Monday 16 November 2015

Train Festival on the Chuo Line

The whole formation of the commuter trains on the Chuo Line
 
Autumn is a train festival season in Japan. Thousands of rail fans and families flock to rail yards, which are open to the public. For instance, I visited Shin-Keisei's Kunigiyama, Saitama Railway's Urawa-Misono Rail Yards and JRF's Sumidagawa Station last year. I also visited JR East's Uchihara and Takasaki Rail Yards in 2013. This year, I visited JR East's Toyoda Rail Yard on the Chuo Line. It was opened to the public as an event known as the 2015 Toyoda Train Festival.

One of the main events in Toyoda Rail Yard was a train photo session. Specifically, the whole formation of the commuter trains on the Chuo Line was very beautiful and photogenic. They were the EMU E233, E231-500, 211 series and so on. Many rail fans including me were absorbed in clicking their camera shutters. I also enjoyed the inspection shed, where many sets of the E233 series were stored. I could have enough time to observe the bogies and underfloor equipment there. An exhibition of several kinds of pantographs was also interesting for me to understand their mechanism.

I am truly grateful to JR East Toyoda Rail Yard staff to have held this special event on the weekend. They were very friendly and kind to visitors. The festival was indeed a great success, because plenty of people enjoyed the festival safely. I am going to introduce several trains being exhibited at this event from next time.

To be continued...
 
JR East E233 series is stored in the inspection shed of Toyoda Rail Yard on the Chuo Line