Some trains we rode on this trip

Anyone visiting Japan will ride a variety of trains.  These are some of the more notable ones we rode this time.

E257 Azusa Kaiji

While waiting for a Chuo / Sobu local train at Iidabashi station in Tokyo I spotted this colorful train passing through and got this photo.



A few days later we were lucky enough to ride this train from Shinjuku station in Tokyo to Matsumoto in Nagano prefecture.  The E257's are used for limited express service over the Chuo line.  I also saw several of the older 351 series Super Azusa trains were still running on this line.

Many trains in Japan have a train map sign in the space between the cars.  I often get a photo of these for reference and here is the one from this train.  Our train had 11 cars but I understand they sometimes run as 7 or 9 car sets.

700 Shinkansen

We did not buy a JR pass this time so the only Shinkansen we rode this trip was a Kodama service 700 train one way between Nagoya and Shinagawa station in Tokyo.



All the trains I saw running on the Tokaido Shinkansen line were 700's so it looks like these have taken over all services on this line.


205 Series Nambu line

The Nambu line runs between Tachikawa and Kawasaki following the Tama River and crosses the Tokyu Meguro line at Musashi-Koysugi where this photo was taken.


The 205 series has been around since 1984 and has been replaced on most lines that it had run on.  The only lines I saw still running 205's in the Tokyo area were the Nambu & Saikyo lines.


Tokyu 6000 

One of Tokyu's more interesting looking trains, they run on the Tokyu Toyoko line from Shibuya station in Tokyo to Yokohama.  The Toyoko line crosses the Tokyu Meguro line at Den-en-chofu.


Hakone-Tozan 1000

The Hakone-Tozan line is a mountain railroad, with switchbacks and 8% grades climbing over 500m in it's 15km run between Odawara and Gora where this photo was taken.



E231 Series

This type of train is used on a number of lines around Tokyo.  The orange and green stripes mean this one is either a Tokaido Main line or Shonan-Shinjuku line train.  They can be up to 15 cars long including a couple of double decked cars.