Mister No's Pics & Vids

I really can't explain why I didn't get this one sooner!  
It has everything I appreciate most - a little 2-car commuter train, nicely painted (just look at that Kumamon Bear; and everything is painted - no stickers!!), train with colours and a soul! I would love to go to work by that train!

Well, here is Kumaden now. Hope you like it. 



KUMAMOTO ELECTRIC RAILWAY / 熊本電気鉄道

The Kumamoto Electric Railway (熊本電気鉄道, Kumamoto Denki Tetsudō) is a public transport company in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. It is abbreviated as Kumamoto Dentetsu (熊本電鉄) or Kumaden (熊電). The company was founded in 1909. The company operates railway and bus lines. The railway is a small and that connects the city of Kumamoto (the capital of Kumamoto prefecture, located on the island of Kyushu) with the suburbs. There are only two lines: Miyoshi → Fujisaki (recreated as Plarail line in this video) and Kami kumamoto → Kita Kumamoto. Kita Kumamoto is the main station where the two lines meet. Small trains run on a narrow-gauge single-track line with passing loops. The main line (Miyoshi - Fujisaki) runs very slowly and the whole line takes 30 minutes. There are a lot of stations (as many as 13 on such a short line), but there are (most of the time) passengers at each station! Nature is beautiful, but everything is urbanized and very narrow: the train literally seems to pass through the backyards of some residential houses! 



The forerunner of the company, Kikuchi Tramway (菊池軌道), was established in on 15 August 1909, and opened the 914 mm (3 ft) gauge steam-hauled line from Ikeda Station (池田駅) (close to the present-day Kami-Kumamoto Station) to Sendanbatamachi Station (千反畑町駅) (present-day Fujisakigū-mae Station) on 1 October 1911. On 27 August 1913, the line between Ikeda and Waifu Station (隈府駅) (later named Kikuchi) was opened. From 31 August 1923, the line was converted to 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge and electrified at 600 V DC.



The current section of the (former) Kikuchi Line between Kita-Kumamoto and Kami-Kumamoto opened on 1 October 1950, resulting in two lines between those stations, the original via Fujisakigū-mae and the new line. In June 1953 the original line from Kami-Kumamoto to Fujisakigū-mae closed. The 13.5 km Miyoshi to Kikuchi section closed on 16 February 1986 due to falling patronage. 



Many trains on that line are painted with local mascots - the bear Kumamon, which is very cute. Especially nice is the 2 car train that Kumamoto Railway bought used from the Tokyo Metro (this one), refurbished it and painted it with its teddy bears in various poses outside and inside! The bear runs, greets, dances, sleeps... 



Kumamon (くまモン) is a mascot created by the government of Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. It was created in 2010 for a campaign created to draw tourists to the region after the Kyushu Shinkansen line opened. Kumamon subsequently became nationally popular, and in late 2011, was voted top in a nationwide survey of mascots, collectively known as yuru-chara, garnering over 280,000 votes. Following his success in the contest, Kumamoto earned ¥11.8 billion (US$120 million, GB£79 million, €93 million) in merchandising revenue for the first half of 2012, after having only earned ¥2.5 billion (US$26 million, GB£17 million, €20 million) throughout all of 2011. Kumamon enjoys tremendous popularity throughout the world. A large part of Kumamon's success can be attributed to its cuteness. The unusual marketing strategy of free licensing is also behind Kumamon's commercial success, since the Kumamoto prefecture grants usage rights for free to anyone as long as their products promote goods and services from the prefecture. Furthermore, in 2018, the Kumamoto prefecture decided to allow foreign businesses to use Kumamon, aiming to expand Kumamon to the world.



Plarail model is very attractive and complete. There were some complaints regarding the blue windows and the fact that it’s an electric train with no pantographs depicted. It seems Takara Tomy took the mould of the previous Tokyo Ginza line model with pantographs on the roof of the middle car, so there are no pantographs on this 2 car train. Yes, the windows are blue, but the bear depicted (also) on the windows is black, so the solution was obvious, and it looks good. Moreover, it’s not a “sticker-wrapping-train”. There are no stickers on this model (except the destination board); everything is nicely printed. It’s a great looking one-speed C-battery model!



FUJISAKIGUMAE — MIYOSHI LINE with 01 Series 2-car EMU (former Tokyo Metro 01 series)

Stops:

01 Fujisakigū-mae 藤崎宮前
02 Kurokamicho 黒髪町
03 Kita-Kumamoto 北熊本 
04 Kamei 亀井
05 Hakenomiya 八景水谷
06 Horikawa 堀川
07 Shin-Suya 新須屋
08 Suya 須屋 
09 Mitsuishi 三ツ石
10 Kuroishi 黒石  
11 Kumamotokōsen-mae 熊本高専前   
12 Saishunsomae 再春医療センター前 
13 Miyoshi 御代志

Miyoshi Station / End of Line

MUSIC

Fun in the Sun / Chris Haugen
Et Voila / Chris Haugen
Sleeping Sheep / The Green Orbs