It was the best seat on the bullet train. I was facing front and had a big window to look through. You always do when you are driving.
Resting my elbow gently down onto the Dead Man’s Handle, I eased out of Tokyo station; without a jolt. Lights flashed on and off on the console in front of me but I had no idea why.
It was my first time at the controls of a high-speed Shinkansen train. I had no idea where I was going or what I was doing but the suburbs flashed past me in a blur as I stared out over the famous snub nose. I had never hijacked a train before.
It was rather exciting as any speed junkie would know. My heart raced as I raced through prefecture after prefecture. Soon, the dials told me, we were going 210 kilometres per hour and quickly picked up to 250km/h, whistling through thronged stations and the lush Japanese countryside.
It was a smooth ride. There was no noise and I had the train all to myself. It was great fun. Despite the fact I didn’t know how to stop the thing.
Luckily, however, the computer did.
The Railway Museum in Saitama City near Omiya – 19 minutes by train from Tokyo’s Ueno station – was opened in October 2007 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of JR East. It was built by The East Japan Railway Culture Foundation to house historic rolling stocks and artefacts to celebrate the history and achievements of Japanese railways.
It was a smooth ride. There was no noise and I had the train all to myself. It was great fun. Despite the fact I didn’t know how to stop the thing
From its origins right up to the brand new, state-of-the-art Nozomo (Hope) N700 Tokaido Shinkansen, which – with a top speed 300km/h – is the fastest train in the world. It carries 1,323 passengers and covers the journey between Tokyo and Ozaka in under two-and-a-half hours.
There are over 580,000 items on display at the museum, including 36 trains. Perhaps the most prized exhibits are the six Imperial carriages which carried the Imperial family. Goryosha One was used by the Meijji Emperor from Kyoto to Kobe. Goryosha 12 was made for Emperor Showa when he was Prince Regent.
The museum has everything to satisfy the most ardent railway buff or part-time train enthusiast. From the wonders of a Class 9850 Mallet steam locomotive and a Nade 6110 Electric railcar to the glories of a Class Oha 31 passenger carriage.
A mini-shuttle connects the wings of the purpose-built exhibition centre, which is one of four museums dedicated to trains in Japan. Saitama also boasts a collection of station signboards and the country’s largest railway diorama, as well as a partial reproduction of the Manseibashi and Omiya factory from the Taisho period and a detailed replica of pre-war Tokyo and Ochanomizu stations.
Exciting hands-on experiences are available on various power transmission and braking systems and there are high-tech interactive opportunities to enable you to live out your train driver fantasies. You can play on four simulators and drive back in time on an old 1935-1951 Class D51 steam locomotive. Without getting emphysema.
The trip into the past in the historic ‘smokebox’ lasts 15 minutes. It’s a real buzz and not at all smutty. It’s all good, clean fun because it all happens indoors in a virtual soot-free environment. There’s AC too.
You can also drive on the 205 Yamanote and experience in Sensu-round the old Tokyo Loop line in an authentic replica of a driver’s cab used between 1985-2005.
Or you can jump on board and pretend to hijack a 1993 209 New Series ( Shin-keiretsu densha) for a tour on the Keihen-Touhoku line around the prefectures of Saitama and Kanagura.
Few museums in the world trigger so many stimulating metabolic changes. The bullet train is the star of the show. And there is always a long queue to sit in the simulator cabin and speed off into the digitally-enhanced and computer-generated distance.
The term Dangan Ressha (Bullet) was first used in the 1930s when high-speed trains were first contemplated. The Shinkansen name was first formally used in 1940 for a proposed standard gauge passenger/freight line between Tokyo and Shimonoseki.
There are now over 30 super-modern bullet” trains in operation in Japan on nearly 2,000 miles of earthquake and typhoon resistant track. Six bullet trains run every hour from Tokyo to Osaka.
The SuperExpress Hikari (Light) trains were formally retired in 1972 although the name is still used. The latest addition to the cutting-edge fleet is the shark-nosed Tsubame (Swallow) serving the southern island of Kyushu. Over six billion passengers have been carried by Shinkansen trains over the last 40 years.
There are a lot of walls to be read at the museum. Japan Railways have come a very long way very quickly in a very short time. The trains are always on time. Especially the ones in the museum. Because they never really go anywhere.