Monday 6 January 2014

Late Autumn Visit to Hakone

Coupling scene of the EMU Odakyu 60000 series (MSE) is seen at Odawara Station
 
I just celebrated New Year, but I can't believe that one week has passed already. Before introducing the topic of winter railway scenery in Japan, I would like to keep to the subject of last autumn a bit more.

Viewing colorful autumn leaves is one of the indulgences that Japanese people have during fall. Leaves turn yellow, red and brown. Representative yellowish leaves are from gingko trees; meanwhile, representative reddish leaves are from maple trees. I visited Hakone Mountain last November to enjoy late autumn leaves. Although the leaves had started defoliating in the high-altitude area, they still kept beautiful autumn colors in the lower altitude area such as Hakone-Yumoto and Miyanoshita.

On the way back home, I took the Odakyu Line from Odawara Station. My vehicle was the Romance Car, EMU 60000 series (MSE). I often use this train on the way home, but it was something special on that day, since it was very beautiful and glaring in the twilight.

This train adds 4 passenger cars to become a ten-car train at Odawara Station. I saw the coupling scene at platform number 10. It was quite simple, because the train has a tight lock type automatic coupler with an automatic dividing and merging equipment. It means that crew members don't need to descend onto the track to help the coupling operation.

The Romance Car, MSE was operated on schedule. When I got off at Shin-Yurigaoka Station, it had become completely dark. The autumn sun set quickly.

 
Autumn leaves of a maple tree near Hakone-Yumoto Station