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Japanese Freight


Guest JRF-1935

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Guest JRF-1935

For the "few" freight fans (like me)

 

Sangi Rail

 

Double headed electrics of Sangi rail.  Kicking two cement hoppers

 

 

Gakunan

 

Gakunan operates the last blue boxcar operation in Japan.

 

 

 

Am new to forum - hope to learn more about Japan and freight operations, especially 1935 to present. 

 

Rich C

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Guest JRF-1935

Good to see another freight fan. There's more to Japan than Shinkansen and commuter trains.

Thanks - Nice to know there are others who appreciate Japanese freight !
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Gakunan operates the last blue boxcar operation in Japan.

 

 

I read somewhere that there is another operation somewhere Niigata way, carrying milk cartons (empty).

 

Count me into the freight department.

 

Cheers NB

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Guest JRF-1935

I liek freight. I actually like it more then Japanese passenger.

Thanks - Me Too.  I do have some Passenger sets that I really like.   The Seto Sunrise Express, Nagoya Panarama, Odakyu Romance, and the Nankai Esprit - but I'm addicted to Japanese freight!  
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Guest JRF-1935

Gakunan operates the last blue boxcar operation in Japan.

 

WOW!  Thanks Nick - would like to learn more about that as I never heard of that operation.

 

I read somewhere that there is another operation somewhere Niigata way, carrying milk cartons (empty).

 

Count me into the freight department.

 

Cheers NB

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Me too. That's all I want to do is shunt! I'm ultimate goal is to convert my M250 to shunt link my domestic stuff.

 

That to do/dream list just keeps growing.

 

Inobu

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Welcome Rich.  Always great to have someone come on board interested in prototype operation. Btw, freight trains and operation are enjoying a surge in interest in the railfan community here in Japan.  There are a number of possible reasons, but I think with the continual retirement of older favorite passenger rolling stock by boring, if efficient, inverter stock veteran railfans are gravitating toward the more esoteric and atmospheric ("railroady") freight railway scene.  Also, with the railway "boom", popular haunts of railfans are becoming crowded with tyros, so the more inaccessible and less glamorous freight scene can be a refuge for what is primarily (for many) a solitary, contemplative hobby.

 

Here are some clips of the Niigata-area Wamu 80000 operations (the boxcars are nicknamed "wamuhachi", after their designation).  I think bill937ca posted some similar clips last year.

 

Yakejima Station area, near the Hokuetsu Kishu Paper Company Mill:

 

Older clip, also at Yakejima:

 

Nice sequence of trains in the Echigo Ishiyama area, in Niigata City- at about 2:50, an EF81 which left the Niigata Freight terminal comes off the Hakushin Line and enters the Shin-Etsu Main Line, with a rake of wamuhachis, including one in its original brown- great sounds from those single axle running gear!  Throw in some 115 series with their unique sounds from the electricals, and you have quite a trainwatching time:

 

*Mods, perhaps this thread should be moved to the prototypes section...

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*Mods, perhaps this thread should be moved to the prototypes section...

 

It's not perhaps and it's done. Give us time to read the forum. ;)

 

And welcome Rich.

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Nice to see the toki gondolas.  A while back saw a few on a siding on the way to Yokokawa, on the truncated Shin-etsu Main Line.  The date the video was taken was only a couple weeks after I had arrived for my first job in Japan.  The railway scene back then, though changing as it still is now, still had remnants of old fashioned railway working, with much more private railway freight, JNR rolling stock in plentiful numbers, and loco-hauled local passenger trains.  Nearby this line, the Shin-etsu Main Line was still in operation Yokokawa-Karuizawa, with the EF64 pushers doing their daily work.  Good times...

 

Here's another freight operation no longer around, on the Tobu Railway-

 

On the Sano Line, a tanker train departing Watarase, with nice traction motor groan:

 

On the Koizumi Line, this time with covered hoppers, between Higashi Koizumi and Shinozuka (Gunma Prefecture):

*I believe this was a popular railfan photo spot to catch these trains

 

btw, Shinozuka once had a very nice little wooden station, unfortunately replaced by a characterless box sometime around 2006.

%E7%AF%A0%E5%A1%9A%E9%A7%85.jpg

source: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%AF%A0%E5%A1%9A%E9%A7%85

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Nice to see the toki gondolas.  A while back saw a few on a siding on the way to Yokokawa, on the truncated Shin-etsu Main Line.  The date the video was taken was only a couple weeks after I had arrived for my first job in Japan.  The railway scene back then, though changing as it still is now, still had remnants of old fashioned railway working, with much more private railway freight, JNR rolling stock in plentiful numbers, and loco-hauled local passenger trains.  Nearby this line, the Shin-etsu Main Line was still in operation Yokokawa-Karuizawa, with the EF64 pushers doing their daily work.  Good times...

 

Here's another freight operation no longer around, on the Tobu Railway-

 

On the Sano Line, a tanker train departing Watarase, with nice traction motor groan:

 

On the Koizumi Line, this time with covered hoppers, between Higashi Koizumi and Shinozuka (Gunma Prefecture):

*I believe this was a popular railfan photo spot to catch these trains

 

btw, Shinozuka once had a very nice little wooden station, unfortunately replaced by a characterless box sometime around 2006.

%E7%AF%A0%E5%A1%9A%E9%A7%85.jpg

source: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%AF%A0%E5%A1%9A%E9%A7%85

 

 

 

 

 

BB, what were these covered hoppers carrying? Grain?

 

AFAIK JR Freight still lists one freight train which still uses ToKi cars -I believe it carries some kind of ore concetrate, zinc if I understood correctly.

 

Cheers NB

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BB, what were these covered hoppers carrying? Grain?

 

AFAIK JR Freight still lists one freight train which still uses ToKi cars -I believe it carries some kind of ore concetrate, zinc if I understood correctly.

 

The hoppers were for the cement business (fly ash?). 

Yes, you are right about the toki train.  There was a very good post about that train some while back.

 

Some recent clips-

Between Minami-Urawa and Warabi:

 

At Kita-Matsudo Station:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq0FC5-pWRI

 

Behind an EF81 near Warabi:

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Oh nice, videos of the gravity shunts... or 'kicking' as some call it?

I was there watching it back in September 2010 and was shocked when I saw the first rake of WAMUs with no engine... until I worked out what they were doing :)

 

It's a great little railway! I wish I'd seen the ED403 travel all the way to Yoshiwara. There were no KOKIs there when I was there.

 

DSC06203.JPG

DSC06204.JPG

DSC06205.JPG

DSC06206.JPG

DSC06208.JPG

DSC06237.JPG

 

Don't forget to check out the Chichibu Railway too! ... it's just occurred to me that I never wrote a blog post on it!

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There use to be a site in both English and Japanese called the Movie of Japanese Freight. The owner constantly hosted Japanese freight train videos, but now I think he has moved to YouTube.  It's funny cause here in the states, I prefer passenger as I see so little of it, yet in Japan, passenger trains are everywhere and I grew tired of them pretty quick, hence I prefer to see freight there.

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What attracts me about Japan is the plethora of local electric railways - they mix two things which I like enourmously, narrow gauge (for us westerners) and electric traction. The fact that some of these lines run some pretty ancient rolling stock also helps. Of course there is a moment when just seeing MU cars coming and going gets boring, so a little freight spices up things - be it a boxcab dragging a solid block of cement cars or a "mule" pulling a solitary carload of kaki or fertilizer.

 

Cheers NB

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Guest JRF-1935

There use to be a site in both English and Japanese called the Movie of Japanese Freight. The owner constantly hosted Japanese freight train videos, but now I think he has moved to YouTube.  It's funny cause here in the states, I prefer passenger as I see so little of it, yet in Japan, passenger trains are everywhere and I grew tired of them pretty quick, hence I prefer to see freight there.

  Hi Shashinka - I've seen your JRM group of Washington, DC, and have a JRM container for my fleet.  Your portable layout is beautiful!  Philip joins us for our work/play sessions and you are welcome also.

Rich C

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Guest JRF-1935

Welcome Rich.  Always great to have someone come on board interested in prototype operation. Btw, freight trains and operation are enjoying a surge in interest in the railfan community here in Japan.  There are a number of possible reasons, but I think with the continual retirement of older favorite passenger rolling stock by boring, if efficient, inverter stock veteran railfans are gravitating toward the more esoteric and atmospheric ("railroady") freight railway scene.  Also, with the railway "boom", popular haunts of railfans are becoming crowded with tyros, so the more inaccessible and less glamorous freight scene can be a refuge for what is primarily (for many) a solitary, contemplative hobby.

 

Here are some clips of the Niigata-area Wamu 80000 operations (the boxcars are nicknamed "wamuhachi", after their designation).  I think bill937ca posted some similar clips last year.

 

Yakejima Station area, near the Hokuetsu Kishu Paper Company Mill:

 

Older clip, also at Yakejima:

 

Nice sequence of trains in the Echigo Ishiyama area, in Niigata City- at about 2:50, an EF81 which left the Niigata Freight terminal comes off the Hakushin Line and enters the Shin-Etsu Main Line, with a rake of wamuhachis, including one in its original brown- great sounds from those single axle running gear!  Throw in some 115 series with their unique sounds from the electricals, and you have quite a trainwatching time:

 

*Mods, perhaps this thread should be moved to the prototypes section...

 

Thanks Bikkuri Bahn - I really liked those videos.

Rich C

Link to comment
Guest JRF-1935

What attracts me about Japan is the plethora of local electric railways - they mix two things which I like enourmously, narrow gauge (for us westerners) and electric traction. The fact that some of these lines run some pretty ancient rolling stock also helps. Of course there is a moment when just seeing MU cars coming and going gets boring, so a little freight spices up things - be it a boxcab dragging a solid block of cement cars or a "mule" pulling a solitary carload of kaki or fertilizer.

 

Cheers NB

Nick - the main thing that attracts me to Japanese freight is the fact that is still operating and resembles the early Traction Freight operations in the US.  Nothing better than to see small  electric freight operations going through small towns or serving the local industry.

Regards,

Rich C

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Guest JRF-1935

Oh nice, videos of the gravity shunts... or 'kicking' as some call it?

I was there watching it back in September 2010 and was shocked when I saw the first rake of WAMUs with no engine... until I worked out what they were doing :)

 

It's a great little railway! I wish I'd seen the ED403 travel all the way to Yoshiwara. There were no KOKIs there when I was there.

 

DSC06203.JPG

DSC06204.JPG

DSC06205.JPG

DSC06206.JPG

DSC06208.JPG

DSC06237.JPG

 

Don't forget to check out the Chichibu Railway too! ... it's just occurred to me that I never wrote a blog post on it!

stevenh - thanks for the photos - wish I could have seen that operation in 2010

Rich C

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