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Fukuyama Rail Express でGO!

The Fukuyama Rail Express is an express rail-freight service run by Fukuyama Transporting Co, Ltd. Regarding rail-freight, they previously only operated a service from East-Fukuyama to Tokyo.

Here's a shot of that service from my travels in 2019, running past Shin-Osaka Station behind an EF66.

As of yesterday, a new service has been innaugurated from Ajikawaguchi (Osaka) to Morioka!

How bad is my photoshop? Note that the services only run on weekdays.

Location	Northbound	Southbound (read upwards)
Service	58
Ajikawaguchi	2208	1600
Suita	2227-2231	1516-1528
Gifu	0023	1257
Inazawa	0038-0040	1229-1234
Kasadera		1206
Nishi-Hamamatsu	0200	1025
Shizuoka	0259-0301	0902-0910
Yoshiwara		0826
Numazu	0337	0747-0749
Sagami	0421	0656
Yokohama	0449	0629
Shin-Tsurumi	0505 (arrive)	0615 (depart)
	Loco swap and service change to 61	Loco swap and service change to 59
Shin-Tsurumi	0541 (depart)	0541 (arrive)
Kajigaya	0551	0532
Niiza	0625	0502
Omiya	0642	0449
Utsunomiya	0745	0351
Kuroiso	0838-0842	0259-0303
Koriyama Terminal	0931-0954	0007-0158
Iwanuma		2234
Sendai	1147-1207	2141-2215
Higashi-Sendai	1217	2134
Kogota		2051
Morioka	1433	1908
Service		60

Thanks to Japan's love of live-cameras, I was able to follow the service in both directions. Actually, as I start to write this post, both trains are still running both north and south. Anyway, let's rewind and check out what happened.

Light Engine to Ajikawaguchi

The northbound service started at Ajikawaguchi, just next to Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. To get the rake of beautifully-shiny containers out of the port, an engine was needed. EF210-156 was sourced from Suita and sent to Ajikawaguchi at around 1930 on the 23rd of March, 2021. Here it is passing the Shin-Osaka Live Cam.

It then passed the webcam near Fukushima Station.

Ajikawaguchi to Morioka

With the loco in place, the next step was to run the service! The consist ended up passing the Fukushima Camera around ~4 minutes behind schedule thanks to a late-running Haruka Airport Express.

Back to the Shin-Osaka Live Cam, it was nearly impossible to see it pass... but the audio is awesome in the night air!

Next up, it passed the Mukomachi Live Cam, amongst all the other freights and services.

A while later, it passed through Nagoya Station. Note the Shinkansen track vehicles working away also. That's a huge Tamper!

There's a great cam between Fuji and Shizuoka (which I've discussed before, recording times) and the train was seen passing through.

As that the train took the Niiza route through Tokyo, we couldn't see it on the Akabane or Shinjuku Cameras. Therefore the next and final camera was the Omiya Camera. The EH500 would've been swapped on at Shin-Tsurumi.

And that was it for the northbound. Congratulations Fukuyama Transport! Fortunately, we still had the southbound to stalk.

Morioka to Ajikawaguchi

The southbound left Morioka on the same night at 1908. It therefore passed the Omiya Camera before the northbound at around ~0450.

Whilst waiting for it at the Fuji cam, the northbound original Fukuyama Rail Express from East-Fukuyama passed by!

A little while later, the southbound was seen passing.

Next up was Nagoya Station.

And another guest came through an hour later...

And then again at Mukomachi Live Cam, right up the back, top-right, look really close!...

And since we're still waiting for the Fukuyama Rail Express to get to Mukomachi, here's Doctor Yellow passing Torikai to Shin-Osaka.

Whilst 'waiting at Mukomachi Live Cam', an EF65 passed towing a DD200!

And then, the main event at Mukomachi Live Cam.

Back through the Shin-Osaka Live Cam.

Through the Southern-Side Shin-Osaka Cam, one minute earlier if you believe system clocks... Also, this camera was down the previous evening when the inaugural service ran...

And then the final shot of the day! Past the Osaka Loop Line at Fukushima.

And that's a wrap!