Climbing the snowy mountains by picturesque trains | V-Train

Climbing the snowy mountains by picturesque trains | V-Train

Today, we will… Run along snowy valleys with this train! The slow train will get you to the wild. Let’s get on board 🙂 March 3, 2024, 2:00 p.m. Bonghwa, Korea Welcome to Buncheon Station. This is a Santa-themed station. Actually, this Buncheon Town is themed in Santa things as a whole.

So every building in this town is red. *Note: It is not related to communism. You can easily see many things regarding Santa, Rudolf, and Christmas. Today, we will take a special train starting at this station. It is a V-train, which connects Cheoram, Buncheon, and Yeongju. This train runs along Yeongdong line.

Since the line was constructed along valleys and mountains, the whole track is winding as you can see. Let me explain more while on board. You can access this station by two tourism trains — V-train and Donghae Santa Train.

I tried both of them, so please stay tuned for the video of the second one! This is the train of the day, V-train. It has a diesel locomotive, a power source car, and three passenger cars. The design of the locomotive was inspired by white tigers.

The passenger cars are colored red and have big windows. The design is somewhat unique. They remind me of the famous train in Swiss. Some trains operate only between Buncheon and Cheoram. Each end of the car has big windows, so you can enjoy the view. Now let’s get inside and look around the cabin.

Nerd on Board 🙂 The seats are facing the front and the sides. All of them are reserved seats. If you choose the side seats, you will be able to enjoy the view more comfortably. There are small windows at the corner of the ceiling as well.

The seats are just simple ones without armrests or reclining. The only feature is a table and cup holders next to the seats. Santa is hanging on a stove. When traveling from Buncheon to Cheoram, you can enjoy this good view at the end of the car.

When going back, the locomotive will be attached here and block the view. The train will soon depart at 2:25 p.m. The cabin will be almost full today. Today’s journey is a round trip, so we will come back to this station later. It’s time to depart! We departed Buncheon Station on time. (2:25 p.m.) That blue train is Donghae Santa Train which I mentioned earlier. Announcements and explanations for the scenery are provided, but they use a text-to-speech program. But I don’t think the quality is good…

I tried this train about 10 years ago, and the crewmen announced it by themselves at that time. This train stops at Buncheon, Yangwon, Seungbu, and Cheoram Station. All of them are in this mountain and valley area, so they are said to have the worst accessibility in Korea.

The train operates at 30 to 40km/h (18-25mph) so that the passengers can enjoy the scenery. Trains can actually speed up to 100km/h (62mph) in this section. On car 1 and 3, glow-in-the-dark stickers are attached to the ceiling. You can see them glow when passing tunnels. This Yeongdong line has only one track.

It makes the view more attractive. This train stops at each station for 10 minutes so the passengers can tour the stations. And we are approaching our first stop. 10 minutes after departure, we arrived at the first station, Yangwon Station. Let’s go outside and take some pictures.

It’s a tiny station with only one platform. Peaceful river The sign looks so old and antique. This station has a special building, but let’s save it for the next visit. We will come here when going back to Buncheon Station.

The track was built along mountains and rivers, so we are passing many tunnels and bridges. #mood The river looks so clean and clear. We are approaching the second station, Seungbu Station. It took just eight minutes. This station has the worst accessibility in the country because it is very difficult to access by car.

So the best way to get out of the town is by train. However, new roads have been built and accessibility has been improved lately. At this station, local residents hold a small market and sell local food. However, the train stops for only 10 minutes here as well, so we should hurry.

“Welcome to Seungbu Station” Umm… It’s a Korean traditional game, but… yeah. Please don’t care. The market looks vigorous. Local groceries and food are famous here. Today, I’ll try this rice wine — Makgeolli. It is loved by many Korean people, and I love it, too.

You can buy a cup of it at KRW 1,000 (USD 0.7). Typically, Makgeolli is white, but this one is yellow. I guess this has pumpkins in it. Sweet and savory, my favorite. Its sparkling taste will let you make a “Kkkkkhhhhhh” sound.

This rice wine will go really well with other food sold here such as seasoned pig skin or rice cakes. But today, I just want to chill with this cup of alcohol. It seems that the mountains here are slightly covered with snow. I want to visit here next winter, too. Seungbu Station

After getting on the train, it started to snow! Everyone on the train was delighted. Let’s proceed to the last station, Cheoram Station. We are entering Tabaek city, one of the snowiest areas in Korea. ☃⛄☃ Don’t forget to film the snowy tracks!

The day I filmed this video is March 3, when it does not snow anymore in most of Korea. So it was lucky that I could see this beautiful scenery. By the way, the train operates at about 60km/h between Seungbu and Cheoram, which is faster than usual.

It’s been about 30 minutes, and we are approaching the last station, Cheoram Station. It’s 3:30 p.m. now, and the train will depart to Buncheon at 3:53 p.m. Let’s look around the station for 20 minutes. Oh, there are locomotives for cargo trains Welcome to Cheoram Station.

At this station, the locomotive of the train changes its position. The locomotive did not run away. However, since there is no turn table, it cannot change the direction. Therefore, the locomotive itself will go backward. You can access this station also by Donghae Santa Train or Mugunghwa trains. Cheoram Station is visited most by tourists. Actually, it was one of the most lucrative stations, but the number of visitors has declined as time passes. It is related to the demise of the coal industry in Korea.

This Gangwon Province was famous for its huge coal industry, but only few mines are now in operation. However, there is a small town where you can see what the town looked like in its heyday. The appearance of the past has been preserved. Even of drunken humans.

In the past, Samgyeopsal(Korean Barbeque) was a dish loved by the working class. Now, however, it is tooooo expensive… It’s like only for the bourgeois. Now the coal business is dead, and this region suffers from a major economic downturn. I hope the region revives and prospers again.

We don’t have much time, so let’s go back to the station. It looks more like a white tiger from here, but actually, this is the rear side of the locomotive. “V-Train” When going back, I changed my seat to 22B on Car 2. The train departed the station on time. (3:53 p.m.)

This train is bound for Yeongju via Buncheon. There are two downward-bound V-Trains a day, each for Buncheon and Yeongju. The seat features on Car 2 are the same as the other ones. Passing the old town… At this time, you can see the locomotive at the end of the passenger cars.

The rear side is blocked by the power source car. When passing Seokpo Station (next to Cheoram Station), Donghae Santa Train was waiting for us to pass. Single track life Oh, it seems the snow has stopped. When going back to Buncheon, the train stops at each station for 5 to 8 minutes.

At Seungbu Station, the train stopped only for 6 minutes. #mood The next station is Yangwon Station. Yangwon Station is famous for having been built by local residents themselves. We will visit it at this time. The building is beyond the track, so we have to cross it.

The train stops for only a few minutes here, so we should hurry. This is the station building that the local people built by themselves. It was built in 1988. Since this is only for a few people, the station building is quite small.

The story of this station became popular, and it was made into a movie. By the way, this is the first private capital station in Korea. In the past, the local market had also been held at this station. I remember I tried marinated pig skin here about ten years ago.

Now we are going back to Buncheon Station, where we started today. It will take about ten minutes. It’s 4:40 p.m. and the sun is about to set. You know, a day in the mountains is short. Welcome back to Buncheon Station.

The announcement says this is the last stop of the train, but it actually goes to Yeongju Station. It is 4:47 p.m. now. The train will depart at 5 o’clock, so let’s take a look at the station once more. I didn’t know why this village came to be a ‘Santa Village’,

But the government built this village and made a huge tourism success. Also, this station set up a sisterhood relationship with Zermatt Station in Switzerland, which also has mountain trains. Fun fact: Santa is from Finland. I heard that the official Santa visited this station last Christmas. What an interesting town

The train in the evening is extended to Yeongju Station. It is a KTX station in the middle of Korea. It will take an hour to get there. See you in the next winter, comrades! Many people got off at Buncheon Station, so the train became almost empty.

The train is rushing on the track but without shaking violently. The train speeds up until Yeongju, faster than the normal speed. The train can accelerate up to 100km/h(62mph), and it is running at 60 to 70km/h now.

The trains departing from Yeongju stop at major stations along the line, but those bound for Yeongju do not stop at the stations. It’s like a one-way express train. Some parts of the track are very high. At Yeongju Station, you can take KTXs bound for Seoul or Cheongnayngni.

There are also many trains bound for Yeongnam area (Southeast Korea) taking Jungang line. Look at that orange sky! I’m glad that the sky is getting clear. Finally, we got out of the mountain area and entered a populated zone. The sunset is greeting us 🙂 The train started to run really fast. It’s 90km/h(56mph).

Finishing a journey while watching the sunset I love this scene. Now we are approaching the last station, Yeongju. It is a big station located in Yeongju City in the middle of Korea. It is the center of the railway system in this area because three intercity lines meet here.

It’s also famous for its delicious apples. How was the trip? I could see a lot of high mountains and valleys, which are rare in Seoul, so I liked it. And I really loved the moment when it started to snow.

I want to try this train again when heavy snow falls and the whole mountains turn white. Say goodbye to the train! V-Train, from Cheoram to Yeongju. The locomotive ran away. And it did not come back… Although the locomotive goes to the depot, the passenger cars remain here all night long.

I hope they don’t feel lonely. Yeongju Station has screen doors for KTXs on some platforms. The stairs to the lobby were right next to the train. Let’s go out of the station. ? Why am I blocked… Welcome to Yeongju Station. This new building started its service a few months ago.

KTX-EUM is stopping at a platform. It takes around 2 hours to get to Seoul. The building has a huge volume. Its design was inspired by Korean traditional architecture, and as a Korean, I like it. The construction of the building is completed, and only the square is still under construction.

I really wanted to tour this city, too, but I gotta go back to my home. I hope I can visit this city again. And that’s it for my video today! Thank you for watching, and also thank you for waiting so long for my new video.

If you liked the video, please subscribe to my channel and watch other videos, too! See you on the next one 🙂

This is not Switzerland! In South Korea, you can take this authentic train and crisscross the mountains and valleys. This is called V-Train, and it is one of the most loved tourism trains in Korea. It operates from Cheoram to Yeongju. Today, I started at Buncheon Station, visited Cheoram Station, and went back to Buncheon then Yeongju Station. The train stops for about ten minutes at each station so that tourists can enjoy the places. I visited a local market at a station and tried the Korean traditional rice wine, Makgeolli. Don’t you want to join me and look around the beautiful nature? Watch the video and get on board with me!

Ticket: Total KRW 7,100 (USD 5.3)