Subscribe via RSS
29Aug/190

Nayoro and Wakkanai – May 2019

The previous day I'd travelled from Sendai to Asahikawa in order to check out some afternoon freight. This also put me in a great position to catch the first northbound service from Asahikawa to Nayoro. The eventual goal was to get to Wakkanai and tick off most northbound station, but there were also delights to see prior to this achievement! The day started with the usual array of beautiful Hokkaido EMUs, before I even got to the station!

DSC00213

My train north was to be a stopper... I wanted to get to Nayoro early, so I chose the first northbound local. Turns out this was to be serviced by a joint KIHA effort.

DSC00218

I chose a seat close to the front of the service as I've always loved the ability to view where we're going.

DSC00252

DSC00226 DSC00235 DSC00242

The scenery was nothing short of spectacular.. that previous mention of agriculture shining through. I could not believe how green the country was.

DSC00258

Before-long we had arrived at Nayoro.

Nayoro

This sleepy town used to be alive with railway activity. The remnants of the station yard show that there used to be a lot of steam activity. Back when locomotives needed more-frequent servicing, refuelling and shuffling, this area would have been a major depot. Unfortunately, nowadays the DMUs can zoom past this area and not give a damn as, well, their tanks are still a-plenty. The DMUs that I travelled on had done their dash and were to terminate here. In fact, they were to split and the older KIHA departed for the yard... the younger sibling ended up on Platform 3 to perform a later service.

DSC00259

DSC00262 DSC00265 DSC00267

DSC00269

But, that wasn't what I was here for... a quick walk to the south-east of the station would provide me with my first real contact with a 9600 class steamer! Unfortunately... stuffed-and-mounted. But, as with the rest of this trip, I had to walk there first.

DSC00270

DSC00273 DSC00274 DSC00276

DSC00279

At last, a caboose appeared...

DSC00282

And then ... nothing but stuffed-and-mounted steam trains... in terribly glary morning light.

DSC00286 DSC00285 DSC00284

DSC00289 DSC00291 DSC00296

DSC00290

The 9600-class is such a fantastic-looking locomotive... one of those styles that uses every centimetre of available space. It was amazing getting up close to one... I wish there was still a running example! I hereby request that Oigawa restore the static exhibit sitting at Senzu Station (49616 is there in one of the photos)!

Anyway, that was enough to make the locals wonder what the hell a gaijin was doing wandering around their neighbourhood and local parkland. It was still early... somewhere near 9am and lots of people were heading to work. I hereby apologise! But it must be a common occurrence? I suppose the next bit wasn't though.. I dawdled from the SL display, past the back of the DMU/freight sheds, around to the curve on the northern side of the station. The southbound express was due next and I fluked a fantastic location!

DSC00319 DSC00322 DSC00323

DSC00324

DSC00328 DSC00330 DSC00333

DSC00337

DSC00338 DSC00340 DSC00343

Half of the set that brought me to Nayoro was still on P3, but then I turned around and checked out the view... that would set the scene for the approaching express...

DSC00344

Ah yeah... Thank you sun, thank you grass, thank you ...

DSC00348 DSC00350 DSC00352

DSC00356

You just can't ask for better variables... Hokkaido!

DSC00359 DSC00364 DSC00365

I kept dawdling my way around, back to the station. Stocking up with goods at Convenience Stores for the further trip north.

DSC00366 DSC00368 DSC00369

A DMU came through southbound, whilst I was waiting for my express to Wakkanai.

DSC00371 DSC00372 DSC00373

DSC00383

And then we were off!

Wakkanai - The end of JR

The trip further north was beautiful. Right towards the end the line bends towards the western coast of Hokkaido and there's a huge volcano, similar to Sakurajima down in Kagoshima. But before that, it's countryside, cows and more countryside.

DSC00385

DSC00386 DSC00388 DSC00399

DSC00398

A few minutes past the volcano and we were pulling to a halt in Wakkanai Station. At this point I'd now completed 3 of the 4 points of extremity of the JR network. I got out and checked out the station precinct. Due to the timing of return services, and my plans to get back to Asahikawa to see more freight, I had already decided to take the same train back... so I had around 15 minutes to find food and have a look around.

DSC00405

DSC00403 DSC00400 DSC00410

DSC00401 DSC00402 DSC00407 DSC00408 DSC00409

The five station supports above have signs on them indicating how far Wakkanai Station is from other stations in the JR network. The first one above is actually Nishi-Oyama Station, which I travelled to a few weeks prior... 3068.4km away! Asahikawa was 259.4km away and Sapporo 396.2km. I assume they used the rail-length and not as-the-crow-flies.

After doing Wakkanai very little justice (I'll come back, I promise!), I was back on the southbound express, bound for Asahikawa once more. Here's some scenery...

DSC00432

DSC00412 DSC00413 DSC00414

DSC00440

Asahikawa Station

The express arrived back in Asahikawa just as the freight was passing through. This happened to be the same timeslot as the afternoon before.

DSC00444

I returned to the hotel to freshen up... and to catch as many DMUs as I could on the viaduct.

DSC00446 DSC00451 DSC00453

DSC00456 DSC00461 DSC00463

I then returned to the station as the sun was setting. The day before I'd been at Shin-Asahikawa, so I was pleasantly surprised that the lighting was just as fantastic here.

DSC00466

DSC00469 DSC00470 DSC00474

DSC00480 DSC00484 DSC00490

DSC00486

The freight came through like clockwork and I feel sorry for the driver's retinas!

DSC00495 DSC00496 DSC00502

DSC00507

From here it was back to the hotel for dinner and a massage. There's a great bathhouse and masseuse on level 2! Well needed to prepare for the trip to Kushiro and Nemuro the next day.

Filed under: JPN Leave a comment
Comments (0) Trackbacks (2)

No comments yet.


Leave a comment


*