On one of the days we were in Tokyo in late March we made a day trip to Nikko. We purchased Shinkansen tickets from Tokyo station to Utsunomiya to cut the travel time but also we hoped to ride one of the newer trains that are now running on the Tohoku Shinkansen line.
We were not disappointed and got to ride two Shinkansens that we had not ridden before. The E5's running in 10 car formations are common on the Tohoku Shinkansen line as seen on the board shown here.
On the trip back to Tokyo we rode on this E3 which is not exactly new but we had never ridden on one before. They also appear to have a new paint job from ones I've seen before.
I noticed that the E3 had these little steps that fold out when the train came into the station. The E3 is a bit narrower than the other Shinkansens we had ridden with the seating arrangement being 3 + 2 as opposed the normal 3 + 3.
I later learned that both the E3 and E6 Shinkansens are narrower so the trains can fit through narrower clearance areas on both the Akita and Yamagata Shinkansen lines.
As I often do, I got a photo of the train guide that is in between cars. As seen in the guide, this was a 7 car formation.
So it looks like now I"ll have two more Shinkansen models I will want to add to my collection.
Hi Brad. Nice stuff. I was in Tokyo for business many years ago now and road the Bullet train from Tokyo to Hamamatsu then returned the next day. What a buzz. I think we touched 300 klm. I did notice that they stick the ballast down. First off I thought it was from a train that leaked treacle then had a light bulb moment. LOL.
ReplyDeleteRegards
Rod.
Hi Rod,
DeleteMy first Shinkansen ride was in 1999 through the Tohoku region on a 200 series. It did have a speed display and my notes say we hit 234km/h. Have not seen speed displays on any of the other models we've been on.
Hi Brad, so I gather you make a point to ride at least 2 new trains on every trip to Japan. That would be nice to have ridden most of the trains I have. Well I've ridden Caltrain and the Amtrak California Zephy, I got a lot more trains to ride.
ReplyDelete-junior
Hi Junior,
ReplyDeleteI don't know if we make a point of it, but there is always some new trains because they are always updating. What lines we ride also depends on where we are staying.