Takadanobaba Station in Alameda

We spent Thursday, Aug. 31 and Friday in Kyoto.   On Thursday, we headed to Saga Arashiyama. Our destinations included the Bamboo forest, the Tenryuji Temple and garden and Jōjakkōji Temple. It was shaping up to be another hot day. That likely meant we would be limited in what we might have energy to see.  I noticed on Google maps (this was an indispensable tool on the trip) that JR West had a station at our destination. Co-incidentally the Kyoto Subway’s Tozai line, it stopped right outside our hotel, had a connecting stop at Nijo. It was six stops away. We loaded our backpacks with water, towels and other necessities and headed out.  The Nijo JR station seemed to be new. It had an interesting wooden shelter over the platform. Walking toward the platform shelter, trying to get out of the sun.  Spectacular truss work under the platform roof. Note the vending machine in the lower right. They’re all over the place.  The ride to Saga Arashiyama was just three ...

Our trip to Hiroshima afforded me my first time to ride Japan's bullet trains, the Shinkansen.  I had heard about Japan's fast trains when my parents returned from their first visit in 1969. I was only six years old and the stories were fantastic. Those first bullet trains looked like they had come out of the science fiction movies. They still do today.  More than 50 years later, the trains are running on an expanded network, at higher speeds. The top speed for bullet trains in the 1960s was 210 kilometers/hour (130 mph). Today, top speeds on the Tokhuko line, which stretches north from Tokyo, are 320 km/hr (199 mph). The top speed on the Tokaido line is 285 km/hr (177 mph). Each train set on the Tokaido line is 16-cars long with a capacity of 1,300 passengers.  The original line, the Tokaido, connected Tokyo and Osaka, via Kyoto, Nagoya, and Yokohama. Today Shinkansen service stretches the entire length of Honshu, Japan's largest island. The service has been extended to ...

 Just a few days before we leave for Japan. The travel plans are mostly set. We fly into Osaka. We will be met by a guide who will help us convert currency and buy train tickets. First stop is Kyoto.  The next day will be a light day to allow us to get our bearings in Japan and see a little of Kyoto. I discovered that there's a Kato store in the Kyoto train station. I'm hoping to go there. If I don't make it, I'll hit hobby stores in Tokyo. Then we go to Hiroshima. To see the site of the dropping of the first atomic bomb and Peace Garden. Then back to Kyoto. All transport will be on the Shinkansen. That's the bullet train. The next day to Nara on a Kyoto to Nara direct train. Nara is the location of lots of tame deer. I'm looking forward to seeing them. At the end of the week we will again take the bullet train -- this time to Yamagata (via Tokyo) to visit a ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn). We will also go to the hot baths (onsen) and experience a Japanese T...

   Honest and for true -- Oakland, California may see a new Japanese rail-themed ramen restaurant. The exact opening date is not yet known. I spotted "JR Ramen Station" (pboto above) while driving home the other night. The lit  green "JR" grabbed my eye. That's the logo used by JR East - the operator of many of the commuter trains in Tokyo as well as regional trains and Shinkansens in Eastern Japan.  As some readers may recall, this blog is about building a model railroad representing a vignette of Japanese trains. I have not updated in a while. Part of the reason is that I was distracted preparing for the PCR SIG meet held at the beginning of February.  In preparation for that I put aside the Takadanobaba in Alameda, the B&OCT and dragged out an old logging layout. It was dusted off and got a basic coat of scenery and was running.  See my recent post in the BOCT in N Scale.  Currently, the Japanese layout remains idle as I need to figure out how t...