Two days trip to Koyasan (Mt. Koya) and Wakayama from Osaka, Part 4 – small trip by lovely trains of Wakayama Dentetsu

This post is continued from “Two days trip to Koyasan (Mt. Koya) and Wakayama from Osaka, Part 3 – from Namba to Wakayama by limited express Southern“.

The reason why I visited Wakayama is taking some lovely trains. I would like to show you one of those trains which is Wakayama Electric Railway (a.k.a. Wakayama Dentetsu) in this post.

From Wakayama station to Idakiso station by “Tama” train

I started the trip from JR Wakayama station.

Wakayama 07:28 (Wakayama Dentetsu “Tama” train) 07:47 Idakiso

Access to Wakayama Detentsu Wakayama station is a bit tricky. It is located in JR Wakayama station. I needed to go through JR ticket to get Wakayama Dentetsu station. But any JR tickets were not required. I just told JR station staff at the ticket gate that I wanted to take Wakayama Dentetsu. I could go through JR ticket gate without ticket.

Wakayama Dentetsu station is very easy to find. There are lots of cat drawing on the wall at the stairs.

This railway’s cat station master is very well known. Her name is Tama and she was “Ulltra Station Master of Kishi station”. Unfortunately she died a few years ago. Now 2nd generation cat “Nitama” took over Tama’s position. She stays in Kishi station as Super Station Master and she is now called “Tama 2nd” as well. I will talk about her later in this post.

I had Kansai Thru Pass but it did not cover Wakayama Dentetsu. I bought one day unlimited ride ticket at the ticket gate. You can purchase it on the spot. Actually this is cheaper than regular round trip fare between Wakayama and Kishi.

Wakayama Dentetsu has four interesting train sets. I had taken three of four train sets. First of all, I took Tama train.

This is a cat theme train. There are lots of Tama inside and outside.

All four train sets are designed by Eiji Mitooka. He is a chief designer of JR Kyushu as well. He designed JR Kyushu’s trains, such as Seven Stars (Nanatsuboshi), Yufuin no Mori, and many more trains. Actually he did not designe only JR Kyushu but also many train companies throughout Japan.

Tama train arrived in Idakiso station.

This train did not go to the last station which is Kishi. I took next train.

I had about 20 minutes waiting time. I visited Idakiso shrine in this waiting time. It is 5 minutes away from the station.

If you come to this station in daytime, you may see other cat station master, “Yontama” in Idakiso station.

I was there in early morning and could not meet Yontama.

From Idakiso station to Kishi station by “Ichigo” train

Idakiso 08:07 (Wakayama Dentetsu “Ichigo” train) 08:19 Kishi

Next train came to Idakiso station. This train was Ichigo train. Ichigo means strawberry in Japanese. This area is known as a big strawberry producers.

This train was the first refurbished trains. But this train was not renovated so much, like other three train sets. The interior of this train is not much different from ordinary train set actually.

Ichigo train arrived at the last station, Kishi.

Cat station master was not on duty yet when I got there.

I walked around the station until next train’s departure time.

Usually “Ultra Station Master” Tama 2nd (Nitama) is on duty from 10:00 to 16:00 on everyday other than Wednesday and Thursday. But she showed up around 9:15 when I got there. I could meet her.

There is “Tama Cafe”. You can have a break and purchase souvenirs. I bought T shirts for my daughter.

From Kishi station to Wakayama station by Umeboshi train

I took third one, “Umeboshi train”. Umeboshi is a dried plum. Wakayama is one of the biggest Umeboshi producer.

Kishi 09:31 (Wakayama Dentetsu “Umeboshi” train) 10:04 Kishi

This is the newest refurbished train set. The interior decoration is so detailed. I loved this most!

I was back to Wakayama station. I moved to Wakayamashi station to catch another interesting train.

I got on three of four refurbished trains. There is one more train which is Omocha Densha (Toy train). But this train did not run when I was there. Usually one of four train sets is in the garage. If you are interesting in these trains, you can find which train runs on your trip date in Wakayama Dentetsu official site in English.

Wakayama Dentetsu official site

Continue to the post, “Two days trip to Koyasan (Mt. Koya) and Wakayama from Osaka, Part 5 – small trip by Medetai Densha“.