Railway fans flock to museums / Simulators, chances to operate real trains major draws for all ages

Kentaro Sugino / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

High school student Shota Akiba experiences a train simulator at the Railway Museum in Saitama.

Railway museums are proving consistently popular, with children, the middle-aged and elderly all flocking to experience a variety of mock situations using train simulators.

When a uniformed female guide at the Railway Museum in Saitama issued a command, high school students and middle-aged men in the role of train operators simultaneously said: "Lights on. Move forward," checking by pointing in the direction of the train's travel.

The museum, which in spring introduced a class to experience railway operation, uses 25 simulators of East Japan Railway Co.'s latest E233 series train model, which operates on the Chuo Line and other lines.

Wearing white gloves like real train operators, the would-be drivers put their hands on a master controller, but their faces had tense and anxious looks.

When the view on the screen in front of them began changing to match the sound of wheels on a moving train, they exclaimed, "Oh, wow!"

The video, taped from a train operator's seat, shows footage of the stretch between Omiya and Kagohara stations on the Takasaki Line.

When the train negotiated a curve, the visitors operating the simulators tried to slow down by pushing the master controllers forward. To speed up on a straightaway, they pulled the controllers toward them. Demonstrating the ability to stop the trains at a designated point is a good indicator of skill.

In the middle of the video clip, it started to rain.

"When it rains, [a train operator] has to apply the brake earlier. What we have to do [here in the simulation] is the same as in a real situation," said Shota Akiba, 15, a first-year high school student of Hachioji, Tokyo.

The museum offers basic, intermediate and advanced courses. At the basic level, how the students comparatively performed in the deceleration exercises is shown on a chart.

In the advanced course, visitors learn a technique used by professional operators to stop a train--applying the brake increasingly harder, then releasing it in three stages before finally stopping the train at a designated position.

The courses are so popular they are sometimes filled on weekends.

In Annaka, Gunma Prefecture, the Usui Pass Heritage Park was opened in 1999 at a site between Yokokawa and Karuizawa stations on the now defunct JR Shinetsu Line.

A training course in which people can operate a real EF63 series electric locomotive is one of the park's popular attractions.

The train was known as the "sherpa of the pass" in recognition of its role in pushing other trains from behind up a steep slope.

After passing the one-day training course, participants can operate a real train on a 400-meter preserved section of the Shinetsu Line.

The park also offers a separate, twice-monthly lecture limited to 10 participants and costing about 30,000 yen, with applicant numbers surging since autumn last year.

The course, which allows novices to experience operating a train, is so popular it is booked solid for the next three months.

"The courses are popular among men in their 40s and 50s, but the number of female participants is also increasing. This has broadened the railway fan base," the head of the park, Hiroshi Takahashi, 60, said.

"[Using simulators], we could replicate a train's operation behind the operator's seat, but couldn't operate it. For railway fans, operating a train was far beyond reach," said Minoru Mukaiya, 53, president of Ongakukan Co. in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, who provided simulators to the Railway Museum.

Mukaiya's company released "Train Simulator," the nation's first simulator game for personal computer, in 1995.

He delivered simulators to the Tobu Museum operated by Tobu Railway Co. in Sumida Ward, Tokyo, and the Tokyu Train and Bus Museum operated by Tokyu Corp. in Kawasaki.

"I hope [railway fans] can have the same feeling of train operators who emphasize ride quality and on-time operation," he said.

There are many types of railway fans who love railway travel, collecting and constructing railway model sets and taking train photos. Recent railway fans also include so-called mamatetsu, or train-fan mothers who share their train fascination with their children.

There are hundreds of ways for rail enthusiasts to enjoy their hobby, but the recent trend of experiencing train operation is sure to accelerate the railway boom.