The 60th Anniversary of Hakone Soba

60th anniversary special menu item of Hakone Soba Restaurant: “Mocoron Soba”

Do railway companies in your country diversify their businesses? In Japan, they certainly do. For instance, many railway companies operate their own department stores along their lines. Another example is the real estate business. The residents living in their housing developments are expected to take the company’s trains to go shopping, commute, and attend school.

This diversification also extends to smaller ventures. Take a look at the photo above — it shows a bowl of Japanese noodles from Hakone Soba, a modest restaurant located inside Shimokitazawa Station on the Odakyu Line. Operated by Odakyu Restaurant System Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the Odakyu Group, Hakone Soba has grown to more than 40 locations along the line. I love this style of noodles — they’re served quickly, reasonably priced, and, of course, delicious. It’s the perfect stop when I’m in a hurry.

In August this year, Odakyu celebrated the 60th anniversary of Hakone Soba. To mark the occasion, a special menu item was introduced. Look again at the top photo — you’ll notice a semicircular fish cake sitting on the noodles. What’s that? It’s Mocoron!

Mocoron, as you may know, is Odakyu’s cheerful blue rabbit mascot. I was pleasantly surprised to find Mocoron appearing as a topping in this commemorative dish. It was as tasty as it was charming.

And there’s more. The Odakyu Romancecar is also joining the celebration. I spotted a commemorative sticker on the side of Set 30255 of the EMU 30000 series. The entire Odakyu Group seems to be celebrating the 60th anniversary of Hakone Soba together — truly, an “all hands on deck” moment for this beloved brand.

Commemorative sticker on the side of Odakyu Romancecar, EMU 30000 series

It Was Gone Before I Knew It

“The 100th Anniversary of Kiyose Station” commemorative train (December 2024)

This may sound sudden, but just imagine: there was someone you were fond of — someone who caught your attention. One day, they suddenly moved away and never came back. You feel a quiet loneliness without them. Have you ever experienced something like that?

So, what am I trying to say?

On October 2nd, Seibu Railway announced that the regular services of the 2000 series EMUs would be withdrawn from the Ikebukuro, Toshima, Sayama, and Chichibu lines by October 15th.

Let’s take a quick look back at the Seibu 2000 series. The 2000 series EMU debuted in 1977 to strengthen Seibu Railway’s transportation capacity. There were two types: the original 2000 series, which were retired in June this year, and the newer 2000N series. This time, it’s the 2000N series that have left the Ikebukuro and related lines.

As you know, the Ikebukuro Line is Seibu Railway’s main artery. The 2000N series, with their bright yellow bodies, were the quintessential Seibu trains. This combination was inseparable — and yet, it has come to an abrupt end. I can’t help but feel a bit lonely without them.

Pulling myself together — please take a look at my photos.

This is the special poster train featuring Set 2071 of the 2000N series EMU, celebrating the 100th anniversary of Kiyose Station on the Ikebukuro Line. The commemorative train ran from June 2024 to March 2025. In the end, it turned out to be my last chance to photograph the 2000N series on the Ikebukuro Line.

Thank you, the 2000N series on the Ikebukuro Line. Let’s meet again on the Shinjuku Line.

Side view of the commemorative train using the 2000N series EMU (December 2024)

Two Locomotives in Warabi City

Unit 304 of the Class C11 locomotive preserved in Ooarata Traffic Playground

Do you have a place you’ve always wanted to check out? For example, somewhere you often pass by on the train but have never actually visited. Ooarata Traffic Playground in Warabi City was one such place for me. I had sometimes passed it by on JR East’s Keihin-Tohoku Line, but I had never stopped there until recently. One day, I got off at Warabi Station and walked along the track. About ten minutes later, what caught my eye was a preserved steam locomotive surrounded by a chain-link fence. This is it!

The preserved locomotive was Unit 304 of the Class C11. This model debuted in 1932 to reinforce the transportation capacity of the Japanese Government Railways’ local lines. It’s a small 2-6-4 type tank locomotive (Whyte notation). A total of 381 units were built. Unit 304 was manufactured in 1945 by Nippon Sharyo as part of the fourth production batch of the Class C11. After mainly operating on the Sagami Line, it was retired in 1965 and has since been preserved in Warabi City, Saitama Prefecture.

You can see the box-shaped steam and sand “domes” on the top center of the boiler, can’t you? They look different from those on earlier Class C11s such as Unit 227 and 245. This design change came in the last days of WWII. At that time, these box-shaped domes were adopted to simplify the manufacturing process under urgent wartime conditions. The war had even influenced locomotive design — how sad.

Incidentally, I found another C11 steam locomotive in the playground. Please take a look at the photo below — it’s for kids! How nice it is to live in peace.

Another "Class C11 steam locomotive (playground equipment)”

Keisei Skyliner AE Series: Over 60 Million Passengers

EMU Keisei AE series Skyliner displaying a gold-colored commemorative sticker

The 3rd-generation Skyliner operated by Keisei Electric Railway is still going strong. The total number of passengers has recently exceeded 60 million, and I’d like to share this happy news today.

Let’s begin with a brief overview. The Keisei Skyliner is an airport access train connecting central Tokyo with Narita International Airport. The current model, the EMU AE series, entered service in July 2010, replacing the previous AE100 series. The AE series is an EMU for 1,435-millimeter-gauge and 1,500 V DC track. A total of eight trainsets (64 cars in total) were introduced. Each set consists of six motorcars and two trailers (6M2T). The train is equipped with an IGBT–VVVF (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor-variable frequency drive) inverter control system and 175 kW induction motors. With a maximum speed of 160 km/h, it is the fastest train in Japan outside of the Shinkansen network.

The AE series reached 40 million total passengers in October 2022, then 50 million in July 2024 — meaning it took 21 months to carry another 10 million passengers. This time, it reached 60 million in July 2025, just 12 months later — quite an impressive pace!

To celebrate the milestone, Keisei held a commemorative ceremony at Narita Airport Terminal 1 Station. The 60 millionth passenger was a Japanese family returning home from a trip to Vietnam. Currently, one of the AE series trainsets, AE6, is decorated with special stickers on the front and sides to mark the occasion.

Congratulations to the Skyliner on this remarkable achievement!

Side body of the “60 Million Passengers” commemorative Skyliner

Official information (Keisei Skyliner):

https://www.keisei.co.jp/keisei/tetudou/skyliner/us/skyliner/index.php

Serving a Double Purpose on the Odakyu Line, Part 2

EMU 1000 (left) and 2000 series (right) running side by side on the Odakyu Line

It’s mid-autumn in Tokyo, and the daytime temperature now hovers around 20 degrees Celsius. The most comfortable season of the year has arrived! I recently visited the Tama River again along the Odakyu Line.

After getting off at Izumi-Tamagawa Station, I headed to the riverbank and focused on searching for fossils—my lifelong passion. Please take a look at the photo below. This was my find of the day: a fossilized Cultellus sp., a large, rectangular marine bivalve. Welcome back to the world above ground after more than a million years of sleep!

Of course, I can’t end without mentioning the railway side of things—this is a railway blog, after all! On my way home, I switched gears to another hobby: trainspotting at Izumi-Tamagawa Station. My theme that day was the “double-double track” (a quadruple track). In 1964, the company planned to expand the double track into a double-double track in the urban area to relieve congestion. Because of the densely built-up surroundings, the project took nearly half a century to complete, finally finishing in 2018.

Today, the inner two tracks are used for limited express and express trains, while the outer two are for semi-express and local trains. Please take a look at the top photo—seeing two trains running side by side like they’re racing is always exciting for rail fans.

That day, I enjoyed both the million-year history of the Earth and the modern engineering of the double-double track in the city. I truly served a “double purpose” that day on the Odakyu Line.

Fossil Cultellus sp. found near Izumi-Tamagawa Station