Originally Posted by
schriste
I showed up in Hakata one morning to ride this train some years ago... and was told it was sold out. I was still able to get on the train by "talking" to the conductor. Got last 2 lousy seats. Problem is, getting on a 100% full tourist train is not that much fun. Might be more enjoyable to just take regular trains if the schedule allows for it.
You are right! I had not considered the fact that the tourist trains will be full of tourists. That is because those two trains best fit my schedule. And I have never been on a tourist train other than the Fuji-Q train.
Took another look at my options and the only useful one is the non-tourist Yufu 1. For some reason, (because Japan) it looked like I could reservea seat on that train for the 31st Oct yesterday and it was wide open. Maybe 2-3 seast unavailable in each car, Couldn't even select that date for Yufuin no Mori.
Yufuin 1 means leaving Ureshino earlier than I want but it gets to Yufuin before the tourist trains. Will have 4 minutes to transfer at Takeo Onsen which would not have been an issue 20 years ago but should be doable. The transfer at Tosu is only 2 minutes so it better be on the same platform or I will probably miss it. I will give that a go and get to Yufuin at 10AM or, worst case, 4.5 hours later.