Nippori after a Long Time

A train view from Shimogoindenbashi (the EMU JR East E7 series)

Do you have a tradition of visiting ancestral graves in your country? In Japan, yes. Many people do it twice a year in spring and autumn honoring their ancestors. From our perspective, it is not so much a religious activity as a custom. Anyway, I recently visited my maternal ancestors’ grave in Yanaka of Tokyo Metropolis. Yanaka is famous for many cemeteries.

After updating my ancestors on how things are going, I enjoyed strolling around. First, I found myself drawn to Shimogoindenbashi (Shimogoinden Bridge) in front of Nippori Station for the first time in ten years. As I posted before, Shimogoindenbashi is well known as a train viewing spot. JR East’s 12 tracks are seen from the bridge. A total of 2,500 trains run under the bridge per day, so, we can enjoy train viewing continuously there. The bridge was crowded with railfans, families and inbound tourists. Please take a look at the top photo. I shot the JR East’s E7 series shinkansen train running under the bridge. I've been taking pictures of the E7 series repeatedly, but there's something special about a long-distance train approaching its goal, Tokyo Terminal. The E7 series… thank you for your hard work.

Another spot I visited was a scenic cemetery on a hill near Nippori Station. I could see an airport access train, EMU AE series “Skyliner” traveling on the elevated track of the Keisei Line (see the photo below). I have passed through this cemetery many times, but this was the first time for viewing trains. Was it a guidance from my ancestors as a token of their appreciation?

The EMU Keisei AE series Skyliner traveling on the elevated track

Official information, ”Shimogoindenbashi Train Museum" by Arakawa Ward, Tokyo Metropolis (in Japanese):

https://www.city.arakawa.tokyo.jp/a022/shisetsuannai/kankouspot/nippori006.html

Railroad Speeder on the Keisei Line

Keisei's railroad speeder Unit M2591 at Keisei-Makuhari station yard

When I visited the Keisei-Matsudo Line in August, I spotted a rare sight—a railroad speeder, Unit M2591, parked in the Keisei-Makuhari station yard. I got off at the station and was able to observe it from the platform. Please check out the top photo.

Railroad speeder Unit M2591 is a diesel work vehicle built by Matsuyama Jyusharyo Kogyo (MJK). Coupled with rail transport wagons, M2591 carries rails for track maintenance. Its technical specifications are unclear, but it seems capable of hauling over 20 tons of freight. It mainly operates after midnight, once the last train has finished running, so to be honest, I had never seen M2591 in action before. It’s an unsung hero, isn’t it? Its bright yellow body really stood out in the sunlight—beautiful!

Incidentally, did you notice the panda illustration on the side of the speeder? Please take a look at the photo below. This is the mascot character of Keisei Electric Railway, “Keisei Panda.” According to Keisei, he was born as a prince of the House of Panda on Planet Panda. But since he was lazy, his father, King Panda, sent him to Earth for training. Today, he lives in Narita City and works at a zoo as a zookeeper. On the speeder, Keisei Panda is depicted wearing work clothes. You might feel that this version of Keisei Panda looks less cute and even a bit creepy. And that’s right—Keisei intentionally designed their mascot character to have a strong impact rather than just conventional cuteness.

Keisei’s mascot character “Keisei Panda”

100th Anniversary of the Full-line Opening

Set 51095 of the EMU Tobu 50090 series

On July 10, Tobu Railway celebrated the 100th anniversary of the full-line opening of the Tojo Line. To commemorate this milestone, the company held several special events. Today, I’d like to share this topic with you.

Before that—if you feel something is strange about this anniversary, you must know a lot about Japanese railways. That’s right: I have already posted about the 100th anniversary of the Tojo Line. But that was eleven years ago. Please take a careful look at my previous post: it was not the 100th anniversary of the full-line opening, but of the partial opening of the Tojo Line.

Enough with the preamble. One highlight was a commemorative sticker mounted on the front of Set 51095 of the EMU 50090 series (see the top photo). The sticker features the number “100” (see the photo below). To avoid blown-out whites in the sticker image, I shot it with a narrower exposure.

For your information, the Tobu Tojo Line is one of the main transportation arteries in the metropolitan area. It began operation in 1914, connecting Ikebukuro in downtown Tokyo with Kawagoe City. The line was fully opened in 1925 between Ikebukuro and Yorii. Its total length is 75 kilometers, and it carries an average of one million passengers per day.

The 50090 series was launched in 2008 under the service name TJ Liner. Six sets (60 cars in total) were built by Hitachi. The trains are equipped with multi-purpose seats and feature a purple stripe along the sides—a symbol of Tobu’s premium commuter service.

Commemorative sticker displayed on the front of Set 51095