TransitSurfer

Japanese ice cream options are very different from the UK: no Magnums or Cornettos, instead Choco Monaka (Ice cream waffle), Coolish (ice lolly but in a pouch) and this which is a simple chocolate + milk (not vanilla apparently) ice cream, with chocolate sauce on top. It's cheap and a solid dessert.

YouTube video by TransitSurfer Trains at Kyoto (Part 1)

New video of trains at Kyoto, featuring Shinkansen, JR Limited Expresses and Kintetsu Limited Expresses

youtu.be/3IdAAapLYec?...

Caledonian Sleeper decides to make regular stops at one singular station (and not every day!) and the media goes wild.

Turns out photographing Eurostar trains is a lot harder than it seems 😅. Still glad I got to see them, even if it's a 374.

In case you haven't seen it yet my final part of day 3 in Japan has been posted

Yes, but the front seats are now high back so no one else gets to watch you do it

3.4
Afterwards, I went to Shinsaibashi via the Midosuji Line. It was extremely busy due to all of the tourists.

For dinner I went to a popular chain called Yoshinoya. Like most of the chains, its cheap, cheerful and filling.

The terminus at Lewisham Molesworth Street is very strange since the bus uses a loop to turn around, which is quite good for efficiency purposes, but results in one way only stations.

Overall rating: 6/10 it's slow but the new double deck trains make up for it

The line diagrams seem to only show the extension stops, not the rest of the line.

The journey was quite slow for a tube train. It kept stopping and starting, and it skipped Old Kent Road which the driver said was closed because of "road works". I still don't know what they mean by that.

Review: Bakerloop line extension to Lewisham.

Boarding the train at Waterloo, I was quite surprised to see that the new rolling stock is double decker trains, that was quite nice!

The trains of course have the classic bakerloo barman moquette, but with yellow handles for visibility reasons

Happy birthday to the railways!
It's been 200 years since the Stockton and Darlington Railway opened.

So to celebrate, I'm going to ride a bus.
Not just any bus.
A bus that should have been a train.
The irony.

(Image credit route-one.net)

New Shuttle 2020 series train (set 24) departing Tetsudo-Hakubutsukan (The Railway Museum) Station.

Clip taken from the Railway Museum

With this new setup I'm ready to finally start editing some videos

3.3:
I then went to Osaka Station City (the shopping centre area above Osaka Station) to see the Pokemon Center and Nintendo store, before doing some trainspotting outside the station.

3.2:
At Tanimachi 4-Chome, I did a couple of minutes of trainspotting before heading to Osaka Castle. After that, I took the Tanimachi line to Tennoji, where I changed for the Midosuji line to Umeda station.

Japan Day 3.1:
After getting my first IC Card (an ICOCA), I took the Osaka Subway Midosuji line (operated with Kita-osaka Kyuko 800 series) to Hommachi, then took a Chuo line train (operated with Osaka Metro400 series) to Tanimachi 4-Chome

I need to visit Poland. This is incredible.
Compartment seating? Seatback entertainment? And it all looks so comfortable as well!

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building is located at Tochomae station in the Oedo line (Tokyo's less well-known circle line) and is a 10 minute walk away from Shinjuku station, which is on Tokyo Metro, Keio, Odakyu, Tobu & JR lines including the Yamanote line (Tokyo's famous circle line)

Currently on at Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building every day is a Pac Man light show. It's free to watch, and the observation deck inside is also free.

Also on during weekends only are Godzilla and Gundam light shows.

Photo 5: Compartment
Photo 6: Premium Seat (2)
Photo 7: Cockpit Lounge (2)

Spacia X Interior:
Photo 1: Cockpit Suite
Photo 2: Standard Seat
Photo 3: Premium Seat
Photo 4: Cockpit Lounge

JR West 221 Series at Inari station

JR West 221 Series near Kyoto

Japan trip days 1 & 2:
Took a plane from Heathrow to Kansai (with layover at Hong Kong).
Landed really late at Kansai, managed to catch the last train of the day into Osaka.
Not much else to say

Here's an audio clip of Osaka Metro's 24 stock departing Tanimachi 4-chome station with great sounding motors which give Class 323 + 1996 stock vibes.

Since Bluesky doesn't allow audio clips I've placed an image (not video) of a 24 stock there since a blank screen would be worse.

I meant to say back home from Japan not Hong Kong

JR West Osaka Metro Loop Line train departing Osaka Station

Final post to talk about the planes taken:
Kansai - Hong Kong was run with a Cathay Pacific Airbus A330 (A330-300 I think)
Hong Kong - Frankfurt was run with a Cathay Pacific Boeing 777
Frankfurt - London City was run with a British Airways Embraer 190.

Flight three: Frankfurt - London City

This flight was not too bad - it took 1 hour after leaving 30 mins late (I think?).
The plane left Frankfurt with what felt like a steeper takeoff, City style.
For a City landing, it was incredibly smooth, better than the previous two landings.

Flight 2.5 - layover:
The plane landed 15 mins early, so I had 3 hours to burn at Frankfurt. So I bought a snack (pringles), got out my Nintendo Switch and just wasted away the time.