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18Oct/170

Shin-Osaka Webcam – Sunrise Seto/Izumo+Track Vehicles

Just for fun I installed FlashBack Express and attempted to record video from the Shin-Osaka Webcam YouTube Live stream. It's probably totally against the rules, but I really wanted to capture a tiny Shinkansen Track Vehicle that you really couldn't see in a single still.

Anyway, first up is the Sunrise Seto/Izumo. This train takes you from Tokyo to either Shikoku or Tottori. It splits at Okayama.

And then the Shinkansen Track Vehicle. I recorded this in double-time as it was really dawdling at the start. It then ends up shooting through the actual station platforms.

As mentioned... these might not be up for long... I'll delete this post if that happens.

17Oct/170

Shin-Osaka Webcam – What you can expect to see…

Welcome back to Shin-Osaka. This station is north of the main Osaka station and provides a transfer point to the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen. There's a webcam hosted live on Youtube to the north-east of the station and it provides a perfect view of all traffic heading in and out of the station. The link to the camera is here.

View my post here with a timetable of the standard trains. It'll help you find a specific service! It also has a list of observations as to when specific movements are run.

The two lines in the bottom-right are freight and you'll see all sorts of interesting things passing through. You'll also see shinkansen up top, hence Doctor Yellow, and any other plethora of EMUs/DMUs and freight in the middle.

Here's another... an older 283-Series Kuroshio. There aren't many of these running any more; they quickly upgrade the consists in Japan!

kuroshio

And the next day in the reverse order... must run a loop somewhere?

other-kuroshio

And here it is in its latest incantation with the Wakayama Adventure World livery (Yes, that's an angry PANDA)...

panda

And the Airport Express Haruka...

haruka

And the Super Hakuto...

super-hakuto

Which also has square-ended driving cabs...

hokuto-square

And the Thunderbird with its seriously long consist...

thunderbird

Which also has a pointer-other-end...

thunderbird

Note that they also sometimes run dead-headed back along the Tokaido line. I believe they'll then take the triangle south of Amagasaki and enter Osaka Station from the West end.

dead-head-tbird

And then a dead-heading past an actual T'bird service...

double-birds

And then sometimes you'll get unexpected movements... like this 117 Series (300 subseries) which usually only hangs around Kyoto and further East on the Kosei Line...
(Update: It was actually an end-of-year school excursion!)

117-series-green

The Wide-View Hida is a DMU that will take you out to Gifu and Takayama via Nagoya...

hida

They even sometimes slap an extra cab-car on the front to cater for busier mornings!

double-hida

Another DMU is the Hamakaze which will take you up to Tottori.

hamakaze

Freight also takes the inner lines when heading to Ajikawaguchi (down near USJ)...

aji-freight

And sometimes just runs as a light-engine...

light-engine

There's always freight running on the bottom-right lines, but usually only with single locos in the lead. Today an HD300 was being transferred inline.

hd300-load-balance

And again a few days later with an EF64-1000 series being transferred back to Hiroshima?

double-header

There's actually light-engine movements quite often... Here's a DE10 on the main freight line... (can you see it?)

de10

It returned West the next day...

de10-returning

Seems it was heading out to Kawasaki in Hyogo to pick up a brand new EMU. Here it is dragging the new set east...

de10-new-consist

The best part about Japan is their adherence to timetables... here's another DE10 running the same timeslot east. I wonder if it'll come back on the timeslot above?

more-de10

It sure did! So keep an eye out for the 0853 westbound and then a 1358 return slot! It had a string of very new-looking flats this time.

de10-flats

And then even a light EF64 running west on the main Tokaido track...

ef64-light

Aaannd... even a DD51 towing a single flat with rails?

dd51

And then it returned the next day, but on the line from Ajikawaguchi (or further south?)

dd51-rail-train

A DD51 has also been seen bolting Southbound towards osaka station on the standard passenger lines.

dd51-to-osaka

An EF210 hauled two railset flats on the mainline...

ef210-railset

And now I present a Blue 103 Series EMU, dead-heading along the Tokaido Line towards Kyoto!

blue-103

Which then returned 40 minutes later.

blue-103-return

If you're up early/late enough, then you'll also see the M250 Super Rail Cargo heading through Shin-Osaka...

super-rail-cargo

And again, for those early birds... a few minutes before the M250 you'll see the Sunrise Express Izumo/Seto (actually expected around 0420).

sunrise-express

In the afternoons, you even get cool planes flying over... the shadows are really cool!

plane-shadow

The goal is now to have a train on every track. So far I've got the current shot pegged as the most various....

lotsa-trains

I'll update this as interesting things happen.

12Oct/170

Virtual Train Trip – Osaka Station to Shin-Osaka Station

For those who don't know, suburban Japanese passenger trains, more often than not, have front windows of which passengers can actually see out of. This is very unheard of in Australia, as the driver's cabin is usually separated from the dangerous passengers by opaque walls.

Therefore in Japan, if you get into the front car of a passenger consist, not only can you see the driver and watch his every move.. you can see out the front of the train and watch as you drive along the tracks!

It's totally mesmerising. Of course, you can then also watch all the gauges and other instrumentation that the driver must control to keep the whole system functioning.

I hereby present a video I took by suction-cupping a GoPro to the front window inside a 223-Series EMU from Osaka to Shin-Osaka.

What you're seeing here is the view on the 'conductors' side of the cabin. When the train is running in the opposite direction, this is the area where the conductor usually works from as the doors switches and guard light controls are all on the wall. It's also a good shelf to store your work bag.

The trip starts with the curve out of Umeda, crossing the Yodogawa before quickly arriving at Shin-Osaka Station. If you want to then see the area afterwards, check out my Shin-Osaka Webcam sightings here.

4Oct/170

Shin-Osaka Webcam – Twilight Express Mizukaze!

First it was Doctor Yellow, but today proved a more rare sight....

twilight-express-mizukaze

You'd better believe it, that's the Twilight Express Mizukaze. The link to the camera is here. It has been raining the last two days and the sound of the rain has actually been fascinating!

Update, here it is again on the 11th October 2017...

twilight-express-mizukaze

twilight-express-mizukaze-2

And again this morning!

twilight-express

Back into Osaka...

twilight-mizu

I've made some most posts on this webcam! See here for standard services, here's Doctor Yellow and here's the Salon Car Naniwa. I've also posted a live timetable of the normal traffic in and out of the station.