Some Japanes Railroad Pictures

My brother-in-law lives in Japan. He took and posted some pictures for me. Didn't know if anyone was interested, but you can visit the blog site:

http://nihontetsudo.blogspot.com/

thanks for the link , and welcome to the worldwide forum . I'm sure my co Moderator Komachi will find them of interest as well .

Those yellow and white DMUs are the source of my username. I think they're kiha47s, actually, but 40 series all the same. It says the pics were taken at Shimonoseki station, so those are probably going to head north then east (depending on how far they go) on the western end of the San-in mainline. Deep, deep countryside. As far away from high-tech Japan as you can imagine.

I think the kiha40s were the last type of DMU to be ordered by JNR before it was broken up and privatized.

Kikh40 - Thanks for identifying the engine. I was wondering if you could tell me what the small "tank" on the freight picture would be?

The proportions on the Japanese RRs seem to be vastly different then what I am used to seeing here in the States.

lkorotzer wrote:Kikh40 - Thanks for identifying the engine. I was wondering if you could tell me what the small "tank" on the freight picture would be?

The proportions on the Japanese RRs seem to be vastly different then what I am used to seeing here in the States.

The historic lines are all Cape gauge (3ft 6 inches) as used in most of former British Africa, parts of Australia and all New Zealand. The new high speed lines are Standard gauge.

lkorotzer wrote:Kikh40 - Thanks for identifying the engine. I was wondering if you could tell me what the small "tank" on the freight picture would be?

The proportions on the Japanese RRs seem to be vastly different then what I am used to seeing here in the States.

I think the tank is a privately owned chemical carrier. Have a look here: http://www.tokyu-car.co.jp/sc/sc7-3.html .

It says 'privately owned, model 2, 5 ton tank container, for hazardous material' Then it goes on '5000kg load, height 2300mm, width 2300mm, length 3240mm, internal capacity 4.16 cubic meters'. The bottom line says 'A container for hazardous materials that can be loaded on JR Freight container cars'. That's not exactly the same unit as the one in the pic, but I think it's similar.

David Benton scribed...

"thanks for the link , and welcome to the worldwide forum . I'm sure my co Moderator Komachi will find them of interest as well ."

Indeed. Kinda makes me "homesick" (can you consider a location to be "home" when you only lived there for two years?) to look at those images. Interestingly enough, when I rode the train from the station closest the university (Wada) to go to Akita City (the prefectural capital), we were under wires, but I would ride a DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) consist (two or three cars, if I remember correctly) to visit my homestay family in Tsuchizaki (the next station up). I remember going to a festival in Noshiro where we needed to use a DMU to get there, as the line hadn't been electrified.

I never got over towards Shimonoseki. I wanted to see both Hiroshima and Nagasaki while I was there, but unfortunately, the furthest west I ever got was Kyoto.


lkorotzer and George matthews both wrote (respectively)...

"The proportions on the Japanese RRs seem to be vastly different then what I am used to seeing here in the States."

"The historic lines are all Cape gauge (3ft 6 inches) as used in most of former British Africa, parts of Australia and all New Zealand. The new high speed lines are Standard gauge."

As I've mentioned before (either in my thread about Japan, or maybe it was the incarnation of rr.net before this one, that the first railway line in Japan that was built in 1872, ran from Shimbashi to Yokohama and was designed by British railway engineers. The Japanese selected the "Cape Gauge" because it was better suited to the mountainous terrain of Japan (smaller, lighter rolling stock that can take tighter curves). The reason that the shinkansen is on the broader 4'8.5" is because the engineers decided that it would be a more stable gauge to use with the new high-speed equipment.


It's also interesting to note that freight movements are made primarily at night. About the only time I saw any form of freight train was when they were sitting in the yards. Although, there was an afternoon or two where I was on the train headed back to campus, when a freight train pulled into the Akita City station. Not to mention the almost total use of containers mounted on flatcars. I did see an occasional tank car and even a boxcar or two (two axled, as many European ones were) when I was traveling through Kawasaki en route to see the Daibutsu (big statue of Buddha) in Kamakura.

In fact, I posted a thread in the "Self-Propelled Railcar" forum ("Japanese Hybrid and Freight EMUs) about a new EMU that the Japan Railways has been experimenting with, that integrates the locomotive with the flatcars and also some new hybrid DMUs that they want to put into service. Here's a link...

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7017


I've tried a couple times to return to Japan as an assistant English teacher through the JET program and also with a private English school... but things haven't worked out. Maybe I'll be able to get back as a tourist someday...

Zan nen, desu ne?

Oh well, keep up the reports on the blog, as it's nice to be reminded of "home" every now and then.

lkorotzer,
Thanks for the link. My friend is from Nagasaki and got a big kick out of the pictures.

BillN

Your welcome. I am trying to get my brother-in-law to take some more pictures of Japanese RR. He doesn't have the Railroad bug like I do, but is very understanding non the less. I'll post when he does.