Shinkansen Doctor Yellow

People photographing trains are a common sight in Japan, where the diversity of trains is so great that it is almost impossible for one to know all the trains series, versions and liveries. Some people are photographing the trains they traveled on, others are especially waiting on the platforms for some less common cars or locomotives...

But among them, there is a special train, a Shinkansen, that I noticed that it is photographed whenever it makes its appearance. It looks unusual indeed, it is a yellow train with a matching name: Doctor Yellow (ドクターイエロー). Why "Doctor"? Because this is a train with special equipment, especially built to monitor the condition of the Shinkansen tracks and overhead wires... And since it works only at nighttime, when the regular trains are stopped, it is quite a rare sight.

I saw the Doctor Yellow on a couple occasion several years ago, but I was always without my camera... But now I caught it at the SCMaglev and Railway Park museum from Nagoya...