It's late-October already. Time really flies. The maximum daytime temperature is around 20 degrees Celsius... very pleasant season. I went for a walk along to the Keikyu line with the warm autumn sun on my back.
I found an old water gate named Kawasaki-kakoh Sluice located at the Tama River. It was built by the ex-Home Ministry in 1928 based on the canal and harbor project plan drawn up at that time. This gargantuan development project was unfortunately stopped due to WWII, but the sluice was preserved. It's valued architecture, and designated as National Registered Cultural Properties in 1998. We can see eye-catching stone carvings of local fruits such as pears, grapes and peaches on the top. The design of the sluice shows a lot of playfulness and humor.
To get to Kawasaki-kakoh Sluice, the nearest station is Minatocho on the Keikyu-Daishi line. The Daishi line is a short branch line. Connecting Keikyu-Kawasaki and Kojima-shinden stations, the route length is only 4.5 kilometers. The main fleet on the line is a 4-car train, the EMU 1500 series. 166 cars in total were built by Tokyu Sharyo and Kawasaki Heavy Industries from 1985 to 1993. The specifications of the early 5 sets (20 cars) are rather old, as they have steel bodies and DC motors with a field chopper control system. They are the oldest active group of the Keikyu trains, and mainly operated on the Daishi line.
I enjoyed the old sluice and the oldest train on the Keikyu-Daishi line.
