Wednesday 9 October 2019

Nip of Fall on the Tohoku Main Line

A freight train passes through Shin-Shiraoka station on the Tohoku main line

It's already October, but the lingering summer heat is still intense in the daytime. I visited a suburban area to find a nip of fall on a weekend with my family.

Our destination was Shiraoka City in Saitama Prefecture, some 50 kilometers north of Tokyo. Shiraoka looked just an ordinary suburban city, in which it is comfortable to live. We could see both residential areas and farms in the right proportions. I found spider lily flowers here and there on the streets. Spider lily is an autumn plant with red colored blossoms. I like this flower as it is a signal of the coming of autumn after a severely hot summer.

On the way back home, I came across a freight train pulled by an electric locomotive (EL) at Shin-Shiraoka station on the JR East Tohoku main line. The EL was Class EH500 owned by JR Freight (JRF). The EH500 was launched in 1997 to replace old models such as Class ED75 and ED79. A total of 82 units were built by Toshiba. It is an AC (20,000V, 50Hz and 60Hz) - DC (1,500V) triple mode locomotive operated on the 1,067 millimeters gauge tracks. Being coupled in two units, the UIC indication of a wheel arrangement for the EH500 is (Bo-Bo)+(Bo-Bo). It has eight 565kW induction motors with a VVVF inverter (variable frequency drive) electric control system. Pulling cargo container wagons, its maximum operating speed is 110 kilometers per hour.

I enjoyed the red colored flowers and the red colored locomotive on the Tohoku main line.

Spider lily flowers near Shin-Shiraoka station on the Tohoku main line