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Oigawa Railway, Shizuoka – May, 2025

Apologies, this is going to be a long post. It's been a while since I've been back to this model-railway-in-real-life-paradise and I've missed it! Although the line suffered damage from a landside back in 2022 and has been truncated to Kawane-Onsen Sasamado Station, Oigawa Railway is still operating services in the area where they can and have plans to repair the line to full operation again in the future.

They are also still very active with their vehicle preservation and restoration, working on EMUs, electric locomotives and steam engines. You can find their vehicles over here, but it's better to just go and visit the railway! Recently, they've re-painted one of their electric locomotives in the Japanese Blue Train (Night Train) style and it looks superb. It's been given the nickname (as with everything in Japan) "Chibi-Blue" where "chibi" translates loosely to "Tiny" with hints of "cute" and "little".

The goal was to see this new livery in action and to check out all of the usual awesomeness that is Oigawa. To get there from Shin-Osaka, I took a not-too-early shinkansen, but thankfully my friend hinted to an exact service to check out... being the Wonderful Dreams Livery!

It's plastered in Disney characters and determined to cart you to Tokyo where you can end up at Tokyo Disney... It only took me to Hamamatsu. From here it was a transfer to a local train, otherwise I'd shoot straight over Kanaya Station where the Oigawa Junction is.

The transfers were made and we wandered up to the pedestrian overpass just east of the station for a spectacular view.

You know you're in Shizuoka when Mt Fuji loiters in every photo. And when you see the beautiful cream of their EMU sets.

And freight trains... even though it was Golden Week, we had freight! The Oigawa service (of which we intended to also ride on!) was due into Kanaya Station and we got in position.

CHIBI BLUE! Straight away! A good omen.

The platform for Oigawa at Kanaya Station is a terminus, so the front loco becomes the rear... with the Steamer now on point. Were people here for the C11 or Chibi Blue?

A bit of both... and before-long we were off to Shin-Kanaya. The usual suspects were waiting in the yard, entertaining the children.

We rode through to Ieyama where we had a short photo-stop whilst waiting for the opposing train.

Once on the platform, whilst most ran to the front of the train...

I was more interested in chibi-blue.

Such a good looking loco and a stellar paint job to match!

We continued on to the temporary terminus Kawane-onsen sasamado.

It's such a picturesque location! You can get some really good photos from the river-bed, and so we got into position.

With time on our side, we checked out the goods at the station, returning to the other side of the bridge for the next service.

Always happy to see us, Thomas is.

A stock-livery E500 was on the rear and would soon depart back across the bridge. The lighting to the north was too harsh, especially for the darker locomotive, so I returned to the south-side for the final pass.

As much as I love Thomas, I'm always here to see the other relics that the Oigawa Railway preserves and operates.

Waiting for us at Kawane-onsen Sasamado Station was the Kintetsu 16000. We actually only ended up riding it back to Ieyama, so that we could check out Chibi-Blue once more.

We arrived at Ieyama and alighted the train. The stationmaster received the staff and the EMU was off. We loitered to inspect Percy.

How perfectly hilarious. I love that they've actually painted the middle driving wheelset black to make Percy a proper 0-4-0.

The station precinct was inspected... and then the next SL service came through.

And the service stopped... but had no reason to as the path was clear to the terminus? Oh... watering!

It gave me a good chance to check out Chibi-Blue again!

The SL was reconnnected and they were outta there.

But not for long...

And then we joined and returned to Shin-Kanaya.

Next, we actually took a taxi to the bridge where I took a photo a decade-or-so-ago... to try and reproduce it. Unfortunately the trees weren't as leafy as they were, and may have actually been removed... I couldn't work out exactly where I'd stood in the past. Photos were still taken!

And then we wandered back to the yard around the back of the station, next to the river. This is where the factories were, back in the day, that also used the railway line.

Bits of trains everywhere...

And then it was back to Shin-Kanaya Station for a few final shots, before a service to Kanaya to return home.

The 16000 class took us all back.

Thank you again, Oigawa Railway (...and Hayato-San for organising)!

Randen, Kyoto – April, 2025

I'd seen concept art for a new vehicle on this railway and had decided that I should visit it this trip since, well, it's been about a decade! I'm always preferring the trip-up-the-hill with the Eizan Dentetsu rather than the stroll-through-the-suburbs with Keifuku Electric Railroad (Randen)... but I couldn't resist seeing this new unit in the flesh.

The trip started off from Shin-Osaka, riding the Hankyu Kyoto Line through to Saiin Station. This location provides a direct transfer to the Sai Station on the Randen line, towards the eastern end of the Arashiyama Line.

The station is actually split across a major road, with the depot being located on the western side. I was there for 5 minutes and had vehicles shunting in and out continuously.

The line also has a high operating frequency as it carries tourists out to Arashiyama.

Before-long my westbound service came through to take me to Katabiranotsuji Station, where the Kitano Line branches off.

Katabiranotsuji is a two-platform covered station with the major Arashiyama Line passing through the middle. The Kitano line is a terminated to two docks on the northern side of platform 1. This allows one service to arrive as another is readying to depart, very much like Demachiyanagi Station on the Eiden.

Still no hints of the new vehicle, was it even running today? I decided to travel a few stops up the Kitano Line to Narutaki Station where the Kitano Line reduces to single-track.

And then it appeared!

I had to be on the wrong platform to get a good photo, but fortunately made it onto the train for the ride back into Katabiranotsuji.

It's such an amazing design... it nearly has the Metropolis 2001 Anime Art Deco styling about it with those chrome-trimmed headlights. It's beautiful. As that it was turning to run back up the Kitano Line, I wandered to the next station up the Kitano Line to get some final photos.

Other services passed first... and then the work of art...

It was a pleasure.

Kurashiki, Okayama – April, 2025

I'd spent the night in Hiroshima, but was off early the next morning I shot off to Kurashiki, just in time to get to a Hard-Off at opening-o-clock. Check this thing that was on the shelf?

A Yamaha floppy-disk based MIDI jukebox!? Record your songs from your Piano to one of those Roland disk-based units and then play them back here! Or just have CANYON.MID on repeat. Anyway... back to the trains. I really do have a soft spot for the mustard-yellow 113/115/117s that run in the Setouchi area.

As for the new Yakumo... I like it, but I loved the retro colours more.

I was in-time for the next freight service...

Part Fukuyama Rail Express, part Super Rail Cargo, part Kuro Neko Yamato, part Air ... a bit of everything!

Mizushima Rinkai Railway

This cute little third-sector railway runs from Kurashiki Station down to Muzushima Station and beyond to the freight yards. It still exists thanks to the freight component and the requirement to transfer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries staff to their factories. Of course, normal passengers use the line too, but it's heavily subsidised. Thanks to Golden Week, there were no freight services operating when I visited.

I got on at Kurashiki City Station (it has its own name as it's not JR) and travelled to Yayoi Station to find a local Hard Off. It was a hefty walk in sub-par weather! Nothing to be found either.... well, nothing that would fit in my suitcase.

Instead, I just admired the variety of liveries operating on the line and then returned to Kurashiki Station to check into APA Hotel Kurashiki-Ekimae. This turned out to be one of the best afternoons of the trip!

I then realised that you could totally open the window!

And the photos from here on were fantastic.

Or I thought so anyway... Not much freight, again thanks to Golden Week, but a great array of West JR services.

And then it happened... I was distracted by a Yakumo and hadn't realised the freight chasing it.

I bolted downstairs to catch it waiting in the station yard for departure!

Yeeeeeeey! I hadn't expected this to run on the holidays! The earlier service was a no-show. As that I was already outside, I went over to the pedestrian bridge to check out the Mizushima Rinkai in the afternoon sunshine.

Very cute. Even funnier is the hotel...

Perfectly visible from the bridge... and... whoops... I left the window open?

I seem to be the only railfan in residence right now. I returned to the hotel to have a beer and enjoy the view.

The weather was pretty feral around lunch time, but as the clouds came and went things got better...

The room provided an amazing view of the railway to the west and, the best part?, the window opened!

The Mizushima Rinkai services came and went like clockwork as they had no other trains to compete with...

Many trains came and went, along with picturesque weather...

And then something special!...

A HD300 Hybrid off the Mizushima Rinkai Line! Even this was operating today? But at dusk-o-clock. Again, I ran downstairs.

And in terrible lighting I got to see the rolling rectangle up-close.

The night ended with a Sunrise Express passing through.

The morning saw more liveries on the Mizushima Rinkai and the Sunrise on its return voyage.

Also a lonely Fukuyama Rail Express not caring for public holidays.

I decided to go down track-side one final time as I was still a few hours away from check-out.

No freight, but lots of interesting passenger movements. Of course, it wasn't until I returned upstairs that another freight passed!

And that was that... I checked out and rode Kitty-chan home!

Next up was a day at USJ, but we don't need to discuss an ABSOLUTELY AMAZINGLY AWESOME theme park on this site, do we?

Hiroshima – April, 2025

After visiting Satsuma-Sendai, I took the 7am Sakura straight through to Hiroshima, arriving around 10am. I hadn't been back to the area in years and wanted to both check out the progress on the station and ride some Trams. I also wanted to try and see banker locomotives in action over the pass to Saijo.

After visiting a few Hard-Offs, I travelled over the hills to Saijo and had the Fukuyama Rail Express pass me en-route. No photo of that. It was also the first day of Golden Week, meaning that there were no other freight services operating!

Back to Hiroshima it was! I travelled on the Geibi Line north one stop to Yaga Station to have a look at the Shinkansen Yard and saw a consist getting a scrub.

The dual gauge line was also of interest...

The overbridge also allows great photos of the Geibi Line DMUs... but somehow I waited until wandering down lineside to take a photo...

And then I wasn't disappointed with double vermillion at the station on the way back.

I actually left the station and walked to Aeon mall for dinner... finding a C11 stuffed-and-mounted out the front!

Poor old thing.

Finally I checked into my APA Hotel Stadium-Mae and failed to receive a railway view. Instead... I loitered at the crossing at night watching trains. I don't seem to have taken any actual photos!

I did love the level crossing informational signals. The crossing crossed 6 lines and the technicians seemed to think the pedestrians and cars needed this much detail? Great for railfans!

Satsuma-Sendai, Kyushu – April, 2025

After the usual trip down to Miyazaki and Nichinan, I was ready to make a longer trip back to Osaka. I actually had to take a few days as I my usual long-stay apartment was booked out. On the way to Miyazaki, I'd already checked out Kagoshima City and therefore checked the freight timetable to work out the next area-of-interest to the north. This happened to be the town of Sendai, not to be confused with Sendai in Tohoku. To distinguish this it often is known as Satsuma-Sendai, where Satsuma is the historical name of the province of western Kagoshima.

I arrived around 3pm and, after a brief wander to Hard-Off (located a short walk from the station), I wandered south of the station to find vantage points for the incoming north-bound freighter. The sun was lovely, but the track tightly winds through suburbia leaving few areas for photography. Thankfully there's a nice bridge with views of both the Shinkansen and main line just south of the station.

Before-long the freight train arrived and, well, a photo was taken. I dawdled back to the main station to see the EF510 detached and shunting around. An older EF81 was also in the yard, looking quite decommissioned.

The rail line north from here is actually a private 'third-sector' railway operated by Hisatsu Orange Railway Company which will take you all the way to Yatsushiro. You'd think it'd take you into Kumamoto Station itself, thanks to the Kumamon livery, but it falls just short.

I rode this service to the first station north at Kami-Sendai to get a shot of this same freight service which was going to eventually continue north after its shunt at Satsuma-Sendai yard. I had enough time and visited a local Sukiya where the staff were impressed that I could use chopsticks. Small moments like this, where everyone is surprised, really remind you that you're in the country-side! Returning to the station, I then checked the surrounding area for photography spots. It turns out that there's a great location just south-east where the small streets parallel the railway.

The sun was starting to fade, but there was enough light for the imminent freight service. Thankfully, thanks to the use of a single line, the signals tell you everything you need to know... and before-long the path was set!

The freighter was actually put into the station loop to allow the next northbound passenger service to pass.

I then (incorrectly) waited for the next freighter (that wouldn't come for hours) as I mis-read the timetable. As the sun set, I then had to wait for the next-next southbound Hisatsu Service, which wasn't coming anytime soon!

Fortunately, the crossing activated (you can really hear the bells in the quiet night-time air!) unexpectedly? What was coming?

I really wasn't doing well following the timetable... as I REALLY should've known if the 7-Stars was operating in the area! Anyway, it was already too-bloody-dark and the next southbound arrived, liveried in a splash of colour relating to "Diesel Girls".

As you can tell, it was bedtime. I got up early the next morning to see the south-bound freighter to Kagoshima. It happened to be held in the station awaiting a clear path south.

The sun wasn't quite up yet...

Which was good, as it allowed me to get further south of the station, on-foot, to a level crossing on a nice curve. Just in time!

And then some passenger services...

I dawdled back to the hotel and checked-out. I forgot to mention... I stayed at the Toyoko-Inn right next to the station which has great balconies (and room views, if you get the right side of the building) of the railway.

Breakfast was included, but the restaurant was full of 30-odd student baseball players in town for a tournament... all very surprised to see me! I grabbed snacks from the station Kiosk instead and waited for my Sakura through to Hiroshima.

I jumped on, ready for an over-nighter in Hiroshima.

Kirishima and Miyazaki, Kyushu – April, 2025

Another trip to Japan meant another trip to visit friends in Nichinan, Miyazaki. The southern end of Kyushu is always amazing to visit. This time was a little different and started in Kirishima thanks to a stay at the Hoshino Resort in the hills. Whilst in the area, I had to check out one or two Limited Express Kirishima services passing through:

I was even lucky to see a Tanuki in broad-daylight crossing (successfully) the tracks! Anyway, the real trip started from Kagoshima Station, where I fluked a passing of the 7-Stars.

Being the end of the freight line from Hakata, the yard is always full of silver EF510s.

My Kirishima arrived on-time and we were off to Miyazaki.

Miyazaki Station

The usual offenders were to be found...

Odotsu - Nango Castle Ruins

And then it got interesting from here. My friend asked me to get off a few stations early and that he'd pick me up. We then bolted ahead down the highway towards Nichinan, but took a right turn in Odotsu. After travelling nearly-vertically up the mountain tracks, we ended up at the remains of Nango Castle, with an amazing vantage port of Odotsu. I can't say Odotsu Port as the "tsu" in Odotsu literally means port. So... Odo Port?

Beautiful! Hilarious to be taking photos of the train that brought me from Miyazaki.

The Old Line To Kanoya

There used to be a railway connecting MiyakonoJo south to Shibushi and then west to Kanoya via Kimotsuki and Aira. The remnants and railway parks are all there and you'll, at least, find a DMU or an SL loitering around. I'm sure the elderly residents are the only ones keeping these parks alive and that the rolling stock will eventually just become too hazardous to leave in open to the public.

First up was Shibushi's Railway Memorial Park, just west of the station on the old alignment. Both a C58 and a KIHA52 were well-kept and looking great!

Next up was Aira Railway Memorial Park with another KIHA52, unfortunately in a slightly worse state. At least you could see that they caretakers were trying to keep the unit in one piece...

The last stop on the memorial tour was the Kanoya Station precinct and its railway museum!

The caretaker was amazing and dealt with my terrible Japanese. He told me all about the previous operations and how freight was key. The passenger services disappeared not long after the freight service stopped.

On the way home, after a recycle shop or two, we passed a love hotel that has seen better days...

Not much love to go around anymore... not even for a beautiful old CRT... instead, love was found at a bridge on the way back to Nichinan...

There it is. Dismal weather, but a great view.

Nichinan

Back to the usual loitering on the pedestrian crossing in front of the temple!...

I love that, since the pedestrian crossing is unmanned with no gates, you instead get a timetable to review. Should you cross? Check your watch. Fortunately the DMU drivers love the horn.

Back to Miyazaki

After a few good nights, it was time to return home, but a surprise for lunch was in-store! Before this though, we stopped at a few spots I'd determined thanks to google maps.

Based on my calculations, the train was around 5 minutes late when it chose to pass... and we nearly left! Next up was a stuffed-and-mounted SL at the baseball park near the airport.

And a final snap of the Umisachi Yamasachi as it was heading south.

But then, the surprise! Curry lunch at a train-themed cafe in north Miyazaki city called Railway Cafe Rokuro (鉄道喫茶 ろくろ).

Delicious food with a great display of authentic memorabilia. The cafe was run by an elderly couple and the husband was an ex-driver. A freight train driver came in for lunch at the same time and told me all about how freight only comes down to Nobeoka. Heh.

From there I was off to Sendai (Satsuma-Sendai, not Tohoku-Sendai) for a long-winded trip back to Shin-Osaka as the apartment was busy with other guests.

Kishu Railway, Gobo, Wakayama – April, 2025

Ok, fine, it's time to actually detail a few trips I took back in Japan over April/June this year. It's only been 4 months? The first was a daytrip on the Kuroshio down to Gobo in Wakayama. From Gobo Station is the Kishu Railway which runs single-car DMUs on the second-shortest railway in Japan. Back in the day it used to operate freight to the Oji Paper and Daiwabo Wakayama Factories... but this has long since been abolished.

It was a Friday and I took the first Kuroshio out of Shin-Osaka Station, making it to Gobo by ~0930. I was hoping for a 283-series, but the 289 was just as nice. The Kishu service wasn't due in for 15 minutes, so I walked to find a nice scenic spot in the countryside to catch it coming in.

Whilst it was turning around in the station, I wandered around (scaring the locals) to find another vantage spot for it's next down service.

It's so cute! I didn't ride it! I'm embarrassed.... as I prioritised going to HardOff in Wakayama instead of being a rail-fan! I've traded one addiction for another. The End.

Suitetsu / Mizuna Tetsudou – Osaka, Japan 2024

Suitetsu has always been on the to-do list, but it's also always been physically located to the south of Kansai Airport and, although easy to get to, it's just so far out of the way! The name is interesting. The URL is "Sui" "Tetsu" (water railway), the name on the main station building at Kaizuka Station is "Suitetu", which I can't fault, bu the standard for "tsu" is "tsu", not "to". Finally, the ACTUAL railway company name is Mizuma Tetsudou. So, not only have the done the usual Japanese method of use-first-syllable-of-both names Mizu[na] Tetsu[dou], but they've then used the "second-reading" onyoumi/kunyoumi and converted "mizu" to "sui". Confusing, to say the least!

Getting there from Shin-Osaka was pretty darn-easy. Subway due-south with a transfer at Namba to the Nankai Line. The Suitetsu starts at Kaizuka Station, which also happens to be a Nankai Station. Due to a fully-packed schedule this time around, there was no need for a JR Rail Pass and therefore any railway company would work.

I'm going to try something stupid here and use the Google Maps "Embed" functionality... I don't know how well this will age.

And so yeah, the subway was easy and the transfer to Nankai even easier. I actually happened to take the Hankyu Senri line south to Tengachaya Station, instead of Midosuji, but they're all much-of-a-much from Shin-Osaka. Whilst transferring, I noticed that the next service stopping was going to be special... so I waited for it.

I then exited the station and transferred to the Suitetsu platform. After purchasing a ticket, I rode the next EMU all the way to Mizumakan-Non Station.

From here, the goal was to dawdle line-side, taking photos of anything that passed. Unfortunately, it started raining horizontally and I wasn't really into it...

Dodging the rain, I caught the next train west to Ishizai and walked from there to the JR Station at Izumi-Hashimoto.

I happened across a Haru-Kitty on the way!

Along with some nature.

Junk Shopping!

From here, it was just a few more hops and a few Hard-Offs. Note that the path doesn't include any of the walking I did above! This is just for anyone who may want to check out the local attractions the easy way.

I actually don't remember purchasing anything significant and the rain was unstoppable. Not really the train-day I was expecting!

How To Miss Doctor Yellow

So, you've all heard the news: Doctor Yellow is being retired in 2027. Thankfully that's 2 years away, so I still have time to see the consist in action. During my recent trip to Japan I travelled all the way to coastal Kanagawa to photograph Shinkansen and freight in the country-side, but gave up due to the weather and ... a general feeling of old-age?

The Original Plan

Take enough trains to Hayakawa Station and walk an extended path to Nebukawa Station. The embedded map below doesn't show the actual path, opting for the most direct. If one follows some of the mountain contours, many tunnel portals can be observed from amazing angles!

It was probably overly-adventurous in the middle of a humid summer. The forecast was actually for rain, but by 9am it was already nearly 30 degrees celsius.

What Actually Happened

I arrived at Hayakawa Station bright and early on Thursday the 6th of June, 2024. There's a pedestrian bridge just east of the station (and a Lawson), so I went to get some line-side shots (and breakfast).

The elevation of the pedestrian bridge really is nice! For some reason I decided that the main goal was to get up to the first Shinkansen tunnel portal.

I got half-way up a hill to a beautiful vantage point for Shinkansen. As I was making my way up there two freighters passed on the zai-rai-sen, one being a Kangaroo-Liner!

Finally, the s-bend of the road provided an awesome vantage point.

I was appeased by the Shinkansen action:

After watching quite a few Shinkansen pass, I somehow let the ambient temperature, humidity and mosquitos get to me. It was a mild climb to this point and I knew this was one of the smaller inclines over the entire path. Due to all of this, I chose to not continue on the original path and, instead, to head back into Tokyo and check out anything with air-conditioning. I'm still regretting this!

Anyway, I spent 5 seconds admiring the people who obviously didn't choose for the Shinkansen to be built next to their bedroom...

...and then I left back to Hayakawa, took the locals to Fujiawa, Enoden to Enoshima, the monorail to Ofuna and then trains to Akiba.

What Did I Miss Out On?

For those playing at home, there's a Japanese-only website known as Kamotsu (Freight) Channel for tracking the locomotives on japanese train services. Users also have the opportunity to upload other sightings... including Doctor Yellow! So, a week after returning from Japan, I was still in the sliding-window of sightings and happened to check when Doctor Yellow been operational whilst I was in Japan.

(You'll just have to pretend that the screenshot above was for the correct dates)

Would you believe it was the exact day I'd chosen to be line-side in Kanagawa? If I'd stayed 30 more minutes I would've snapped the ultra-rare sighting of Doctor Yellow on the Tokaido Shinkansen? The thought still haunts me... but I will seek revenge! I'll also go back to Nou in Itoigawa and also find those bloody onion trains.

Green Hills, Nou, Itoigawa – June, 2024

Whilst driving with friends from Osaka to Aizuwakamatsu, we needed a place to split the trip and I started Googling. Toyama was a logical mid-way point, but I didn't want us to have to slug it into a boring business hotel when we just needed a place to sleep. Instead, I wanted to enjoy the summer twilight, rail-side in a country house and I managed to find just the place!: Green Hills in Nou.

This beautiful house is perched directly next to the Nihonkai Hisui Line. This happens to be a private line; but it's also the main trunk up the northern coast of Japan and the fastest route for freight from Hokkaido when trying to get further west than Tokyo. So, whilst you won't see JR Limited express trains (thanks to the Hokuriku Shinkansen), you will see trains of the Echigo-Tokimeki Railway and a parade of freight trains hauled by EF510 locomotives.

So, above was taken from the left window that you can see in the first image above. It was the 'second bedroom' on the second floor of the house. It had a beautiful view of the railway! Despite the morning rain, I managed to get up in time for the first 'daylight' freight just after 4am. Disregard the tapping in the video as it's just a leak from the gutter above, beating on the first floor roof.

The trains thundered by like clockwork... and I really need to emphasise on the word 'thundered'. Due to there being a crossover right in front of the tunnel portal next to the house, the katan-katan of the wheelsets was loud enough to actually rattle the foundations of the house.

On the next trip to Japan, I'll probably book this place for a few days and set up a temporary live camera so everyone can enjoy the sights.