One car less

Getting back to Japan a couple of weeks ago I discovered that changes are being made in our local service on the Sobu Line ...

The 1970's vintage 113 class (left) have been partly replaced by 211 Class (right)and it's causing a lot of trouble too.

The 113's are coupled in sets of four, six and eight cars. The four and eight car versions are still running but the six car sets, which are maybe 50% of the trains during the day, have been replaced by second-hand five car 211 sets which I think have been sent over from Saitama Prefecture to the north of Tokyo.

Hopeless. This means a one coach reduction on many busy trains and commuters are getting restless! Watch this space for further developments

L'isle sur Sorgue

It really struck me on my recnt trip to France just how much railway routes can get 'sidelined' in the same way as roads do and end up as local links or even just dead ends when the new 'six-laner' goes through.

Not far from our cottage was this station at L'isle sur Sorgue in the Vaucluse We'd been there a couple of days when I realised that actually this was no branch line but the original PLM main line from Paris to Marseilles. But no longer do expresses thunder down this stretch of track south of Avignon. Once you could have seen the cream of the Chapelon steam locomotive fleet racing around this bend, or the heavy SNCF co-co electrics on the 'Blue Train' but that's history now.

Like most of the original PLM route the fast trains now run on the new TGV tracks - here several miles south towards Avignon. L'isle sur Sorgue still has a fine old Paris-Lyon-Mediterraine station building but the only train you will catch from here now is a 'local'