Tourism JR West's new sightseeing train debuts

[Davey]

This looks quite nice and would love to ride it. Has anyone ever taken an overstay ride on a train in japan? Back in the days I took the Indian pacific for 3 days and loved the experience.

JR West's new sightseeing train debuts after months-long delay due to coronavirus - The Mainichi

YONAGO, Tottori -- The long-awaited first run of West Japan Railway Co.'s new long-distance sightseeing train

mainichi.jp

 

[mdchachi]

We took the Cassopeia from Tokyo to Sapporo when it first launched about 20 years ago (and now it's defunct many years later). It was a really nice fancy train. It wasn't its maiden voyage but since it was new there was a journalist on the train. We were young newlyweds and got a few quotes from us and our picture in a travel magazine. They sent it to us later as a courtesy and I still have it as a souvenir.

A couple years ago, we -- now four of us -- took the Sunrise Seto to Takamatsu. That was a neat experience but nowhere near as comfy. Essentially each person had a 2-jo floor to sleep on but no futon. So not comfortable but still fun for the kids and a good way to go. Of course there were more expensive and, I'm sure, more comfortable sleeping options but I didn't opt for those.

 

[Seiko]

Please help me understand... are these type of trains sightseeing train only.
Can people get on the train like its a normal train and get off when it reach their stop?

 

[mdchachi]

Please help me understand... are these type of trains sightseeing train only.
Can people get on the train like its a normal train and get off when it reach their stop?

Depends on the train and the types of cars it has. For example the Odakyu Romance train is a big commuter train in Tokyo but also is used for sightseeing/travel to destinations nearby such as Kamakura.
This particular train is a sleeper train so it's not a normal train. It would be used by people traveling this route for whatever reason. Could be sightseeing or just transportation to get home or back to the city. Here's a video tour of the sleeper cars.