(rshsdepot) Elevated railroad- The Yamanote Line, Tokyo

By popular request. (I hope the links still work)

29 stations from Ueno Eki (Ueno station), the north terminal in Tokyo. The Yamanote line heads south out of Ueno. Tokyo Railway Station is an intermediary stop. The Yamanote Line is one of Tokyo's busiest and most important commuter lines. Running as a circle, it connects most of Tokyo's major stations and urban centres including the Ginza area, Shibuyaa, Shinjukuu and Ikebukuroo. Only six of its 29 stations do not connect with other railway or underground (subway) lines. Running 4:30 AM to 1 AM every 3 minutes at peak, it takes 63 to 85 minutes to complete travelling the loop..

Yamanote means "mountain hand" and refers to inland hillier districts usually in Japan. In Tokyo "Yamanote" - as opposed to the lower lying "Shitamachi" - lies along the western side of the Yamanote Line loop.
Because theys ometimes leave out the "no" in spelling the name it used to be mistransliterated as Yamate Line.

This is the Yamanote line, elevated:
http://jigsaw.w3.org/Yves/Japan/2000/04/24-Tokyo-Yamanote.jpg
http://www.eoc.nasda.go.jp/eoc/access/image/yamanote_line.jpg
Densya Train: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~japanese/japanpicturegallery/lesson07/yamanote.jpg

This line is continuous, a large loop or ring, as it is also known as the Circle Line, take a trip by pictures and details here: http://hisaai-hp.hp.infoseek.co.jp/JREast/Tokaido/Kt2_s_eg.html

This is the only major rail line in Tokyo that has "no through-running services to other lines." Clockwise trains are known as "soto-mawan", counter clockwise are called "uchi-mawari" (outer and inner circle)/

This line originates in 1885 with the Shinagawa line between Shinegawa and Akabane, bypassing the built up areas at the time; The top part of the loop was complete 1903 between Ikebujuro and Tabata (Toshima Line).
In 1909 the lines were merged and electrified into the Yamnota Line. The complete loop was not completed until 1925 withy a Kanda to Ueno link, "providing a north-south link via Tokyo Railway Station through the town square." < The contemporary Yamanote Line came into being in 1956 when it was separated from the Keihin-Tohoku Line and was given its own set of tracks along the eastern side of the loop between Shinagawa and Tabata. >

1st stop, Okachimachi station, Tokyo, south of Ueno:
http://www.geocities.co.jp/SilkRoad-Lake/2334/guide/jr-east/okachimachi.html
http://ja.wikipedia.org/upload/6/6a/Okachimachi_sta1.jpg
http://www14.big.or.jp/~z-museum/railroad_photo_hall/lines/yamanote/st-okachimachi.jpg
http://www.geocities.co.jp/SilkRoad-Lake/2334/guide/jr-east/okachimachi.html
http://ja.wikipedia.org/upload/6/6a/Okachimachi_sta1.jpg

Akihabara eki: http://www14.big.or.jp/~z-museum/railroad_photo_hall/lines/yamanote/st-akihabara.jpg
Akihabra starteda s a freight station linked to Ueno. Opened 1890 as freight terminal over modern day Yamanote Line. Opened to passenger raffic only in 1925 following "linking Ueno with Shinbashi via Tokyo Station" and the completion of the yamanote Line. Upper level platforms came 1932.

Kanda station: http://www14.big.or.jp/~z-museum/railroad_photo_hall/lines/yamanote/st-kanda.jpg
Yurakucyo: http://www14.big.or.jp/~z-museum/railroad_photo_hall/lines/yamanote/st-yurakucyo.jpg
Shinbashi eki: http://www14.big.or.jp/~z-museum/railroad_photo_hall/lines/yamanote/st-shinbashi2.jpg nice arches here.

Kozo station: http://www14.big.or.jp/~z-museum/railroad_photo_hall/lines/yamanote/syoben_kozo.jpg
Tamachi: http://www14.big.or.jp/~z-museum/railroad_photo_hall/lines/yamanote/st-tamachi.jpg
Shinagawa: http://www14.big.or.jp/~z-museum/railroad_photo_hall/lines/yamanote/st-shinagawa.jpg

Ameyayokochi eki: http://ja.wikipedia.org/upload/1/10/Ameyayokocho1.jpg

This is the Yamanote line, elevated, 28 stations.

Nippori station: http://www14.big.or.jp/~z-museum/railroad_photo_hall/lines/yamanote/st-w_nippori.jpg
Uguisudani eki: http://www14.big.or.jp/~z-museum/railroad_photo_hall/lines/yamanote/st-w_nippori.jpg

Yamanote maps (Tokyo on maps means Tokyo Railway Station):
http://www.anatol.org/images/japan/halloween/images/yamanote-map-click.jpg
http://www.als.aoyama.ac.jp/pacslrf/yamanote.jpg
This one reminds me of the cart machines we had at KARA in Santa Clara, a bad radio station:
http://www.e-japannavi.com/trans/tokyo/yamanote_map.gif
http://hrt.newotani.co.jp/inntokyo/en/image/yamanote_map.gif
http://www.akihabara-wh.com/img/map/map_yamanote.gif
http://www.geos-japanese-insti.co.jp/NEW%20Site/Contact/ContactMaps_Yamanote.jpg
http://homepage3.nifty.com/hashy/yamanote/y_map.gif
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Milkyway-Lynx/4692/yamanote-map01.gif
http://besthotel.jp/yamanote/yamanotefiles/Y-line_map.gif
http://www.ohdomari.comm.waseda.ac.jp/map/accessmap.gif
http://www.hs.reitaku-u.ac.jp/english/access/image/map01.gif
http://www.accessjapanese.com/image/chizu.gif
http://misspuke.com/access/img/yamanote_s.gif
http://www.cpt-workshop.com/cpt2002/images/map1.gif
http://www.tokyosaikai.co.jp/map/gif/densya.gif
http://tokyo20.hp.infoseek.co.jp/jr/images2/myamanote.gif (Boy that took a while, huh?)
http://www.sapporo-ohta.or.jp/www/se-ju.yamanote/se-ju.yamanote.map2.gif
http://www.coara.or.jp/~bridal/lynn/twnmap/image/yamanote-map.jpg
The schedule: http://tokyo20.hp.infoseek.co.jp/jr/yamanote1.html
Stations on the Yamanote Line:

a.. Tokyo
b.. Yurakucho_station
c.. Shinbashi
d.. Hamamatsucho
e.. Tamachi
f.. Shinagawa
g.. Osaki
h.. Gotanda_station
i.. Meguro_station
j.. Ebisu Station
k.. Shibuya_station
l.. Harajuku
m.. Yoyogi_station
n.. Shinjuku
o.. Shin_Okubo_station
p.. Takadanobaba_station
q.. Mejiro_station
r.. Ikebukuro_station
s.. Otsuki_station
t.. Sugamo_station
u.. Komagome_station
v.. Tabata_station
w.. Nishi_Nippori_station
x.. Nippori_station
y.. Uguisudani_station
z.. Ueno_station
aa.. Okachimachi_station
ab.. Akihabara_station
ac.. Kanda_station

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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  - From: Ivan Berger <oldmaven_@_comcast.net>