More trains and bentos

So today the weather turned, it has got cool (hurray - only 20 plus degrees rather than 30 plus degrees) but rain clouds were forming and there was a 90% chance of rain.  We thought we would spend the day inside and where better than the train museum in Nagoya.  We went there last time we were here and had a fabulous time.

So we were up early and got the 8.30 shinkansen to Nagoya.  Tom and I scrapbooked whilst Matt worked on the laptop, so we were in perfect harmony.  We arrived in Nagoya (another ridiculously large station) and got the (ironically) private train line out to the JR Central train museum.

Lots of noses

As I said we came here last time so we knew what to expect, however, in the last two years they have changed things around a bit.  There is now a 700 in the main hall so I guess something has been moved out (not sure what), and there are more hands on exhibits - working out the best shaped wheel to use for a train, to tilt or not to tilt, how to make a bridge etc etc.  With Tom being a little bit older than last time we were able to do a little more reading and certainly we could sit down and watch the mini films / take part in the Maglev simulator, all of which were difficult last time.

Guess who?

Dr Yellow of course!

We still didn't see all the museum though, there were some rooms that were still untouched by us (they were last time as well).  I think we just about got to see all the big trains and of course spent quite a bit of time on Dr Yellow.  Tom was able to sit through the presentation on board about Dr Yellow this time and enjoyed seeing all the different maintenance trains that are used on the lines to keep the track in good order.

Plarail!

A lot of time was spent in the playroom making layouts with Plarail and an enormous amount of time was spent watching the model railway.

A tiny part of the model

Now having already seen a number of model railways this time, we can safely say that the model railway in this museum is the best.  There are so many little things going on and things to spot that you really can spend hours looking at it.  This time I found some nursery tales: the three little pigs, red riding hood, snow white and the seven dwarfs, the tortoise and the hare (I guess they are the same here than back home), there was a building that set alight in the evening time and an ambulance and 2 fire engines that sped to its rescue.  We found a bear holding a crab under a tree, some monsters in Odaiba looking over the harbour, a dog sniffing a boy's bottom, a number of weddings going on, a sea monster under a bridge etc etc.

Which nursery tale do you see here?

All very intricate and great fun,  The diorama spread from Tokyo in the East, Nagoya in the Centre and Kyoto and Osaka in the West so lots of familiar landmarks to find and lots of lovely trains to watch (of course).  It even included a maglev and a huge array of maintenance trains that came out during night time to work on the track (including workers who appeared for the night time and then magically disappeared in the morning).

50th anniversary bento

For lunch we got some bentos from the museum cafe and ate them overlooking the trains - I got a special 50th anniversary bento as the first shinkansen was launched in 1964, very nice it was too.




We entered the lottery for a go on the N700 simulator, a crew training course and a go on a local train simulator.

Tom concentrating hard

We were lucky that we won the crew course and a go on the simulator each.  Matt did the crew course so he learnt to be a guard (shaky start but he got better with practise) and then we all had a go on the local train simulator.  This was a little confusing (especially for Tom and I) because it was all in Japanese and it wasn't obvious what to do.

Matt gave us some clues, but he was confused too - for example nowhere did it tell you how fast to go, but it quickly told you if you were going too slow or too fast and then penalised you!  Anyhow, Tom did ok but needed improvement, I did ok and Matt also needed improvement (although he did the intermediate course rather than the beginners course that Tom and I did).  All good fun.

And the next station is...

Time went quickly and before we knew it it was time to leave and go through the shop.  Now last time we came here, something happened to Matt and he went completely bonkers, buying one or two of nearly everything - I have never seen him like that before or since.  This time we were more sedate: we bought some shinkansen theme biscuits for school, a flannel for me (Tom was displaying signs of tiredness so I knew he was going to fall asleep on me on the way home and a flannel is a good way to stop the sweat running between us!) and Tom bought himself a little zero series shinkansen cutie goodie bag of sweets with some of his money from Grannie.

Having fun running up and down

We then headed back - poo it was raining hard and we didn't have coats or umbrellas - luckily most of the walk was under cover but we still got quite damp.  It then rained all the way home.  Tom, as predicted, fell asleep on me as soon as we got on the shinkansen (an N700A by the way) - he had a good hour and then we had our bentos and then we were back in Tokyo.  As it was raining hard we got the train to Shinbashi and then the Yurikamome to Hinode.  We then rain from the station to the flat and got very very wet.  Everyone thought it was funny (phew!).  Another great day.  We are going to take it easy tomorrow!