Tokyo Station

[Martijn Meerts]

Well, I finally managed to sit down this weekend and look at my track plan for Tokyo Station. I knew some parts weren't correct in version 1, but with Google updating their maps for the Tokyo area, I got a lot close to what I believe is a quite correct track plan.

There is some more info on the page itself, just scroll down a bit to see v2. (For some odd reason I have v1 at the top of the page, I really should change that ;))

http://www.jr-chiisai.net/tokyo_station.html

Any comments are welcome, as I really want to get as close as possible to the original track plan. Of course, I need to make adjustments in the actual model track plan, but having a correct real track plan is much better than a wrong one obviously ;)

[Darren Jeffries]

Is this going to be a diorama? This would be huge if you are going to accomodate a full 16 car shinkansen.... I cant wait to see what you do!

Bring it on Martijn!

[Martijn Meerts]

This would be a collection of modules. Basically there'd be 2 for the entire left entrance of the station, and 1 for the right entrance (the right side has far less turnouts than the left side obviously.) I may need to double them to create enough space to have all the tracks and station buildings etc.

In the center there will be either 1 or 2 modules. 1 for when there's little space, and which will store up to 8-car shinkansen. 2 for when there's plenty space, and that one will be able to store full 16-part shinkansen. As with the entrance modules, I may need to double these up for the buildings and surrounding scenery.

The biggest problem is figuring out where to split the track plan so it fits on the modules, as well as the figuring out the buildings. Since there'll be 2 setups, I likely need to scratchbuild 2 version of Tokyo Station (full size and shortened) as well as 2 versions of all the platforms.

This is a (very) long term project, but I've always been fascinated by large stations with lots of tracks, so it's sort of a childhood dream to at some point build a large station, and it seemed to me Tokyo Station is a good choice ;) It won't be accurate/prototypically correct, but that just wont be possible when using modules. I expect the final full-size setup to be around the 5-6 meters long. I've even been playing with the idea of adding some scenery only modules and build bits of the imperial gardens =)

[Bernard]

Wow and double Wow!
I had to do the conversion from meters to feet and I get 18 to 19 feet in length, that is some layout. My comparison is my layout which is 16'x12' so this one is even longer. How would operation work on this plan, is it a switching layout or would you also have continious  running? Would you be scratch building all the platforms and buildings? Am I correct are there 19 platforms? I tried looking at photos of the station from Google and did come up with great photos of the Tokyo station. Do you have any photos of the station.

[Martijn Meerts]

Well, it's not really a layout, it'll just be the station. But the size is the main reason why I'm uncertain if I'll ever build it. Not only is the station itself big, but since the shinkansen will be over 2 meters long, each block needs to be that size as well.

The station will be part of the rest of the modules I'm planning actually. I'd probably need to join some club before I can put this stuff up anywhere, but we'll see ;) Some of the other modules I have in mind are a steam engine depot with turntable and coaling/sanding/watering stations etc, and a fairly simple module with a double shinkansen line and a scene from Gundam Seed Destiny (2 Gundam fighting each other, with 2 others watching/ready to help)

The issue with Tokyo Station is that it's both a terminal station and a regular station. The Chuo Main line, Tokaido line, Tokaido shinkansen and Tohoku shinkansen all end here (or start, depending on how you look at it), Only the Yamanote and Keihin Tohoku have through traffic. I'm not sure how to do that yet, but then again, I haven't really looked at it either, and I probably won't until I have a track plan up in Railmodeller, so I know better what the actual sizes will be.

The station has 20 tracks in total, 2 of which are elevated above the others (Chuo Main line is higher than the rest.) 8 of them are shinkansen, and are JUST long enough to fit the entire trains. So I guess you'll never see a shinkansen longer than 16 cars, it wouldn't fit in Tokyo Station ;) All the buildings will be scratch built, and I'll make them recognizable, but not a direct copy of the originals. I need to cut some corners here and there with the track plan, otherwise it'd end up being over 10 meters long and require hand-laid turnouts etc, and I need to "fix" the buildings so they fit with the track plan.

I have a bunch of good pictures of the main station building, and some of the platforms, unfortunately it's hard to find anything that shows track details etc. I may need to go to Tokyo for a photo shoot before I start building ;)

[CaptOblivious]

I have a couple of shots from platform 10 looking towards platform 20 (was photographing the Super View Odoriko and a 200-series Tohouku shinkansen arriving behind it). The shinkansen platforms are slightly elevated from the narrow-guage platforms, interestingly. I also have some exterior shots, but I'm sure you have plenty of those. I'll post those for you later today.

[CaptOblivious]

I'm adding shots to my gallery now. I suppose others can see them? I added a new "Prototype Shots" category to the gallery, I hope the admins don't mind?

[Bernard]

I forgot to ask, if the length is between 18' - 19', what would the width be? That really would be some station.

 In NYC they have Grand Central & Penn station. I don't know how many tracks are at Grand Central but there are 21 tracks @ Penn with only 4 tunnel entrances. To get into NYC the trains have to go through a tunnel at the East river. If one tunnel has problems there are huge delays.

[Darren Jeffries]

I'm adding shots to my gallery now. I suppose others can see them? I added a new "Prototype Shots" category to the gallery, I hope the admins don't mind?

 ;D

Capt, you make me grin...

In case you all hadn't noticed, Capt and Martijn are part of the Admin team here at JNS as of fairly recently.

The gallery Capt is referring to is the new area of this forum found on the front page menu (left hand side). Or follow this link: http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/action,gallery.html

[Martijn Meerts]

Some useful pictures in there, I really need to get some more of the platforms and see exactly how the height difference between the various lines looks ;)

[Bernard]

Great shots CaptO! I love seeing photos of the Odoriko Super View train, it's one of those that seeing is believing type of shots. The design is so unique. I have to admit, I now looking at shot of Japanese street so I can get the marking correct on my layout, so the last shot I was looking at all the traffic on the street. Thanks.

[CaptOblivious]

This might be interesting to you, Martijn:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080522f3.html

[Martijn Meerts]

Oh wow, it's great to see they're restoring the old domed roofs, those looked much better than the current ones. I was planning on modeling the roofs as they are now, considering that would make the most sense, as I'm planning on having shinkansen run through the station. However, now I can model the domed roof instead ;)

I wonder though, maybe I could contact JR-East and get some pictures of the station, that would really help with developing a scale model. Hmmm.... :)

[Dick H]

Martijn,
Here are two photos of the south end of Tokyo station. I have a good drawing of the station in a book. I'll try to find it and scan it. Will take a few days.

[Martijn Meerts]

Dick, nice pictures, those'll help when I have to start thinking about where to place all the catenary and signals and such :)

No hurry with the drawing, it's still a ways off before I can even think about building anything of this scale, but it would be interesting to compare the drawing with the one I've made based on Google Maps.

[Bernard]

Seeing the actual photos from a distance of what you plan to model in the future Martijn, I now realize the momentous task you plan to undertake.

[CaptOblivious]

Seeing the actual photos from a distance of what you plan to model in the future Martijn, I now realize the momentous task you plan to undertake.

And those shots are only of the shinkansen platforms, which are just under half the total!

[Martijn Meerts]

just remember it won't be a copy of the prototype. Since it'll be multiple modules and dynamic, I need to make adjustments to the track plan. It'll be much less curved than the original for one thing, and all turnouts will be non-prototypical.

But, I do plan on having all the tracks and platforms, and they'll be able to handle full shinkansen :)

[Shashinka]

It took looking at the diagram to grow an appreciation of the sheer size of that station. No wonder my feet are always killing me after a twelve hour shoot there.

[Martijn Meerts]

Yep, it's quite a large station ;)

Btw, if you have any good pictures of it you like to share, please post them. I'm always looking for good reference shots, I'll need plenty of them once I start building.

While the track layout won't be prototypical due to the constraints I'm working with, I do want to add the height differences between the various platforms, and the approximate width of the platforms etc.

[Shashinka]

Sadly I didn't get squat of the exterior of the building do to the renovations, and inside.... well, It seemed that I always had a tendency to shoot there in the morning rush. I'll have to poke around the non-train pictures for detail shots of the station a bit.

[Martijn Meerts]

Any shots would be welcome, even renovation shots and morning rush (maybe I want to model it during rush hour, although I'm not sure I want to spend THAT much money on little N-scale people ;))

The most difficult pictures to find is actually some good shots from the platforms themselves. Lots of shots where you see the platform, but only off to the side of the train the photographer was aiming at =)

None of this is a hurry, since I won't be able to start testing track plans for another half a year at the very least :/

[Shashinka]

I'll look and see what I have. The last trip I did 3000 shots.

[Martijn Meerts]

Sure took a while, but here's a first version of a Tokyo Station track plan.

It's about 500 x 170 cm. Both ends look a bit weird with the tracks making a fairly sharp turn, but there's really no other way of doing it if I even want to build it. 5 meters long is problematic already ;)

The tracks should be long enough to hold the longest trains running on those lines, which means the shinkansen tracks can hold 16 part shinkensen.

Dark blue is Tokaido shinkansen.
Dark green is Tohoku shinkansen.
Yellow is Tokaido line.
Light blue is Keihin-Tohoku line.
Light green is Yamanote line.
Orange (well, almost orange ;)) is Chuo main line.

Image is fairly wide, so some scrolling is required =)

[Tenorikuma]

Looks fascinating so far. What about the station facilities themselves?

If I had oodles of space I'd do Nagoya Station... it's more three-dimensional though, with most JR platforms running through the main facility on the second floor, the Meitetsu and Kintetsu stations underground, and subway stations even further below ground.

[Martijn Meerts]

The main station building will be in the front of everything, I just haven't drawn it in the track plan ;)

Still not sure I'll actually be building it though. Especially after having made the track plan and seeing that it's not very flexible, nor easy to implement into a layout (seeing as all the shinkansen tracks start/end at the station ;))

[to2leo]

Well Martjin,
One of the great things about our hobby is you don't have to be exact.  You can always make a representation of the real thing.  I know all of us are still very interested no matter if you make 10 or 6 or 30 platforms for the Tokyo station.  ;)

[Martijn Meerts]

The number of platforms is actually quite doable. Sure, it'll be a rather big station, and difficult to reach everywhere (even though it'll be in sections to make it possible to move when needed), but the biggest issue is the length. I really want the main station of any future layout to be able to hold a 16 part shinkansen. In a way, a station that's the terminus for shinkansen and a standard through station for most other trains would be optimal.

I guess it depends a bit on how much space I'll have available, which I won't know until I move. However, something resembling Tokyo Station with correct number of (visible) platforms and correct track length can't be done on much less than 5 meters ;)

[scott]

Would you have other tracks to connect to, so that the long trains could move into and out of the station layout?

[Martijn Meerts]

There'd be another 2 stations, possibly 3, although those wouldn't be shinkansen stations. The shinkansen would just run a stretch that's as long as space allows, and then drive into a shadow station. The other tracks will either be large loops or the same kind of idea as the shinkansen, except that they stop at the other stations as well.

[Martijn Meerts]

Right, so I did a bit of measuring on the attic of my parents' house when I was there the past weeks.

The attic isn't quite long enough to fit the station unless I place it close to the ground. In a way that's not a problem because the station will be in sections/modules.

However, if I place it diagonally, I *should* have enough space to fit the entire station on a reasonable working height.

So basically, with a little more optimization I'll be able to actually build the entire station with full length tracks =)

Of course, it'll be a while before I start on the station, first thing we'll be doing after moving is tearing down my father's layout and building a new one that makes better use of available space.

[Bernard]

Marti - After reading your last post, I envisioned a house in the Netherlands with an "odd" extension jutting out from only it's Attic that was designed to fit your new layout.

[Martijn Meerts]

Bernard, don't give me any strange ideas =)