W/NW: Trains and Train Stations

Fujifilm X100F
Astia film simulation
Tokyo, Japan - December 2019

Where I live in Japan, there is only one subway nearby and it’s not very deep underground. On the occasions when I go to Tokyo (like today) the reality of how deep underground some of the subways are is a real jolt to the senses. To imagine that when one is walking down the sidewalk in Tokyo the fact that deep underneath the ground at varying levels there are subways criss crossing each other, above and below each other, this is (for me) mind blowing.

The reality sinks in when you go down multiple levels on an escalator.
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Then on a platform that is who knows how many meters underground a subway train comes rumbling out of a dark tube and comes to a stop on an artificialy lighted platform.
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We get in and off we go. To me this is like someting out of a Jules Verne novel like “Journey to the Center of the Earth”.

All the best,
Mike
 
Rumoi, Hokkaido... December 2014

within two years the single track, one carriage service was halted due to low ridership... sad to see the passing of these rural train lines. The 8:10 AM train was the last one of the day as a heavy snow front rolled in and stopped all movement...

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Fujifilm X100F
Astia film simulation
Yokohama, Japan - December 2019

Hinodecho station is one of the few train stations that I know of built on a bend in the line. It’s that curve of the tracts that I think makes this such a photogenic setting for train and people pictures.

Station KK39 on the Keikyu train line - Hinodecho, Yokohama

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It’s only a 3 minute walk from the station to Ohnuki camera shop.
https://www.camera-ohnuki.com/netshop/

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All the best,
Mike
 
Scenes from around the RR station in Cueto, Cuba. We live right across the street so I wander over when something is happening.

Unloading a box car full of rice. About 100 boxcars of rice are unloaded manually here ever year. It always takes 6 people: 2 to load/unload the handcart, a standby worker, an inventory clerk to count bags, a security guard, and a truck driver to supervise loading his truck.

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boarding a carahata, a bus/truck/train hybrid. Many rural communities are only served by RR as mass transit. Cuba has a vast network to train tracks which are used to bring sugar cane from the fields to the sugar mill.

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There is a passenger train that comes through every other day. They are considered the least desirable form of transportation because of their unreliability but they are the cheapest costing only a few cents.

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Passenger trains are old and spartan. They lack such creature comforts such as padded seats and toilets.

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To be a Ferrocarriles de Cuba engineer, you must also be a track side mechanic. It took this crew several hours to repair this stuck brake problem on the locomotive.

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The government brought in 4 old hopper cars without wheels, each on the back of a semi truck. Then 2 truck loads of new RR wheels and 2 large cranes. The wrestling of the hopper cars on to the new wheels provided 4 days of entertainment for locals.

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Service cars, known as "sparklers" because of the sparks they constantly generate frequently come through with stopping. They seem to carry as many unofficial civilians as actual RR workers. Cubans share everything.

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About 2 km west of the station stopping to pick up a RR car full of scrap metal. Crews typically have no problem with me hopping into the locomotive cab of a freight train and photographing.

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Sony A7III, Sigma 45mm f2.8 DG DN "Contemporary" lens
Yokohama, Japan - December 2019
Hinodecho train station

As the train comes flying toward her she doesn't even flinch.

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All the best,
Mike
 
Thanks.

There are a lot of things like that pram that are everywhere one minute and then suddenly gone. Luckily there's photography but few people photograph the everyday events in life...


Regards, David
 
Fujifilm X100F - Astia film simulation
Izu Peninsula, Japan - December 2019

The local train from Shimoda to Atami
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The view from the train
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All the best,
Mike
 
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