Shiosai nostalgia

We have one 'named express' on the Sobu Line and there's eight in each direction every day between Tokyo and the Pacific Coast at Choshi. This train is called the 'Shiosai' which in Japanese means 'Sound of the Sea'

Now they employ very modern stock we'll look at another time but until last December the service used pretty ancient but absolutely immaculate 183 Class EMUs. A classic Japanese design and livery. It was a pleasure to see them flashing by in that two tone red paint job, nearly forty years old and yet perfectly looked after by the engineers at Makuharihongo depot.

I didn't often travel on it because, apart from the 500 yen express charge, there was seldom much advantage as it doesn't stop at our local station and if you did get it back from Tokyo you would still end up waiting on a draughty platform at Chiba or Sakura

So here's the late afternoon 'Shiosai' as it used to be - passing us at Minami Shisui while our local train waited 'in the hole' on the up platform.

I'm sure that JR must have preserved one of these classic units somewhere and perhaps they are still in use on some remote line up in Tohoku. But sadly around here they are just a memory now.