Some new stock

The last couple of mornings I've been catching the Keisei Railway out from central Chiba into the south east suburbs where I've been doing my studies. Getting into town just before ten both my trips have coincided with what must be crew training runs on some new stock.

Here's a picture of the new 8800 series. This unit has parked up at Honchiba and is about to set off back towards Ueno. I think they bear more than a passing resemblance to the trains Keisei use on the line north of Tsudanuma. They are smart enough and I'm sure very energy efficient and this one took off like a rocket but I found myself wondering with a sinking heart what old stock would be headed off to the breaker's year. The 3000 series I guess, a really classic 70's design.

I must publish some pictures here before they are just a thing of the past.

Enoden Railway

At the moment I'm not able to add items here as often as I would like but keep checking back please - I'll make sure that something gets posted regularly. My collaborator Norman is still in Cyprus I think, which has no railways at all, but something deep in my memory suggests that it once had a 3' gauge line. Is that right?

Anyway - last week a trip with visiting friends over to Kamakura to see the daibutsu - the great bronze Buddha statue. Although this is now outdoors it was once housed in a temple that was swept away by a tsunami in 1498. It must have been a heck of a wave as the statue is about half a mile from the sea ...

To get to the daibutsu you take the Enoden Railway three stops from JR Kamakura station to Hase. This line runs around the coast for about 20 miles and is one of the most charming 3'6" gauge tram systems you will ever come across. These little geen and yellow cars clatter along tracks just a few inches from people's back yards. It would make a perfect prototype for anyone interested in modelling Japanese towns ...

Boso View Express

Normally I only see 255 Units whizzing through our village but on Friday I happened to be changing trains at Sakura when the down afternoon 'Shiosai' came in so I got a good look at one at rest.

Here's 'train-time' for the Choshi bound tokkyu - a quick check along the train and then the guard gets into the rear driving compartment, closes the doors and they are off. To the right, just out of view a battery of four TV monitors to enable him to check the whole length of the train and the button to play the 'hurry up music' to warn passengers that the doors are about to close. Japanese expresses are off within a minute, sometimes even 30 seconds.

Looking at this kind of 'high-tech' hardware I find myself wondering how on earth you would model this stuff in, say, Gauge '0'. I suppose there must be fibre glass techniques if you made a wooden master but how would you even do that convincingly?

Huh! Anyone ever attempted that kind of thing?