International Railroad Discussion > Japan September 2016 part five

Kuroiso north of Tokyo

all freights northbound and southbound change voltage  EH 500 series  the locos are now 15 years old and number about 80 or so

loco crews change over here based in Sendai usually

a year ago they were changing locomotives here

the passing Northbound  container train is at nasu shiobara just south of Kuroiso

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bakersfielddave Wrote:
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> Kuroiso north of Tokyo
>
> all freights northbound and southbound change
> voltage  EH 500 series  the locos are now 15
> years old and number about 80 or so
>
> loco crews change over here based in Sendai
> usually
>
> a year ago they were changing locomotives here
>
> the passing Northbound  container train is at
> nasu shiobara just south of Kuroiso

The addition of more dual-mode dual-voltage (DC 1,500V or AC 20,000V) EH500s to the fleet has eliminated some of the locomotive changes that used to take place. If you were able to spot some blue DC-only locomotives (EF64, EF65, EF66, EF210) parked to the south of Kuroiso Station, then that means you can still catch some freight trains changing locomotives there.
 

no there were no other locomtives  around

and the tracks were disused

looks like all this stopped when the seikan tunnel opened for shinkansens

bakersfielddave Wrote:
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> no there were no other locomtives  around
>
> and the tracks were disused
>
> looks like all this stopped when the seikan tunnel
> opened for shinkansens

Thanks for your observations. I followed up with some research (in Japanese) and it does seem the locomotive changes were eliminated at Kuroiso in mid-March, when all the JR Group companies (including JR Freight) make schedule adjustments in unison. And for other TO members who are curious, that same day in mid-March is when Hokkaido Shinkansen started running through the Seikan Tunnel.

Thanks for posting. Very interesting to see the difference in the Japanese vs US crews e.g. wearing of safety vests

Thanks for showing the entire consist of the freight trains. i saw some on the main island in 1967 and even logged the car types and count. i think one at Osaka had 62 car, most were just two axle then.

Great video. I wish the US would get it togeather on using electric trains. The acceration of these freights is very impressive.