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| Odakyu Katase-Enoshima station (Dragon Palace station) |
On my way back from Kamakura, I took the Odakyu-Enoshima line from Katase-Enoshima terminal. Katase-Enoshima is a unique station opened in 1929. The station building was constructed with Dragon Palace in mind. I introduced the night view of this unique station eight years ago. So, I'm going to show you the daytime view this time.
What's Dragon Palace? It appears in Japanese folklore, "Urashima Taro". A fisherman, Urashima Taro, helped a turtle, who was tortured by children on a beach. The turtle expressed his (or her) thanks to Taro, and invited him to Dragon Palace, where the sea-god lived. Dragon Palace was located under the sea. It was built from red and white corals. Taro spent three days there, enjoying parties; but, time flew while he was having fun. One day in the palace was equal to a century outside the palace. So, when Taro returned to his village, he became an old man.
Dragon Palace station was beautifully shining under the spring sun. The vehicle that left and arrived at the palace wasn't the turtle but the Odakyu trains. The EMU 30000 series, EXE, is a representative train. EXE is the first multipurpose Romance Car on the Odakyu lines. It was commissioned in 1996 to replace the old model, the 3100 series. Since one set of the train is composed of ten cars, it has a greatly increased passenger capacity. One set can be broken up into six and four car sections to enhance operational flexibility as a multipurpose Romance Car.
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| EMU Odakyu 30000 series (Romance Car EXE) stands at Katase-Enoshima station |