The Five Yen of Happiness! The JR Central SC Maglev and Railway Museum

The Five Yen of Happiness! The JR Central SC Maglev and Rail Museum

AUTHORS NOTE: CONTAINS LOTS OF JAPANESE TRAINS.

I admit it. As I stated earlier I’m a bit of a Train Otaku., so when there was a chance of going to The JR Central Super Conducting Maglev and Rail Museum – I jumped at the chance.

This would be an easy 3/4-day trip from Kyoto – so what the blazes. There’s a Shinkansen network that can be used… and a JR Rail Pass to use it on.

An early-ish morning start, and I was out of the Kyoto Tower Hotel and crossed the road to the station. With a reservation made for the next Hikari to Nagoya, I was soon on my way down the Tōkaidō Shinkansen.

Off we go again.

Of course, I still need to be hydrated – today’s choice had 50 lemons worth of vitamin C. Handy to know.

Now some people do question how fast the Shinkansen goes. Well, there’s an easy bit of science that be conducted and a speedo app:

Oh dear. It appears I have broken the speedometer. Oops.

Just under an hour later, the train pulled in to Nagoya Station.

Local JR Central Traffic. A JR 313 series EMU. Not to be confused with the Britis h Rail Class 313 which should had gone to the scrap heap years ago.

From there, it was a case of play “hunt the Aonami Line”, which is helpfully signposted.

Helpful!

Getting to the Museum from Nagoya Station

Since the Aonami line is outside the JR Lines scope, it’s time to pony up. You can use a MANICA smart card (or any other interoperable smart card), or pay the fee of ¥350 each way.

What did I do? Welllllll…

Another day, another smart card. Besides – it helps when paying for entry into museum.

A blip through the gates, and there was a waiting train.

An Aonami Line 1000 series train.

Inside the train.

The Aonami line connects to the Museum at Kinjō-Futō Station – 15km away from and 24 minutes Nagoya station.

The Rail museum from the station

From the train station, it was a short walk to the JR Central SC Maglev and Railway Museum.

JR Central SC Maglev and Railway Museum.
Entry: ¥1000.

Once you’ve cleared the hurdles of buying an entry ticket (which you can do on an IC Card), you enter the what is called the “Dynamism of the Railway” – three trains that set speed records:

Class C62 Steam Locomotive – the fastest Narrow Gauge steam locomotive.

Class 955 Shinkansen – set a 300km/h speed record in 1996.

The MLX-01 – This SuperConducting Maglev train set a record speed of 581km/h (361mph) in 2003. It was beaten by the L0 prototype which 603km/h.

Once you’re passed these exhibits, you enter the main hall – and are confronted with these beasts

Four Shinkansens of JR Central (also, this was a tough picture to get. Too many people…). L-R – 700 Series (yes, they operate these today and one’s in a museum), 300 Series , 100 Series and the classic 0 Series.

The original and classic Bullet Train or Shinkansen – The 0 Series

The 3rd iteration of the Shinkansen – the 100 Series (I’ve always loved the sharp nose this train has),

The 300 series Shinkansen

The current generation 700 series that you’ll see on the Tokaido Shinkasen

As well as the Shinkasens, there’s various exhibts to try and experiment with…

MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Yes, you can play with an accelerator and play chase the train…

As I stated on Twitter – Aerodynamics aren’t just for planes.

Or maybe drive a train?

Or drive a Shinkansen maybe?

Of course, there are many other trains at the museum – here’s just a few:

Class 48000 Diesel Railcar

Class 63 Rail Car

JNR Class 165

JNR Class 381

However, whilst you can get up and close with the trains on the ground, you can also go up to the mezzanine level for some amazing views of the museum:

I spy… Doctor Yellow… and a Bi-level Shinkansen car…

Better views of the first room you enter in the museum – gives a much better view of these three record breakers

The mezzanine level is where one can have food – and there also happens to a Delica Station (the stores that operate in JR Central land) for Ekiben meals and other things…

Ekiiiiiben!

Shinkansen Ekiben!

And of course, Shinkansens in the shape of bottles of water.

I headed back to the main floor, and wandered in and out of the exhibits (most of which were open)

Looking straight at a locomotive.

Yep. Fans are still useful for being cooled.

Inside one of the classic train coaches

The Shinkansens were also visit-able, so you wander around inside the trains.

The closest I would get to a Nozomi this trip… (well.. maybe not. More on that in a later story).

The 100 Series Shinkansen also had an extra feature – a double decker car. In the past, these were used a restaurant cars – a feature long enhanced from the Tōkaidō Shinkansen.

Why can’t we have nice things like this any more?

Meanwhile on the floor, there was another Shinkansen – whilst it looks like a 0 Series Shinkansen, this is actually a Class 923 – Doctor Yellow, which was used for inspection purposes at line speed.

Doctor Yellow I presume?

Inside Doctor Yellow.

However, with other things on my agenda – so I made my way out… and passed the gift shop. This would be dangerous.

Uh oh. This would be *dangerous*.

And it was.

Why yes. SHINKANSEN CHOPSTICKS!

With my Credit card suitably hit, I headed back to Nagoya station (and into Nagoya). Once back, I reserved a seat for the next express back to Nagoya.

Sadly, that would… a Kodama service – the slowest of all the Shinkansen services. There was only one option for this – to get an Ekiben for the “slow” journey back.

The inbound train.

Sigh. The Kodama. At least it’s Green Car for the service.

Now, there’s an important note about the Kodama – and that is it has no trolley service and no attendant to give you a towel (compared to the Hikari, Nozomi and Sakura).

It’s a difference – but it shows that Kodama is a bit lower down the pegging order than the other Shinkansen services.

Aboard the Kodama (JR 700 Series Shinkansen)

With the train accelerating out of Nagoya, it was time to sit back and watch the countryside.

And as well watch the countryside, there was also time to break into this ekiben. This was of course a Kodama Ekiben!

It seemed to be a nice balanced Ekiben again – with lots of different flavours and textures.

Soon enough the train was pulling into Kyoto station – and I bundled my way out of it, and through the gates back into the heat of Kyoto.

Uhoh. It’s heating up…

Overall: An enjoyable day out exploring some of Japans rail history as well as some amazing trains. If you’re in the Nagoya area – I would urge you check it out. That and you can get some Shinkansen chopsticks too.

NEXT: Whilst there were a few other things I did in Kyoto – I’m going to park them for a bit. It’s time to head to the madness that is Tokyo.

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