Thank you for the ride over this lovely branchline in laid-back rural landscape! Although the line is not the most spectacular, it is special to me ever since I saw the 1992 comedy film _Sumo Do, Sumo Don't_ (シコふんじゃった。), which at around half-time has a beautiful shot of a train crossing the viaduct over the Oda River near Yamatsuriyama (seen at 1:30:15 in this video).
For those who can understand English, the means that JR East is going to be really aggressive in introducing the E131 Series train set to most of their network that runs on 1,500 volt DC overhead power, which is the entire Kantō Plain. Running between Utsunomiya and Kuroiso (the north end of 1,500 V DC operations) is only part of the change JR East is doing, just like JR West is introducing the 227 Series on most of the electrified lines in western Honshu island.