So while most people request a route from Japan, they usually focus on either the Shinkansen's or the commuter lines. 1 thing I think that gets overlooks is Japan's Freight trains, lines and equipment. I think if appropriate, they could be added into a route with some of Japans passenger trains, though I don't know what routes they run or share with them. They could be set in either the JNR era or JR era (I don't know if there is any independent freight lines) Some examples of locomotive power Class DD51 (Diesel-Hydraulic) Class HD300 (Hybrid Diesel/Battery) M250 Series (EMU) Class EF66 (DC Electric) Class EF81 (AC/DC Electric) Class EF200 (DC Electric) EH500 (AC/DC 2 Unit Electric) Examples of rolling stock (More in-depth on all the different types here: http://www.sumidacrossing.org/Prototype/JRFreight/FreightCars/) Container Flatcar (KOKI) Tank Car (TAKI 1000's) While I know that Japan might still be a ways away (Depending on DTG or Union Workshop) I still think this is worth a mention here.
If you or someone else wants to make this into a suggestion for a specific route, I would include it in the threads list mentioned in my signature. There are freight line ideas as part of some of the suggestions there (e.g. Chūō East Line, Hakodate Main Line, Tokyo Railnetwork), but nothing specifically for freight.
Excellent idea for the hybrid diesel locomotive HD300 there is a German version for it the DB BR280. Because of Deutsche Bahn wanting the HD300 Japan Railways technology for use in Germany particularly the urban areas like München and Augsburg Hbf HMA Duisberg Hbf HRR & Köln SKA to Ripley's in efficient diesel shunters except for 1998 builds DB BR363 from RSN. One missing Japanese Freight locomotive is EH800 20kv & 25kv 50hz for use with Seikan Tunnel.
Is that worth watching? the reviews on MAL are not great - ridiculously heavy on the fan service and light on plot seems to be the consensus. Wonder if the Manga or Light Novels would be better?
It's worth watching once for the train scenes. But otherwise it's utterly trash, so set you expectations really low. The story and the characters are horrible and there are too few train scenes for an anime about trains. It could've had much more potential, but watch it once if you're interested in the train parts, as those are not that bad. As for Japanese freight, hell yeah! I could totally be into it. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) They have many amazing freight locos, like the EF64 or EF66. The best would be to find a route that has both commuter passenger and freight trains, though I don't know how common that is. They have plenty of dedicated freight lines. The M250 freight EMU is also pretty cool, though that one would be pretty limited. For starters a basic, widely used freight loco would be the best, like the EF64 or EF65 that could be used anywhere in many liveries.
Hmm... interesting. You don't see a lot of Japanese freight trains passing these suggestion forums. Although I generally prefer commuter trains, the best thing about Japan would be the landscape, architecture and other scenery that's so different from the usual US and European routes. So yeah, a Japanese freight route would definately end up in my shopping cart. Although if I'd have a choice, I'd probably still pick the Japanese commuter route. Freight trains still better than those silly high speed things though. Not sure I'd buy a Shinkansen route.
I have to raise two problems: 1. There aren't many stand-alone freight lines in Japan. You can check this Wiki page (in Japanese) and you can see quite a lot of these "freight lines" are either tiny branch lines, or technically just extra tracks of a passenger line. Japan Freight Railway (JR Kamotsu = JR Freight) runs the freight trains as a 2nd Class Railway Operator while another 1st Class JR company actually owns the line. You can not expect an North American style heavy-haul-only line in Japan. 2. Long-distance freight trains with lot of shunting work were considered as inefficient, and this system was abolished in the 1984 JNR Diagram Revision. Therefore a lot of freight yards and branch lines have been abandoned since then. Nowadays the majority of freight trains in Japan are typical A-B style trains going up and down the main lines. This may be not be ideal for gameplay.
I wouldn't mind having a freight service on a main/passenger line, if necessary. The Tsugaru-Kaikyō Line is an example of a great-looking scenery that has freight hauled along it:
Interesting. So if there was a japanese freight train, it would basically what we see with the german freight services in the game in which they run through the passenger routes. No shunting as well may disappoint some as well
It depends on what Shinkansen we are talking about. If it were a 0 series, I would go for it instantly. Those are amazing looking. Then the newer they are, the uglier. Why not? GWE was also pretty much this. Even if the main focus is on the passenger services, a single loco with Koki container cars or something could be easily included. Even if it's just an A to B service from one end to the another, it would be still great for variety. Or if the location fits it, they could even include the EF64 1030/1031/1032, which can be used for EMU towing as well. Could be similar to the train rescue scenarios from GWE and Peninsula Corridor.
Personally I'm fine with A-B kind of services but I know I can't speak for every player. Most normal freight services in Japan are like direct services running down the main line at a pretty high speed without stopping. This may not fit everyone.
So am I, and while it might not be everyone's cup of tea, I think most people would be okay with it, especially if freight would be only a plus to the route, not the "main star". As I suggested earlier, like GWE - there freight was also pretty much just an extra to give it more variety, but it worked well, even if it was simple.
I agree and it was ordered for Seikan Tunnel due to the 20kv 50hz upgraded into 25kv 50hz for Hokkaido Shinkansen project freight services. If the Seikan Tunnel were to be in TSW 2 as the main feature of the Hokkaido Shinkansen made by Union Workshop it will be the freight locomotive for the Route. Like a proposed Main Spessart Bahn eastern extension using the Lohr HSR connector for the freight trains during the late nights. Locomotives for that are Existing MSB DB BR185 RT DB BR182 with LZB. Seikan Tunnel uses JR DS ATC for EH800 & Shinkansen H5/E5. HD300 is the Japanese version of its Deutsche Bahn version DB BR 280 a future shunter for Hamburg Lubeck which has Sifa PZB LZB but HD300 has DS-ATC. The difference between DB BR 280 and HD300 is the track gauge 1.435m Germany vs 1.067m Japan along with safety systems mentioned in the earlier sentence.
It's the Outer Tokyo Orbital, serves as a freight bypass for the city - roughly 2/3s has a commuter service with the remaining section being freight only as the passenger services switch to parallel routes. It was planned in the 1970s as freight only as powers that be wanted freight removed from central Tokyo following a tanker explosion in Shinjuku, but local opposition meant a passenger service was added. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musashino_Line
That's a really nice idea!. The rolling stock selections is pretty much a perfect and spot-on commuter EMU fleet. I mean E231, 209, 205, 201, 103 series. All the good stuff, really! And pretty much any of JR's well-known freight locomotives. Couldn't go wrong with any of them Just watched parts of a cab ride video, the route seems really nice. And it really looks properly mixed, at one point an EF64 came the other way with container cars behind it. Could be a really fun route, if it would ever happen.
The southern part of the line was not supposed to be used by passengers services - the same as the other parts but the tunnels here are even longer. Also this area has been served by Nambu Line since late 1920s so a new line is actually not much needed. Nowadays only one passenger service runs on this part of this line. It is the Holiday Rapid Kamakura going from Minami-Urawa to Kamakura and only runs on the weekends with 1 train per direction. Other than that are just freight trains going up and down in the tunnels. One thing I'll have to mention on this line is the Musashino Yard on this line. This yard was located near Shin-Misato Station and used to be the largest freight yard in Japan. However due to the reasons I stated before, it served for only about 10 years and was abolished in 1986.