The 1st Anniversary of the Sotetsu-Shinyokohama Line

"The 1st anniversary train", set 20106 of the EMU Sotetsu 20000 series

Following the 1st anniversary of the Tokyu-Shinyokohama line, I'm going to show you a topic of the 1st anniversary of "another Shinyokohama line" today.

Let me quickly review the Shinyokohama lines. On the 18th of March, 2023, two new railway lines were inaugurated in Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture. One is the Shinyokohama line of Tokyu Railways. The other one is the Shinyokohama line of Sagami Railway (hereafter Sotetsu). These two lines are connected at Shinyokohama station. A direct operation of the Tokyu and Sotetsu trains through Shinyokohama station was also started. What are the advantages of the opening of these lines for Sotetsu passengers? Firstly, they got a second access route to Tokyo by the Sotetsu-Tokyu direct operation trains. Secondly, transfer to the JR Central-Tokaido Shinkansen at Shinyokohama station became much easier.

In commemoration of the 1st anniversary, Sotetsu operated the anniversary trains from March 18th to May 6th. They are set 20106 of the EMU 20000 series and set 21107 of the EMU 21000 series. We could see the celebratory stickers on the front of these anniversary trains. Sotetsu's mascot character, "Sonyan", and Tokyu's mascot character, "Norurun", are seen on the stickers. Those two sets of the trains look similar, but the number of the vehicles per 1 set is different. Set 20106 is a 10-car train. On the other hand, set 21107 is an 8-car train. That's important information for trainspotters, isn't it?

Congratulations on the 1st anniversary of the Sotetsu-Shinyokohama line!

”The 1st anniversary train”, set 21107 of the EMU Sotetsu 21000 series

Official information about the 1st anniversary of Sotetsu and Tokyu Shinyokohama lines (in Japanese):

https://cdn.sotetsu.co.jp/media/2024/pressrelease/pdf/r24-26-ss5.pdf

Steam Locomotive Preserved by Shochu Brewery

Unit 48647 of the Class 8620 is preseved in Takachiho Town

(Photo: Nicolai Okkels)

I've received interesting pictures from a Danish rail-fan. He traveled Shikoku and Kyushu islands of Japan, and shot a preserved steam locomotive. My thanks go to Nicolai Okkels, who kindly sent me these photographs.

Unit 48647 of the Class 8620 is a precious steam locomotive (hereafter SL) preserved in Takachiho Town of Miyazaki Prefecture, Kyushu Island. Unit 48647 is preserved on the railway bridge. Why is it there? Because, this bridge is a part of an uncompleted railway line, which was canceled before completion. On the other hand, there is another way to use this uncompleted railway line. That's a shochu (a kind of Japanese liquors) storage using a tunnel. In short, this uncompleted line is used as both the preservation spot of the SL and the storage of shochu bottles by Shochu Brewery. Takachiho is thought to be a founding place of Japan, as there are many mythologies, so, many tourists visit there. This SL is a good landmark for tourists to visit the brewery.

For your information, the Class 8620 is a 2-6-0 (Whyte notation) type SL that has a tender attached. It was developed by the Ministry of Railways in the early 1910's for express trains on the semi-trunk lines. Unit 48647 was built in 1921, and retired from the track in 1973. One of the epoch-making events for this SL was pulling the Emperor's train in 1969. The Japanese flag on the front of this SL is a memorial of its glorious history.

Side view of Unit 48647 (Photo: Nicolai Okkels)