The other day, I headed to the Tama River to take care of a personal errand. When I arrived at my nearest station on the Odakyu Line, I immediately noticed something unusual. Many passengers were standing around the concourse, looking puzzled. Was something wrong? When I checked Odakyu’s website, I finally understood the reason: the trains were heavily delayed.
Did I have no idea what to do?
Please don’t worry—railfans are always optimistic. I quickly changed my mindset, realizing that this was a chance to see some rare railway scenes. The proof is in the pudding. Please take a look at the top photo. It may look like an ordinary photo at first glance, but it is actually quite rare because of the shooting angle.
I took this photo of an all-stop train crossing the Tama River through the window of the last car of an express train standing at Noborito Station. In short, the local train on the local track caught up with the express train on the express track. This rare situation, caused by timetable disruption, made it possible to capture this unusual angle. You may think, “Is that all?”—but I hope you can understand my excitement as a railfan.
By the way, what was my errand at the Tama River? The answer lies in the photo below. I visited the riverside near Noborito Station and enjoyed fossil hunting. My find of the day was a fossil crab (Carcinoplax sp.?), from the Iimuro Formation, which was deposited about 1.3 to 1.1 million years ago. Its long claw is cool, isn’t it?
Once again, I served a double purpose on the Odakyu Line.
