International Railroad Discussion > 3 feet away from 160-mph bullet trains! _ Oyamazaki station

This is a continuation (actually a predecessor) to my previous Hankyu post....
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,3828567

This video is from the Oyamazaki station of the Hankyu Railway, which is adjacent to the high speed Shinkansen Tokyo-Osaka Tokaido route.
The Hankyu station is just down the road a few hundred meters from the JR Tokaido line Yamazaki station. (covered in my previous post....
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,3828810)

Oyamazaki is about 12 miles south of Kyoto, and is situated in a narrowing of the Katsura river valley, forcing the JR, Hankyu and Tokaido lines close together. Between the Tokaido line just out of sight around the bend, and the Hankyu and Shinkansen lines next to each other, there are a lot of trains funnelling through here. 

The Hankyu platform narrows to a 3-ft wide width on the south end, with the Shinkansen line just a few feet away on the other side of the fence, so you are really close to the high-speed action! The Shinkansens fly by at about 160 mph and the Hankyu expresses go about 70 or 80. 

This is a shortened version of the original - for TO specifications - the longer version is on that other platform that rhymes with YouTube.

Maybe some of the more Japan-knowledgeable TOers can point out the subleties of what I was seeing....

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

One thing I have noticed from filming the Shinkansens is that they don't look as fast as they are really going on film vs. in person. I think its because they are BIG vehicles - 11 ft wide, which really contrasts with the skinnier Hankyu trains. Bigger things just don't appear to be traveling as fast as they are; for instance, 747s look like they are lumbering across the sky relative to smaller planes.

jonjonjonjon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One thing I have noticed from filming the
> Shinkansens is that they don't look as fast as
> they are really going on film vs. in person. I
> think its because they are BIG vehicles - 11 ft
> wide, which really contrasts with the skinnier
> Hankyu trains. Bigger things just don't appear to
> be traveling as fast as they are; for instance,
> 747s look like they are lumbering across the sky
> relative to smaller planes.

I think the bigger factor is the length of the trains. Hankyu trains are 8 cars long, while the Shinkansens in your video are 16. The camera eliminates many of the sensations of being there, including the three dimensional feel for the surroundings. I suspect we compensate by using the senses available to us, including hearing, and the duration of sound of a slower 8 car train passing is similar to the duration of a faster 16 car train passing...

If you're a "trained Shinkansen foamer," you listen to the whoosh noises between the cars, and that rhythm is much faster on the Shinkansen than on the Hankyu trains.

Here's an interesting aside. I posted a video of a 16 car Series 500 Nozomi running ~300 km/h on YouTube 8 years ago. Many claimed the train was running much slower, and that I was lying. Besides the "elimination of senses" by the camera, these people didn't realize that each Shinkansen car is longer than a TGV car, so the whooshing rhythm is faster on the TGV, nevermind the fact that many TGV sets are only 10 cars long (8 cars plus the power cars on the ends), so the duration of passing noise is shorter.

I avoid using zoom and try to use as wide angle as possible when filming Shinkansens. Zoom + wedgie takes away the sensation of speed when shooting video, and unfortunately, you were 3' away on one platform with obstacles in front of you, so you couldn't quite avoid that. However, you have couple of clips where you shoot from the other platform, and the Shinkansen is going wide (across the screen). The sensation of speed is better preserved in those clips.

Again, lots of fun! Thanks for posting the video.

Excellent video! Thankyou for sharing! Are those trains running on "standard gauge" or "narrow gauge" ?Thanks...

gaspeamtrak Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Excellent video! Thankyou for sharing! Are those
> trains running on "standard gauge" or "narrow
> gauge" ?Thanks...

Shinkansen is standard gauge (4ft 8 1/2) while most of the rest of Japan's commuter rail network is 3ft 6". (cape gauge or kyōki / narrow gauge in Japan.)

Cheers,

-Mike

Mike Massee
Tehachapi, CA
Photography, Railroading and more..

I agree that shooting head-on shots, especially with zoom decreases the sensation of speed in a video. The wider angle, more from the side shots are more effective for showing speed.
I think when looking at them head-on, as you would from a station platform, the wideness of the Shinkansens distorts your depth perception if you are used to seeing only US width trains. They appear closer than they really are so you expect them to be reach you sooner than they do. It's the same effect when you are waiting to pull out of a street onto a highway at night and you subconciously judge the distance of oncoming cars by the distance between their headlights. 
It's always fun to have someone with you on the platform that has never seen a train go faster than 60 or 80, and watch their reaction as a through Shinkansen barrels throgh. They see a headlight way down the tracks, then look away for a second and when they turn around when they hear the swoooosh, they jump back a few steps, mouth open and eyes big as saucers as the train screams by. Then they stand there silent for 10 seconds, mouth still agape. Then they look at you and say "Wow!!!', or some other unprintable expletive.

Harlock Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> gaspeamtrak Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Excellent video! Thankyou for sharing! Are
> those
> > trains running on "standard gauge" or "narrow
> > gauge" ?Thanks...
>
> Shinkansen is standard gauge (4ft 8 1/2) while
> most of the rest of Japan's commuter rail network
> is 3ft 6". (cape gauge or kyōki / narrow gauge
> in Japan.)
>
> Cheers,
>
> -Mike

For Hankyu and Hanshin Railways (both part of Hankyu-Hanshin Holdings), the gauge is actually 1435 mm (4' 8.5") , standard gauge.

People like to ask the Japanese gauge question, but don't expect an easy answer if the railway is non-JR. Each railway's reason for choosing of a gauge is often different from another. Tokyo seems to have more 3' 6" gauge private railways while Osaka seems to have more 4' 8.5".

Keio Railway in Tokyo uses neither 4' 8.5" or 3' 6" but 1372 mm. Yet their Inokashira Line uses 3' 6" because that line used to belong to Odakyu Railway.

One that's REALLY interesting is Keisei Railway, also in Tokyo, the company that competes with JR East fo Narita Airport access. Like Keio, they used to be 1372 mm gauge, but due to the proposed connection to Keikyu Railway (1435 mm) via the Toei Subway Asakusa Line, they converted ALL their tracks to 1435 mm gauge in 50 days in 1959. Talk about obsession with one seat rides!

Off topic, but when JNR and JR abandoned the partially-constructed Narita Shinkansen Line, Keisei took over the abandoned ROW, and fortunately for them, the gauges between the Shinkansen and Keisei Railway is the same.