the station, so beautiful:


Anyhow, after a hybrid breakfast (seriously chips for breakfast, madness!) it was down to the bus to go back across the mountains back to the east coast, the place of rest tonight would be in Nagoya, so once out of the city, the mountains soon came with various tunnels and good views, the first stop was the little village in the snow, Shirakawa, as it was October there was no snow, but was a picture postcard little village (UNESCO World Heritage site), with thatched houses, visiting one of the houses to see what it was like inside and was quite good

Not my picture:

This is where I discovered the wonders of C.C. Lemon, sort of lemonade with 50 lemons’ worth of vitamin C (discovered after playing a game of drinks vending machine “what is that”), which turned into my drink of choice throughout the rest of the tour (drinks vending machines pop up everywhere, and strangely bottles of drinks were nearly always 160 yen, be it on the side of the street of a small town, in the city, at a station, on a ferry or even on a train), anyhow back to the coach and another drive through the Alps with the destination for lunch being Takayama city.

Unknown to me, we had picked a good time to come, as Takayama was having it’s autumn festival, which involved some very beautiful floats, but was quite busy (so the planned trip to a heritage house was canned), but one of those strange moments where you had to be there to soak in the mood, some of the floats


Back to the coach and it was towards Nagoya, after a couple more “pit-stops” as I called them to allow us to use the toilets (no toilet on the bus) and for some members of the group to buy a coffee from a machine where you can watch it being made (from the beans rolling down to be grinded and cooked to the cup coming out of the bottom, set to a nice musical number), and it was to the city, where we checked in.

Ruri was doing to do a little unofficial city tour departing around 18:00 for anybody who was interested in seeing some of the sights of the city centre in the dark, so I hooked up for a little walking tour passing some department stores, a store with a ferris wheel attached to the side and to the bus station. Why to the bus station you might ask, because it’s a public space called “Oasis 21”, where on the roof is a large pool of water, with a live stage below with some live music being played. The roof had fantastic views of the TV tower and was worth the visit (as I like a good TV tower)


Anyhow, it was time to say Arigatō to Ruri for the night and head off to do some exploring as Nagoya had a subway system, but before hand to a private line run by the company “Meitetsu” for a quick hop (free city centre Wi-Fi helped with google maps giving me a rough idea) so I found Sakaemachi station located in the bus station area and headed down to the Seto Line, where the Meitetsu 4000 series trains were out to play, 4-car sets, with set 17 taking me one stop to Shimizu before set 11 taking me to Higashiōte, here is set 17 arriving into Sakaemachi:


After a short walk I found the subway and planned to do a square journey back to Sakae station, so it was on the Meijo Line to Hisaya-ōdōri (2000 series, set 02), before transferring over to the Sakura-dōri line for the single stop to Marunounchi (6000 series, set 19), to the Tsurumai Line platforms where I got a surprise as a Meitetsu 100 series (set 13 I believe) rolled in on a through service to take me to Fushimi, it had curtains!


Finally onto the Higashiyama line to take me to Sakae which is pretty much where I started my journey, in this massive underground station which has many exits to street level (I exited via Exit 16), this was on a 5050 series, set 09. After some food, I headed back to the hotel to rest for the evening.
2000 Series:

6000 series (chest high barriers)

100 series:

5050 Series:

 

[Techniquest]

That 2000 series machine looks too much like a 142 front to me! Curtains on a subway train just seems bizarre to me, never heard of such a thing.

A fascinating day had, well timed visit with that festival!

 

[Kite159]

Agreed, it is very 142-like. I'm guessing that 100 series must have run from farther afield and continued into the underground section (picture it a bit like crossrail)

Anyhow a brief break:
23rd October – Portsmouth Direct Line (Part 1)

It was a welcome return to UK rails for me today, Japan was good, but sitting sideways (or standing) got boring after the window as it means you can’t look out of the window, with several ideas to mind I decided to pick doing a linear bash along the Portsmouth Direct Line, to try and clear some more SWT shacks. So it was to Andover to jump onto my first 159 for a couple weeks, and it was nearly a 30 minute delay due to a slow moving car (seriously 30 mph in a 60mph zone is annoying), anyhow I managed to jump onto 159020 & 159017 in the nick of time for the trip to Woking.

At Woking the first service towards Guildford was a fast, and was a pair of dud 444s so I gave it a miss, and catch the next stopper, which was formed of 5 coaches, and 444003 rolled in to take me the 9 miles and 13 chains to my first new shack of the day at Farncombe (or Guildford South), only a mile or so away was the next station so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and walked to Godalming (or Guildford South Parkway), and it was another 444 up next (and I was hoping for some 450s to come down the line as I need 8 of the buggers), this time was 444005 to Milford, a quiet station with nothing much around.

30 minutes later it was a pair of 450s (woohoo), but both were dud (bah), 450013 & 450038 for the short hop to Witley, with another wait, where things started to go wrong with delays, as when duds 450104 & 450027 rolled in to take me further south it was quite slow north of Haslemere as a tree had come down with some delays as it rolled into Liphook, I noticed the train which was due to roll in next was cancelled, not the next train but the train after that, so decided to ditch Liss and head to Rowlands Castle on duds 444016 & 444031. Darkness had fallen and there is nothing much around the castle of Rowland. 15 or so minutes later dud 450038 arrived to take me back north, looking at RTT saw a potential of a quick move to score Liss, however when we rolled into Petersfield, the guard came over the PA to say that we would be stuck at Petersfield for at least 15 minutes due to the power being turned off to remove the tree north of Haslemere.

20 minutes later we departed and I decided to call it a night and head back towards Woking, but I did jump off at Guildford in the hope of the fast caught behind us would give me a winner, but sadly it was “formed of 5 coaches” so I knew it would be a 444, and it was 444009 getting another 6 miles under its wheels back to Woking, unusually rolling into Platform 5, which was in a sense of chaos with delays seemingly everywhere (sounded like something had gone wrong in the Winchester area), but with 25 minutes to kill before the next train towards Salisbury I headed out of the station, Google Maps had suggested there was a little Tesco Express located nearby on the southern (P5) side, and 5 minutes later I have located said shop in order to purchase a meal-deal for my dinner (and some supplies for the Saturday) before heading back to the station, confusing the ticket office person to buy my rover for the next day (killed some time), and to P4.

Formed of 5 coaches came up on the screen, which meant some 158 thrash, and it was 159008 leading 158887, clearing 158887 for 500 miles in the process, back to Andover and for a drive home, no new winning units, but 6 shacks cleared, leaving 3 shacks down the Portsmouth Direct Line to try and score one weekday evening, which was attempted on the 28th which leads nicely into...

28th October – Portsmouth Direct Line Part 2

I was feeling a bit down so I decided to have a little spin on the rails to see if I could pick myself up, so it was to Grateley station to catch the 16:59 towards Waterloo, the three remaining PDL shacks in my target, and it was running around 4 minutes late, but was worth the wait as it was 2 of my 4 159s still below 500 miles, 159022 with 159103 (which has finally dragged itself off the bottom of my distance list, replaced with 159015) for the 48 and a bit mile spin to Woking, some spirited driving from the driver managed to cut the 4 minutes down to a right time arrival into Woking. 5 or so minutes later the 12 car trio of 450s bound for Portsmouth on a fast (and Guildford South Parkway) rolled in.

Happy days I thought to myself as one of the 8 was on the front, 450089 with duds 450024 & 450543 making up the other two units, which was front 11 coaches for Guildford (feels strange when you hear “front 7 coaches” but I’m guessing I will get used to SDO). Anyhow this is when things went wrong when we slowed down and paused briefly at Farncombe with signalling problems around the Witney area, 10 minutes later we were on the move to call at Godalming where we paused for another 10 minutes, and lost another 10 minutes on route to Haslemere where I bailed, the service running 30 minutes late.

Some RTT planning time, and I spotted a couple of potential movements to clear Liss and Petersfield, so it over to P2 to jump onto 444028 leading 444033 on a stopper, where it had to wait for 10 minutes for another trio of 450s on a fast to depart first, RTT told me that the next two services south of Haslemere called at all stations, the first (the pair I was on) terminated at Portsmouth Parkway (or Havant as it’s otherwise known) with the service behind going to Portsmouth & Southsea which was only 10 minutes behind due to the delays, so it was a check of RTT on route (I love the wi-fi on the 444s) and yes it was on the move after Haslemere, so I took the risk and bailed at Liss.

7 minutes later, 444006 & 444005 rolled up to take me that little bit further to Petersfield to clear the line, no more having to come down the boring as dishwater line known as the Portsmouth Direct. A quick visit to a little Tesco Express outside the station for some cold drinks and I was back to the other platform to await the next Waterloo ‘fast’, which was formed of 444004 and it looked like the signalling issues had been resolved as it rolled into Woking a couple minutes early.

I had an extra option to get back to Basingstoke in the hands of a Portsmouth (via Fareham) service which was sadly a dud 450 so I gave that a miss (as it looked rather cosy), and jumped onto 159004 & 159108 to take me back to Grateley. 004 is getting ever so close to the thousand figure (5 miles short), and a nice little walk home in the dark, feeling a lot more happier than I did earlier on, the end is in sight for SWT shacks

 

[47403]

Kite all I can say about Japan is WOW, some weird looking trains, the header one, Japan Trains, looked like a snake and the ones that look like swans, looked awesome.
Some quite stunning archietecture and scenery, sounded like an awesome trip indeed and an excellent read.
Well done for clearing the Pompey direct line, certainly had some issues both them days, at least you got 1 winner

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Kite, good to see that you are back on home territory rather than playing with those funny looking Japanese things. As you say, the end is nigh for SWT shacks. At this rate of attrition, there's going to be nothing left for you in the South East. Correct me if I am wrong, but I've not seen much about you snatching East Anglian shacks. In fact, not many of the regular posters on here seem to venture over to that part of the world. I am just as guilty, not having been over there for a couple of years - I'll have to correct that in 2016!

 

[Techniquest]

Anglia is a ginormous pain in the face for me to get to, especially without paying silly money, hence my lack of appearance over there since June 2014!

Congratulations Lord Kite on clearing the PDL shacks, quite a mission you had doing them! 7 more 450s will take some finding!

 

[Kite159]

Kite, good to see that you are back on home territory rather than playing with those funny looking Japanese things. As you say, the end is nigh for SWT shacks. At this rate of attrition, there's going to be nothing left for you in the South East. Correct me if I am wrong, but I've not seen much about you snatching East Anglian shacks. In fact, not many of the regular posters on here seem to venture over to that part of the world. I am just as guilty, not having been over there for a couple of years - I'll have to correct that in 2016!

A lot of South Eastern land remains, plus a lot of Greater Anglia, I might have to think how to do some of those lines where no rovers are available, might be a lot of festering doing linear bashing on the Southminster line.

Southend Victoria I've got a rough plan to hit and hit it during an evening peak, as I think all the trains stop at all stations, and should be at least double (if not trio) 321s so hopefully I can reduce my huge number of GA 321s as well

------

I got completely bored (and a bit fed up) coming back from Waterloo last night, it looked like the fast tracks of the SWML between Basingstoke & Woking was out of action so everything was in the slows, and I think we got caught behind a stopper as it was so painfully slow crawling along, add to the usual WCML saturday night crawl where it goes down to 2 tracks, and we got caught behind a late running LM stopper, so it was a crawl
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Kite in Japan – Day 7

It was time to move, after the now usual breakfast of a mix between Western & Japanese style, it was to the bus, the destination today was Osaka, one city which visit made me choose this holiday over a couple others I researched (and I must say I love the Osaka accent), the first call on route was the Mikimoto Pearl Island where they cultivate pearls (which was quite interesting to see how the process has developed over the years), also a demo of traditional female divers who locate natural pearls in the bay.

The next journey was via a wonderful mountain pass, the Ise-Shima Skyline, such beauty as the road rises and falls, rising into the fog



Anyhow, the next stop was at the “Ise Grande Shrine”, a quite large shrine for the Shinto religion and it was quite busy there (it being a long weekend in Japan due to a public holiday on the Monday), and after a quick visit it was some spare time to look at some of the old houses in a shopping area, which was very interesting, but I was glad to be back on the bus as my back wasn’t feeling the best. It was a long drive to Osaka, stopping once for a coffee break, and to the hotel located in the northern part of Japan’s second city.

A slight regret is that we didn’t spend longer in Osaka itself, as it would have been nice to see the city in the daylight, but it gives me something to go back for
After asking Runi about places to visit, she suggested the tallest building inJapan, Abeno Harukas, which is 300 metres above the ground, and I got given a metro map, the nearest subway station (which at that point was elevated above street level) was Esaka where the Midōsuji Line run, so it was down south on a “30000 Series” subway train, set 03, and it was pretty much the same inside as other Japanese subway trains.

I formed a plan to do some steps to get to Tennoji station which is where the building was located, so it was off the train at Umeda station only to find the first interchange was blocked by a gate-line, so it was back to the Midōsuji Line platform to board set 02 to Hommachi. Changing to the Chūō line and onto a “Kintetsu 7020 series” train, set 03 for the short hop to Sakaisuji-Hommachi, and down to the Sakaisuji Line where I got onto the wrong platform (doh!) and headed the wrong way to Kitahama on a Hankyu 5300 series, sets 19 & 20 (as it was 2 units joined together), back down the right way this time to Nagahoribashi, this time on a Hankyu 7300 series, set 05 (all those private operators having their own trains, a bit like the London Underground if all the lines were owned and operated by separate companies).

Changing to the Nagahori Tsurumi-ryokuchi Line for a short hop to Tanimachi Rokuchōme on a 70 series, set 24 and the linear motors sounded amazing (at the time I didn’t know it was linear motors giving the trains a boost of acceleration, and my final change was to the Tanimachi line to Tennōji which was on a 22 series train, set 02. Tennōji is a large station in Osaka, has a couple subway lines underneath it, plus a few JR lines, with a private operator railway out the side, but I managed to find the entrance to “Harukas 300”, and went up the lift, paid my 1500 Yen (around £8 at current conversion rates) which by far was the best 1500 Yen I spent, the views took my breath away. I could only imagine what it would have been like during the day, but here be a couple pictures:


Anyhow, after watching an amazing light show, it was back down to street level, where I decided to try out some heavy-rail on the JR Osaka Loop (as the name suggests it’s a loop), but unlike Tokyo’s loop line this isn’t separated from other tracks, so that only the funky looking “Limited Expresses” don’t call at some of the stations, which gave me an idea for some linear bashing. To Shin-Imamiya on a 103 series service, set 198, before to Taisho on a 221 series, sets 32 & 48, next up was a pair of 223 series services to Bentencho, set 07 of the -0 sub-class, and set 01 of the -5000 sub-class (think the -5000 was smaller by coaches). After a brief wait at Bentencho for a passing service, it was onto a 201 series train, set 61 to Nishikujo and onto Fukushima (no, not that Fukushima) on set 94 of the 201 series, before finally into Ōsaka station itself on a double 221 series set 12 and 012 (no idea).

I’m guessing the route to Shin-Osaka where the Shinkansen lines run is meant to be on a stopper rather than the train I used, a Super Hakuto HOT 7000, set 4 I believe, my first Japanese DMU, which is used on limited express through the mountains towards Kurayoshi, anyhow I soon alighted at Shin-Osaka from a mostly empty service (next and final stop was Kyoto), and headed out of the JR side of the station, grabbing a quick bite to eat before heading to the Midōsuji Line where due to the time of night it was one train every 10 minutes north of Shin-Osaka with alternating services going out of service, so my first stop was southbound to the mouth-full Nishinakajima-Minamigata, although I did get some different rolling stock than before, on a 21 series set 09, before a 10 series set 13 back to Shin-Osaka, before a Kita-Osaka Kyuko 8000 series train, set 03 back to Esaka. Finding my way back to the hotel to have a good wash and sleep, an excellent day I had.

A 30000 series approaches at Esaka:


Kintetsu 7020 series:


A Hankyu 7300 series:


A “70” series:


A 22 Series:


A 223 series from an airport (ran fast to Osaka)


Old trains! A 103 series train on the right, not sure about the one on the left:


A Passing train:


A 221 (which I’m sure Quinn would like!)


A 223 at Bentencho:


Another passing limited express:


12 meets 012:


Osaka station:


A limited express heading to Shin-Osaka:


“What the heck is that”, a Hot 7000


A 10 series subway:

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

On day 6, did anybody do a double take and check that wasn't a rogue 38 stock?

 

[Kite159]

On day 6, did anybody do a double take and check that wasn't a rogue 38 stock?

Isn't all the rogue 38 stock enjoying its retirement bouncing passengers along between Ryde & Shanklin on the island?

 

[Techniquest]

I keep thinking how much more awesome this tour of Japan would have been if it involved trains for the long journeys!

 

[crehld]

Kite stop posting about Japan you're making me very jealous Seriously though they're great reads and it's a fascinating place.

As for the Portsmouth Direct Line I know it well and for Many years it formed my daily commute. I used to work in Petersfield and remember the Tesco express well. A shame you didn't get to go into the town centre. It's quite nice!

 

[Kite159]

Alas I only had 15 or so minutes to play with in petersfield before the fast back up to Woking.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Kite in Japan – Day 8

Sorry Crehld, but as Magnus Magnusson once said, I've started so I'll finish , a nice departure from the hotel in Osaka and we were back on the road, the finishing point tonight was going to be Matsue, so it was going to be another busy day on the road (at least the legroom is good and the windows kept spotlessly clean, you see drivers of the coaches keeping their buses in tip-top condition when at rest points, polishing them, cleaning the floors etc).

The first proper stop of the day was at “the castle of sweets” in Yonago (although at this point I wasn’t feeling that good, I didn’t have the best of nights sleep as I had a room with a noisy AC unit which couldn’t be turned off), which is a factory where they make sweets which is in the shape of a castle:


Some nice samples of some weird and wonderful Japanese sweets, although I didn’t buy anything, but did find myself at the top of the castle for some rather good views of an industrial area in a city on the Sea of Japan, time for a brief break before setting back on the road towards Matsue itself, where we were going to see the castle, and it is quite impressive for a castle built in the 17th century, it was up into the castle for some views of the inside samurai warrior helmets and outside:


Although it was busier than the previous castle visited (due to it being a public holiday), it was still nice, especially that random girl who was being very brave in only wearing a short skirt on some of the ladders (hey she decided to go in front of me, wasn’t my fault I had to look where I was putting my hands ) The next stop in the city was to an old mid-ranking samurai’s residence, and soon it was back on the road, running alongside Lake Shinji (on the left, and a Matsue private railway line on the right, sample train is below:

And now that is what I call a shack:


Anyhow after the nice enjoyable drive, it was to another shrine, this time the Izumo Shrine, and one thing which springs to mind a couple weeks after visiting was a very thick rope, but was a very nice shrine which is rebuilt every so many years to keep the craft tradition alive:


It was soon back to Matsue city, via a different way and with darkness falling, it wasn’t soon before we were driving in the dark, and back at the hotel where we had a fast check-in and I dumped my bags in the room, and headed out for a spot of rails, not a city with a subway or even trams, so my options was limited to a quick hop to a close-by station, Nogi. Matsue station was small (compared to previous stations, it only had 4 platforms), and manual gates (think Birmingham New Street/Liverpool Lime Street), so it was upstairs to await the next “local” to Nogi.

Before that a 2-car DMU arrived on the other side of the station heading somewhere:
,

Before my train arrived, it was a 2-car 126 Series DMU, set 14, I think, but looked rather good:


To Nogi, which was my only Japanese station which didn’t have ticket gates or a man waiting to collect tickets, which allowed me to keep the outward part of my return ticket (costs the same as 2 singles), a bit confusing as I went to the wrong platform, but the line must be bi-directional as the 2-car EMU arrived on the same platform as the DMU departed. Although I swear going by the carriage numbers and the completely different looking ends, it was 2 cars from 2 different series, the rear end was 114-1117 with the front being a 115-1508, what do you think?

Rear:

Front:


I got confused as it was a rural train, only one set of doors are opened for passengers to board, as you are meant to pay your fare onboard:


Anyhow it was back to Matsue and before I left the station, I managed to grab a picture of a Limited Express heading somewhere and they look kinda funky:


Afterwards I departed the station, and headed to grab some beef curry noodles and rice, and attempted to use some chop-sticks, and it is harder than it looks eating noodles with chop-sticks, and back to the hotel for a nights rest, as the following day would be tiring emotionally.

---------------------

And a change of scene with an UK report:

24th October – A Day on Merseyside

A day in Liverpool was in order, and purchased a few months ago as soon as the tickets went on sale, so happy days I got C1 on the way up, but another seat in coach C on the way back, so it was to Waterloo on the 05:24, formed this morning of 159015 for the nice run to the capital, arrival was on time after the usual sitting outside Waterloo for the platform to be cleared by an empty stopper to Haslemere. I had an hour and 20 minutes to kill before the 08:07 to Liverpool from Euston, so it was time for some underground shack scoring.

To the Jubilee line platforms for some 96 stock noise to Westminster on winning set 52 with dud 89 behind, heading up the stairs at the interesting station to jump onto a circle line train to Sloane Square (S7 stock 399 & 400, both required), a few minutes later a D-stock train appeared, with units 38 & 57 taking me the short hop to South Kensington, and D-stock units 4 & 17 following to take me to Gloucester Road, the traditional circle line complete. Locating the Piccadilly line platforms was a long walk (no wonder why it doesn’t appear as an interchange on the maps, Earls Court & South Kensington is easier), for my first 73 Stock since I’ve started recording LU stock. So it was onto sets 890 & 241 to Knightsbridge, closely followed with sets 150 & 187 to Hyde Park Corner before finally sets 199 & 870 to Green Park, with Victoria line sets 23 & 24 taking me to Euston.

Well that killed some time as I arrived into Euston station at around 07:40 so still had time to grab some food from Sainsburys before heading towards the higher end platforms where dud 390050 was the unit to take me the distance to Liverpool Lime Street, a slight highlight being a particularly beautiful lady sat opposite in seat C2 wearing a cheap top (which had a good reflection in the window), had to stop myself thinking dirty thoughts for the 2 and a bit hour journey. Arrival was on time and with my pre-purchased Saveaway I headed straight towards P1-P6 side of the station to jump onto the Preston bound 319, which was required 319376 so happy days at the start, nice fast run calling only at Huyton and I alighted at my first new NR shack of the day at St Helens Central, arriving a couple minutes early (I’m guessing it is timed to be at Pacer acceleration) allowing me a quick chance for a sneaky shack attack and over the wet footbridge and to the other platform jumping onto dud 319364 for the short hop back towards Liverpool at Thatto Heath.

Dud 319365 was next on a Wigan stopper to take me to the edge of the Saveaway area at Garswood, and another bridge to cross in the rain (wasn’t the nicest of days weather wise) to jump onto dud 319377 (first time 377 in Northern colours, previously had it on a Farringdon – Blackfriars leap) to Eccleston Park. Thankfully the weather had cleared up so I went for a walk, walking the mile and a bit to Prescot to jump back onto 319365 for the 2nd time of the day to take me to Huyton, the line towards Wigan all cleared and not a pacer in sight. A tight connection at Huyton (thankful for the Island platform, and just when are Network Rail going to finish the track-work for P4?) saw me onto a Warrington Bank Quay bound service, formed of dud (first time Northern) 319375 to Earlestown, I would have tried to get Newton-Le-Willows but it was a “le bus”, but as that shack falls inside the Manchester Wayfarer area, it shouldn’t be too hard to grab it in December.

Across the triangular station and onto an all station stopper, dud 319363 taking me back to Liverpool Lime Street, there was a brief moment where I could have bailed at Edge Hill for a +3 onto a Manchester Oxford Road service to put myself an hour up, but that fell apart when we arrived into Edge Hill 3 down to the sound of a pacer accelerating away, ah-well, it was always going to be a long shot, and to Lime Street, and to Boots to grab some lunch and a break for 15 or so minutes. The next South Parkway bound service was a 185 which was in front of the next stopper, so to grab a table seat to eat lunch and for a quick charge of my phone, it was onto new super-dud 185149 for the short trip to Liverpool South Parkway, with a brief wait before dud 156488 rolled up with required 156459 behind, so taking a seat in 459 for the short run away from the wires and briefly into 3rd rail land, before reaching Hough Green, not the nicest of stations if you need to make a fast connection at. Sadly the next inbound service was running a tad late, but it had a required pacer on the front, 142013 with (tiny distance) dud 142039 on the rear, sadly it meant I missed the connection with the next Manchester bound stopper which called at Halewood, so it was time to think, and hop across the footbridge via the gatelines to the low-level platforms. I can’t remember which trip reporter said they were hard to find, but compared to some stations they were quite easy, just follow the signs to the Northern Line.

Having just missed a required 508, meant I had a 15 minute gap before the next service, which was running late (due to being held up for a late running TPX to cross over lines, one of 3 places where Merseyrail units share the same lines with other stock (I believe, excluding Southport), and it was dud 508111 to take me to St Michaels with winner 508108 back to Cressington, dud 507028 for the 58 chain leap to Aigburth before winner 507014 to Hunts Cross, where I had a 10 minute wait before the next Northern stopper was dud (felt it was easier to make the interchange at Hunts Cross than at South Parkway). In came the sound of a couple pacers, and it was the same pair I had earlier (bugger), 142039 & 142013, which I took to Halewood, with a brief break before the same pair of 156s arrived from earlier (156459 & 156488) to take me back to Hunts Cross, and across the long ramped steps footbridge to the waiting 508120 (sadly a dud) to take me to Liverpool Central, where a brief moment later winner 507033 rolled in to take me to my final shack on that loop to Brunswick, not the nicest of stations to jump across platforms in a hurry, but it was done with a couple minutes to spare with delayed 508115 taking me north, I was tempted to grab Bank Hall for a +1, but decided against it, so I jumped of at the anti-social behaviour capital of the known universe at Sandhills to await the next Ormskirk bound train, formed of dud 507005 to take me to Kirkdale, where I had a brief 10 minute wait before winner 507009 rolled in to take me to the end of the line at Kirkby.

A quick walk under the bridge to the Northern side of the platform to find winning 150201 on the next service towards Manchester (and onwards to Huddersfield), which I took a seat on, and apart from a random stop where it looked like the driver got out the train to look at something on the single track before pausing briefly at the signal box at the end of the single track (something on the line?) to Rainford to clear that Kirkby – Wigan line. 15 or so minutes later dud 156425 rolls up to take me back to Kirkby with a bit of a fast walk to jump onto fresh dud 507009 to take me to Fazakerley. A few minutes later dud 508112 rolled in to take me back to Kirkby where I stayed on as it continued on its journal back to Liverpool, and I alighted at Kirkdale. I was going to jump on the service from Ormskirk, but it was running late which put my connection with the next service to Ormskirk at risk. Sandhills is a much better station to interchange than Kirkdale, no long steps to get back to street level. Lightness had started to fall as I boarded 507024 to take me pretty much to the end of the line, and into Lancashire at Aughton Park.

The ticket office seller looked a bit bored as I went pass him and down to the other side, think Wood End in terms of distance between platforms, anyhow 507024 had returned to take me back towards Liverpool, where I bailed at Orrell Park, and a few minutes later dud 507005 rolled in to take me to my final shack on the Ormskirk branch with Aintree, only Merseyrail shacks remaining are now those between Southport & Sandhills on the Northern Line. Dud (not really having the best of luck with 50X units today) 508126 took me to Moorfields and eventually I found the Wirral line platform and onto dud 508143 back to Lime Street. Sadly Boots was closed, so I grabbed a sandwich from WH Smiths (not really the best sandwiches) and headed to dud 390005 which was sitting all 390-like waiting to depart.

Apart from a grumpy lady who decided to try and take over most of the table, and most of my seat (grumpy because I asked her to move from the window seat as I needed the plug socket, or just grumpy as she was a Sun reader, who knows) for a slow trip back to Euston, getting caught up in some mild delays caused by a late running stopper in front (as Saturday evenings the southern end of the WCML goes down to 2-tracks) and so it was a bit of a crawl down to Euston, arriving a few minutes down at 22:25. To the underground, and the Victoria line (sets 31 & 32) taking me to Oxford Circus, and finding the northbound Bakerloo platforms, with sets 562 & 264 taking me to my final Bakerloo shack in the shape of Regent’s Park, 4 minutes later dud 559 with winner 245 rolled in to take me to Baker Street.

Changing onto the Jubilee line (for the lovely sound the 96 stock makes) with sets 71 & 94 taking me onwards to Bermondsey before doubling back to Southwark on sets 02 & 41 (I’ve previously used Southwark station, but must have been a few years ago for some magazine focus group), I didn’t have long to wait before sets 115 & 96 took me the 21 chains back to Waterloo. Grabbing some food from McDonalds was first and I headed to see what was on the 23:40 to Basingstoke, and tonight it was 159015 making another appearance with 159005, however I’m not moaning at it means 159015 was cleared for 1000 miles. To Basingstoke where strangely the train terminated due to engineering works and it was outside, down the steps to the little bus stop where two coaches were waiting, one was to Andover only, the other to Overton, Whitchurch, Andover (to pick up), Grateley and finally Salisbury, formed of a Pewsey Vale Coach R913ULA, it was a long trip home, made worst as Overton & Whitchurch stations are down little side streets away from the main-road, and 1 person got off at Overton and nobody got off at Whitchurch, 1 person got on at Andover and me and around 7 others got off at Grateley around 01:50 (leaving at a guess 10 passengers for Salisbury). A quick drive home and I collapsed into bed, with nothing planned for the next day (I previously had planned for the North Downs, but seeing it was a bus from Basingstoke instead of Andover ditched them).

Anyhow, a very productive day in terms of shacks, I can’t wait to get back to Liverpool, although I have no idea when that might be due to SWT not releasing advance quotas for the 05:24.

 

[Techniquest]

As always, two excellent reads

Hopefully they open the quotas for the 0524 again soon!

 

[Kite159]

Kite in Japan – Day 9 – Hiroshima

A very emotional draining day, mainly due to seeing the results of the event in August 1945, but before hand it was a trip to the island of Miyajima (or Itsukushima) to visit the World Heritage site, but on route we made cranes on the bus for donation in the afternoon, the crossing of the bay was smooth and took around 10 minutes. The shrine has a “Torii” Gate which is in the bay to give the impression that it is floating:

My crane, not bad for a first timer:


The island was a tourist hot-spot as the weather was absolutely glorious, plus the deer were interesting (as deer roam free on the island), but be careful of any paper items as the deer will soon attack you for it. Nice enough shrine (after a while they all mostly look the same inside) and some free time to sample some delights of local food & scenery before it was back to the ferry for the trip back to the main-land and back to the bus, after passing some local trams (as it appears it is the end of the line for one of the Hiroshima tram lines).

The next stop was the city of Hiroshima itself, and if you know history it was the first city where an atomic bomb was used, and it was very emotional seeing the “A-bomb” dome, and the Peace Memorial Park, may the evils of the atomic bomb never be used again in wartime, as some of the articles in the museum just drained me, I hadn’t felt so drained inside probably since April of 2003 when I visited Auschwitz with school. I donated my crane to the “thousand crane” project in honour of Sadako Sasaki. It is draining me thinking about this day as I type.



*pulls self together*

After the museum, it was to the hotel, which was particular in to use the lifts above the 3rd floor you needed to use the room key which only allowed access to that floor, good security there, it was time to have a moment of rest before we were to head out in the evening for some dinner, to sample a Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki (pancake) from a local restaurant and it was absolutely beautiful.

Afterwards we had a little tour of some of the nightlife of the city, the colourful lights of the main shopping street, where we said goodnight and I headed to the underground, there is one underground subway line in Hiroshima, the Astram line, which is automatic rubber wheel trains (series 6000), sadly it was all behind platform doors so I couldn’t get a picture of the train, but here is a picture from Wikipedia:

I took set 21 from Hondori (the end of the line) to Shin Hakushima, where it interchanges with a JR line, which I went up to take an oldish looking unit formed of 111-2161 & 111-2070 (so I’m guessing a 111 series?), to Hiroshima station itself, but before hand a Japanese freight train roared pass the station:

Rear end of the unit I alighted from (set P-09?) at Hiroshima main:

A Red Wing set (which are replacing those yellow machines):


Outside the station was the terminus for the Hiroshima electric railway, basically street trams, of various ages, I took tram 3705 for the short distance to Hatchobori, where you pay when you leave the tram (flat fare within the city zone of 160 Yen I believe), and walked back to the hotel via a department store to just have a look (which was a bit silly inside)

Anyhow some trams:
5107:


3705:


910:


707:


5004 at Hiroden-Miyajima-Guchi


The next day features a ride on the bullet train!

 

[47403]

That got very confusing, I was in Japan on board a hot 7000 snake look a likey train and before I knew it, I was bouncing along on a 142 to Southport and then a merseyrail unit that left Moorfields and reappeared in Horishma, where Lord Kite was the guard, giving us a crash course in Origami.

Crackin read kite and from the pics, it looks a truly awe-inspiring place to visit, thats Japan not Southport.

 

[FQ]

That sounds like a very fun day. Which 390 did you have back from Lime Street though?

 

[Techniquest]

I think if I do ever visit Japan, I want to go to Hiroshima too. I don't remember much about what I learnt of the place in history (to be fair, I left in summer 2001!) but it's always been one of those places that's imprinted in the mind.

Some very funky looking stuff, and I can't wait to see what you think of the Bullet Trains!