Mark Prior
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markrprior.mrp.net
Mark Prior
@markrprior.mrp.net
890 followers 480 following 2.4K posts
Network architect and trainer, traveller, and photographer.

Mastodon: @[email protected]

Banner: Iguaçu Falls from the Brazilian side.

Pro Cycling tragic, runner of the #CouchPeloton #TrollTips game
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markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan and number 62, and the final entry, goes to the Sakura Tram in Tokyo.
A white tram with a green stripe through its headlights approaches the platform.
December 1, 2025 at 1:39 PM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan and number 61 is a type 500 of the Enoshima Electric Railway.
A train with a green body and yellow panels across the windows. There is also a yellow "pin stripe" running through the green panels just below the window line.
December 1, 2025 at 12:09 AM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan a number of JR East trains later we come to number 60. Shonan monorail, and yes I did ride it in both directions.
Monorail train hung from its overhead track arriving at the terminal station. This one is pretty plain on the outside, just a blue stripe below the window line, and above and below the driver's windows. Headlights are below the stripe at the front and the coupling is above the train. Pulling into one of the stations, which just happens to be on a bend so you can see it from the side windows And the other one. This one has purple stripes above and below the driver's windows and along the top of the train but the window surrounds are pink and there are cartoon characters on a white panel below the windows.
December 1, 2025 at 12:02 AM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan be sad no longer Yamanote Line as you are number 59.
Line green stripes and doors are the give away that this is Yamanote but I probably picked the wrong direction to travel
November 29, 2025 at 7:31 AM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan has finally arrived in Tokyo and number 58 is the Marunouchi Line, sorry Yamanote Line.
Hard to take pictures on a moving training with safety barriers but the Tokyo Metro's Marunouchi Line is red on the maps and so are the trains.
November 28, 2025 at 12:31 PM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan on perhaps the fastest one for number 57. N700Supreme bound for Tokyo in 5 hours.
Only a mother could tell it apart from here. It’s white, has the familiar duck bill like nose and a blue stripe running down the body. The fancy, new one until the Chuo Shinkansen takes over (but not this far south). Sign on the side of the car says N700Supreme. There is a small information display to the left of the door, above N700, that indicates it is Nozomi 40 and its destination is Tokyo. To the right is a blue square with the number 9 in white and below it the green clover leaf of the green car. Inside a green car. Not green at all but a chocolate brown. All systems checked and we are away.
November 28, 2025 at 6:09 AM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan and back to fast (but with stops) for number 56. A Kyushu Shinkansen 800.
The pointy end and it is standard Shinkansen white, unlike the N700-7000 sitting next to it. Red pin stripes along its flanks. Make no mistake what this train is, Kyushu Shinkansen 800. Car 6 and 5 but there is a gate stopping me from getting on Nice 2x2 layout in reserved car. The wood trim is a bit beaten up.
November 27, 2025 at 10:17 AM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan and back to slow for number 55. A Kagoshima streetcar.
Lower body in green and upper in yellow with a white stripe between them. The yellow descends into a V shape at the front.
November 27, 2025 at 3:07 AM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan and back to the fast trains for number 54. N700-7000 to Kagoshima-Chuo
The fast one, single stop, Mizuho. Inside the green car section. Packed in the rest of the train but fairly empty here. The JR West version, 700-7000 This was the front when I got on
November 27, 2025 at 3:05 AM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan is back underground for number 53. The Fukuoka subway. I'm sure there is a head and tail to this train but I just got on in the middle so that's what you get.
Part of a subway train, car 3, at a station. The door of the train is open and there is a women standing in the doorway. The platform gates are still wide open, but about to close, and about twice the width of the train doors so accurate train positioning not 100% important. The train is stainless steel with a blue stripe running across the roof line above the door, and white and blue stripes under the windows. There is a big white "3" in a rectangular panel to the right of the door.
November 27, 2025 at 12:07 AM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan with a Limited Express for number 52. The very Dutch orange Huis Ten Bosch.
Did you expect it to be any other colour than orange? No connecting door even though it will be connected to another LE later and is chisel shaped at the rear (and front). The Green car is at the back in this direction. Massive windows with seating in a 2-1 configuration. With only 4 rows that means only 12 green car seats. Large windows through to the driver’s compartment too. Strangely the seats aren’t flat on the floor but are on a platform. Nice wood work too.
November 26, 2025 at 4:01 AM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan is back on trains with number 51 being the Rapid Seaside Liner.
Don’t know what to make of the front end of this train. It is black with a touch of blue and has some very funky LED head/tail lights. Doors are bright orange.
November 26, 2025 at 3:44 AM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan finally managed to get a historic one for number 50. A type 300 from January 1954. This one is nicknamed “Minato” and is metallic blue.
Metallic blue tram with a route display in red with white text. A single centrally mounted headlight is below the driver. It was packed by the next stop but this shows the interior with all the woodwork.
November 25, 2025 at 12:05 PM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan has escaped line 1 and number 49 is one of the 2 1700 type single cars.
The car is mainly cream coloured but the surrounds of the electronic destination display are maroon. The display has yellow writing on a green background. There is an unknown cartoon character sitting across the front bumper.
November 25, 2025 at 11:57 AM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan and another Nagasaki team is number 48, a 1990’s vintage 1500 type single car.
Another boxy design but this time it has a distinct driver’s window with an electronic route/destination sign above the drivers window. The whole tram is painted in a sort of turquoise colour.
November 25, 2025 at 11:49 AM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan is in Nagasaki and hopping on and off some of the city’s trams so here’s train number 47, a modern 5000 type from the 2010’s.
A modern box of a tram. 5000-type. This one has a white body, black glass panel from the roof line down to it’s waist as a driver’s compartment. Below that is a rectangular panel including the lights which is a mauve colour. A mauve stripe extends down the side of the tram below the windows.
November 25, 2025 at 11:43 AM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan and quickly followed by the shortest Shinkansen route in the country for number 46. Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen
Looks flash at the front. JR Kyushu subscribing to the Shinkansen are white theory. Nice looking fitout inside with wooden seat backs. No green cars which seems on this train. Tip for broad shouldered types, window seat bad unless you like your upper arm being attacked by the little table thing under the window.
November 24, 2025 at 3:11 AM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan and connection was tight from the Shinkansen so number 45 gets a couple of side shots rather than one at the front. Relay-Kamome.
Says it is the 787 Around The Kyushu but that’s from pre Shinkansen days. Its Relay-Kamome now. Still has green cars which seems a little wasteful. Near the front as we make the change to the Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen Inside the reserved car
November 24, 2025 at 3:05 AM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan I was expecting another Red Wing but I get this relic, series 113 instead so we have a number 44.
It is too early in the morning for such a bright yellow train. Pretty standard fitout inside. If someone wants the seat in front of me they can flip the backrest as I did mine. So old the windows might open.
November 24, 2025 at 12:15 AM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan and number 43 goes to the Tokotoko Train, an electric, ex people mover from the 2005 Aichi Expo. It runs along a section of track that was built but never commissioned as a railway. Even though money had been spent building tunnels and bridges the rail project was cancelled.
A red electric people mover pretending to be a lady bird. Angular front end with headlights mounted on the roof and eyes painted under the driver's window. Open carriages with bench seats. Plastic curtains to protect riders from the elements were not required and so were pulled back. There are two of them, each with two cars but only number 01 was in use. At the rear it has a wheelchair ramp built into the car.
November 23, 2025 at 9:50 PM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan and number 42 goes to this charming little train. Nishikigawa Railway NT3000 series diesel railcar. They have four cutely painted cars but I only got to ride in one even though I did a return trip with some exploring in the middle.
Looks like another EMU that I've been on but this is a DMU. It is also artistically painted in a light blue and has fish painted on the front panel below the driver's windows. On the side they leave no doubt on whose train it is with "Nishikigawa Seiryusen" painted in capitals across the top of the windows and a salamander painted under them. A bit more normal inside the single unit train. Didn't ride this pair but passed them in a station, the train on the left is green and has a foliage theme and the one on the right is pink with a flower theme. There is also a yellow one.
November 23, 2025 at 9:28 PM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan has already done a 227 series back in Okayama but as they are branded RedWings I thought I better ride on one with red wings on the Sanyo main line from Hiroshima :-)
A JR West 227 series at the platform in Hiroshima station. Two drivers are waiting on the platform waiting to take over. Of note on this train are the anti-fall plates that are red (not that they are terribly visible on this shot) which gave them the name RedWings which is printed on the front connecting door in white on a red panel.
November 23, 2025 at 9:14 PM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan on another Hiroshima tram for number 41. This one is a little older but not the really historic one I was seeking.
Not part of the new modern fleet this white boxy tram with lightish blue wavey lines below the front windows isn’t the historic tram I was looking for but it’s different to the low floor modern ones.
November 22, 2025 at 4:03 AM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan is now in Hiroshima so number 40 is another tram but not one of Hiroshima’s historic ones. This is a modern Green Mover Max.
A modern tram, could be anything really. Electronic display, large dark driver’s window. Front of the tram is a white colour but daylight might reveal it isn’t. Green coloured around and under the large windows with white top and bottom panels. There is a red advertisement panel replacing the top white panel at the front of the driver’s carriage. View looking out front from behind the driver. There is a multitude of payment options on display but not a typical IC card one. They do take IC card, only on exit, the machine on the right isn’t the IC card one and it tried to do something with my credit card when I tapped it when getting on. Should not get on at the exit and confuse yourself and the machines. Fare table display for those that use actual cash, currently showing 240 yen.
November 20, 2025 at 10:41 AM
markrprior.mrp.net
#MarkDoesJapan with a revisit of his first Shinkansen nearly 2 decades ago. The extremely beautiful but extraordinarily expensive to build series 500 is number 39. Now cut in half and relegated to the all stops Kodama service before it is finally retired in 2027 after two decades of service.
Ready to go. Nose shaped like a kingfisher’s beak with a grey body and blue roofline. Headlights below the bubble like drivers compartment. The sneaky bugger came in from the other direction as it starts its journey from Okayama now.
November 20, 2025 at 8:12 AM