Three months have already passed since I introduced you to a new trend of rail-fans namely "hansha-tetsu". Do you still remember this strange Japanese coined word? Let me report my 2nd activity as a "hansha-tetsu" today.
Please look at the top photo. When I took the Odakyu line the other day, I found that a white colored train, the EMU Odakyu 8000 series, was accompanying my train on another track. This urban section is a double-double track, so, I sometimes see accompanying trains; however, something strange at that time. For example, the accompanying train was being operated perfectly at the same speed as my train. More surprisingly, the blue-colored "Odakyu" logo on the accompanying train seemed like a flipped image. To make matters worse, the accompanying train had a dent on the side of the body! It was dangerous! What was happening?
Now you get it, don't you? The gimmick is in the photo below. You can see the reflection image of the train on the windows of the building! "Hansha-tetsu" means a rail-fan who loves reflection images of trains. Incidentally, "hansha-tetsu" might have originated from "mizu-kagami (water mirror)", which is one of the traditional techniques of railway photography. It's a train image reflected on the smooth water surface, such as a quiet lake without ripples or a paddy field before rice planting. Railway photographers love shooting both a real train and a reflected one in the same image. I'll show you an example of mizu-kagami one day.
