中国火车模型 Chinese Model Trains - Trip #18

UK (England & Wales) & Netherlands 2024

The Plan

I had long been entertaining the idea of a trip to my motherland after 44 years, primarily to visit my extended family so when a window opened up for me to be able to get away, I was very quick to book flights and start making plans. I was very happy to be able to meet up with most of my father's side relatives, however was unable to be able to arrange any time with my mothers side as they were all overseas or otherwise engaged on the days I would have available. This did give me some time to achieve some railway exploration around England and Wales over a few weeks. I was very happy when my best mate from high school accepted my invitation to join me for most of my time in Wales and then I would follow him back to the Netherlands for a few days. I was keen to visit Majorca as well, however this location, and much of Spain, was making the news fairly frequently with angry locals blaming tourists for high rent prices and being made to feel somewhat unwelcome, decided to leave this off for another time - not to mention quite inconvenient flight vs cost options.

A couple of other things on my list to tick off was Mach Loop in Wales, a site made world famous used by the RAF and its allies as a training ground where military pass through the valleys and a visit to Clarkson's Farm shop in the Cotswolds. So armed with all of this, I spent a few weeks putting all the pieces together and eventually came up with a reasonably comprehensive travel plan. I would rely mostly with a hire car to get me around.

Tokyo

Tadami Line

Ban Etsu West Line

Tobu Railway

Kyoto

Osaka

Yokkaichi

Fuji

Wakayama

Sanin Main Line

Izumo

Tsuyama

Okayama

Nagasaki

Hita

Hakubi Line

Honshu

Honshu island is the largest island of Japan's main four islands, home to over 115 million people and the capital city Tokyo. Despite the dense population of the gigantic metropolis cities, there is still large amount of forests and regional land. The alpine regions are particularly picturesque. Honshu island has four companies looking after the national rail network - JR East, JR Central and JR West for passengers and JR Freight which operates freight services of the other three companies as well as its own freight lines. The Shinkansen trains are operated by the above companies on dedicated high speed lines. In addition to this, there are many private railways, subway systems and even tram systems.

Kyushu

The island of Kyushu is the western most of the main four islands. It is significantly less populated than Honshu. JR Kyushu and JR Freight operate the national railway network and there are a few private railways and Nagasaki's famous tramway as well.

May 13 & 14 - Melbourne, Singapore, London

My flights over to the UK went very smoothly, with my requested changes turning out to be just right. My flights were on board an elderly Qantas Airbus A330-200 from Melbourne to Singapore then a British Airways Airbus A380-800. Contrary to popular opinion, Qantas continued to be a good service for me with very friendly crew. My first experience with British Airways was expected, running a timely service with decent food and slightly snooty service.

Once I cleared customs, I took a train from the airport to central London to drop the bags at the hotel and explore the city - this being a bit of a free day to counter any travel delays on the way. I checked into a small hotel just opposite Kings Cross railway station for simplicity's sake the next day where I would take a train to Bradford. With the bags dropped away, I spent the day walking around London taking in the sites of the city, starting with HMS Belfast on the Thames, then London Bridge, a river cruise up the Thames, Big Ben & Westminster Abbey, Hyde Park & Buckingham Palace.

After a reasonably rotten sleep, I spent the morning at the Imperial War Museum, before heading back to the hotel to collect my bags then made my way to Kings Cross station. I had about an hour to spare before boarding my train, so spent that on the platforms where I could finally unleash my inner gunzel.

May 15 - London, Bradford

My train to Bradford was with Grand Central railway and our train was a streamlined 180 "Adalante' class DMU. This is probably the most ungainly looking trains of this type I have seen, and certainly the most uncomfortable with very firm and cramped seating. Still, the fare was very cheap when I booked and relatively quick with a non-stop three hour run north. Very little was seen on the journey railway wise. The next couple of days were spent with my c

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After a very smooth and quick ride out of Tokyo, I found myself some 65kms north in the city of Kumagaya. I dropped my large bag at the nearby hotel for the night and headed straight back to Kumagaya station for a quick lunch at a curry house before starting my afternoon on the privately owned and operated Chichibu railway. The Chichibu railway is a unique railway in Japan, being one of only two left in Japan to have its own freight services. They also run a passenger service using various electric railcars & train sets and even have a steam locomotive for special services on Sundays. Their bread and butter however is focused on the cement plant, bringing loads of limestone from the quarry near Uramayguchi to the Taiheiyo cement plant on a spur line just east of Takekawa station, and this would be my primary focus over the next couple of days. These trains are hauled by an elderly fleet of 100, 300, 400 and 500 class Bo-Bo electric locomotives which date back to the 1950's, all of which are in immaculate condition. The Chichibu platforms are in the same building and I decided to make use of my Suica card, rather than one way or an all day ticket instead.

The weather was threatening to finally open up and as the day was already half gone, I decided to first visit Takekawa station where there was a high chance of seeing some of the cement trains. There is a pedestrian overpass here which gives good views in both directions, if not for the jungle of overhead wires! There is also a marshalling yard which typically sees an empty train waiting for a loaded one to clear the section. The line is very busy and although I was unable to find a freight timetable, there seems to be a stone train every hour or so in both directions. All cement trains I saw were single header and the standard size train comprises of twenty open top hoppers.

I was able to photograph three freight trains in a little over an hour, as well as all the stabled locomotives in the vicinity, before the rain arrived and I had to scramble for cover. Due to this little inconvenience, I decided to travel the line to hunt for some good photo locations around a number of the train stations and scout out some of the better looking photograph locations.

Locomotives/Trains seen :

September 07 - Chichibu Railway

Locomotives/Trains seen :

August 24 - Ayr

August 25 - Ingham

August 26 - Ingham

August 27 - Tully

August 28 - South Johnstone

August 29 - Gordonvale

August 30 - Mossvale

August 31 - Homehill

September 01 - Mackay

September 02 - Mackay

September 03 - Mackay - Moree

September 04 - Moree - Melbourne

Locomotives/Trains seen :

Summary

Video Library

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