I still enjoy Tama riverside walking. After observing many kinds of trains from Sengen-jinja shrine near Tokyu-Tamagawa station, I went upstream another day. My next destination was Hachioji City in the western part of Tokyo Metropolis.
After arriving at Hachioji station, I headed to Asakawa, which is a tributary of Tama River. As soon as I reached the embankment, I found a single-track railway bridge across the river. It was Asakawa Railway Bridge on the JR East Hachiko line. It's an idealized place for railway photography. Why? Firstly, the bridge doesn't have windbreak fences, so, we can get a whole train image. Secondly, catenary poles stand on the downstream side only, so, there's no obstacle to shoot the trains, if photographers shoot from the upstream side. The only problem is that the time for photography would be limited to keep in the front light condition. I studied in advance the direction of the sun, and found out that the chance of the photography would be in the late afternoon of clear days from late spring to early autumn. The time was now.
Ten minutes later, a train passed the river. It was the EMU JR East E231-3000 series, which consisted of four cars with orange and light-green-colored stripes. Its stainless-steel bodies were shining under the spring sun. Five more minutes later, I shot the other trainset from a sandbank of the river. It was beautiful against the blue sky. I fully enjoyed the railway photography on that day.
