It’s been a busy week. unfortunately I didn’t spend it building anything for the Körschtalbahn, but as readers of the other blog already know, I’m trying to get a job and collecting vital ingredients for the garden. After five years here I’d forgotten how stressful job hunting is, so I turned to YouTube for a bit of light relief.
Japan Railways decided they needed a new heavy haul electric loco, so they ordered a fleet of articulated B-B-B-B units which they classified as the EH200, and also named the ‘Blue Thunder’. I’m not sure why. We saw several EH200′s while travelling between Nagoya and Nagano in summer, unfortunately they were all flashing past the window of our train so I have to make do with someone else’s videos. It’s probably not for extreme steam fans:
The trains seem to be a bit short in this video: the longest train is 15 tankers. I’m guessing the wheel arrangement is more to do with keeping the axle weight down than maximum power in each unit.
I could make a diesel version of this for Spitzenwald, but I’d have to forget about having trains or a station and just turn the whole model into a locomotive shed, which would be a bit boring.
“Blue Thunder” does it for me….most impressive!