JR East and Tobu Railway Trains at Nikko, Japan, October 2023

Описание: Nikko is a resort town two hours north of Tokyo. It is a popular tourist destination. Nikko is served by two railways, the Tobu Railway and JR East's Nikko Line. The reason I came here was because several times during the week, Tobu Railway runs a steam engine-hauled train down the branch from Shimo-Imaichi to Tobu-Nikko, heads back, and then runs to Kinugawaonsen. Said service is called SL (Steam Locomotive) Taiju, translating to "Great Tree". I met some other friendly railfans, one a conductor for JR East who told me about the steam engine, and some others who spoke decent English and showed up after the first one left, here. I admit it was kind of fun telling them what a heritage unit was, how we wave at every train in America, and how Amtrak works. Unfortunately, though, I was informed that the express train it was supposed to wait on got delayed 20 minutes because it struck a person. My best guess is that this was a suicide as I never found any information on it online, even after translating my search to Japanese. It is entirely possible I could be incorrect about this or the translation I was given from the conductor was inaccurate, so take this with a grain of salt. All I know about is that the steam engine was supposed to run to Tobu-Nikko and didn't that day. Initially, this was just reported to be a delay, but then some other tori-tetsu (railfans) that had pulled up for it all left, and later I was informed by two others that it was cancelled. From what I heard it did run to Kinugawaonsen as normal, but I had to be back in Tokyo before sunset and couldn't go there to catch it. I did enjoy Nikko, though, as it is a beautiful area and the people there were very friendly, and will make it a point to try again. Whether this was deliberate or not, my deepest condolences go to the family of the victim as well as the best wishes for the crew of the train.

Train 1: Tobu 300 Series "Revaty" passes by me. This train snuck up on me and I didn't have time to fully set up my tripod, (0:15).

Train 2: Tobu 40000 Series heads out of Nikko, (0:30).

Train 3: JR Nikko Line leaves Nikko Station, (0:59).

Train 4: 40000 Series heads towards Tobu-Nikko Station, (1:15).

Train 5: Tobu 100X Series, "Spacia X," departs Nikko Station, (1:49).

Train 6: 40000 Series heads towards Nikko, (2:55).

Train 7: JR East's E131 Series arrives in Nikko, (3:25).

Train 8: 40000 Series meets the other 40000 Series and they pass each other as JR's Nikko Line arrives at the station, (3:38).

Train 9: JR's Nikko Line train departs, (4:49).

Train 10: Tobu's 300 Series departs Nikko, (5:10).

Train 11: 40000 Series leaves Nikko, (6:11).

Train 12: Another 40000 Series approaches Nikko. The Toyota Camry you can see in the foreground was some other railfans who had pulled up for the steam engine and were leaving right after it was announced to have been cancelled. One of them did yell something at me (likely informing me that it had been cancelled, but I don't speak Japanese) before they left, (7:18).

Train 13: 40000 Series leaving Nikko, also gives me a some horn! At the very end of this clip, you can hear one of the other two railfans that had come tell me that the train was cancelled, (8:25).

Train 14: JR East's Nikko Line train arrives to get ready to take me back to Utsunomiya, (8:48).