Serious Japanese Gricing

A while back I warned you that 'gricing' in Japan was a tougher task than in either the UK or America and today I'll let you into a few professional secrets about collecting train numbers here.

It's not for the faint-hearted, believe me. Actually I think I should be charging consultancy rates just for telling you this ...

Japanese roster ('spotters books') come in several volumes and here is the 2004 JR Electrical Multiple Unit edition. Below is part of page 74 which gives information on some of the local units we get through Hyuuga ...

The bigger characters at the top of the page read Chi-ha-ri-5 which is short for the depot name Chiba Makuhari, our local motive power depot. All units have this 'shed code' on the lower left side of the coaches.

Below this is the class designation 113 and then a diagram of the six coaches of these particular units. There is a little lable which tell you which direction the units face (to the left Kamogawa, Choshi, Narita). There are three different kinds of coach in the train - 111 Classs ku-ha trailers, 112 Class pantograph motor coaches and 113 class motor coaches. The black boxes on the roof show the air conditioner types (almost as important in Japan as the tractive effort!)



Then the actual trains are listed on the left the reporting number. So Train Chimari S61 comprises vehicles 111-244, 113-1501,112-1501,113-1504,112-1504 and 111-1448. The date on the right (Heisei 11-10) October 1999 shows when the unit was last modified.

Hard stuff eh? But as long as you spot that yellow reporting number S61 hanging in the cab you can look up the rest at your leisure