Fukui red brick warehouses will get new role housing restaurants, huge train diorama

[cteno4]

From Christopher hood on yahoo jtrains forum

 

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201509070046

[bikkuri bahn]

Video of the planned layout:

Edited September 8, 2015 by bikkuri bahn

[cteno4]

Thanks, interesting! I wonder if they are going to have some sort of overhead rail for folks to work from as those pop up hatches seem to be still a very long distance to do much in the 8'+ to the front!

 

Jeff

[Welshbloke]

Looks like a Japanese version of Miniature Wunderland in Hamburg.

 

MW are pretty good at avoiding needing to get at the layout while it's open to the public, so with careful design it should be possible to end up not needing to access some areas regularly. Using track cleaning wagons on a regular basis and filtering the air over the model would help keep the track clean. You can always use tricks like buildings or fields which lift up as an access hatch, too,

[bikkuri bahn]

I certainly hope they make it as historically and geographically accurate as possible, rather than going the crowd-pleasing route (ferris wheels, shinkansen running alongside kiha 40's, etc.).  Tsuruga has a rich railway/maritime history, with a railway station on an eye-pleasing curve that was/is an important stop between the loop curves/tunnel and the Hokuriku Tunnel. 

[Mudkip Orange]

shinkansen running alongside kiha 40's 

 

That doesn't seem too far-fetched to me, since the 0 series and the KiHa 32 are actually the same train...

[katoftw]

shinkansen running alongside kiha 40's

A match made in heaven.

[katoftw]

http://www.japan-guide.com/blog/raina/160125.html

 

[bikkuri bahn]

Looks good.  I'm glad they went with the Showa-era setting.

[katoftw]

There is 4 places in the middle of the diorama where you can stick you head out and have a look.

 

The diorama also has moving boats/ships.  And moving buses. (Sammy will go nuts!)

 

Edited March 1, 2016 by katoftw

[bikkuri bahn]

What's also impressive is that the pre-Hokuriku Tunnel switchbacks were also modeled, and visitors will be able to operate a train over that section. They have also correctly modeled the gentle curve found at Tsuruga Station.

Check out around 5:35:

 

*according to the narrator, this is the first time a switchback has been modeled on a museum quality layout.

Edited March 1, 2016 by bikkuri bahn

[stevenh]

Could you imagine getting paid to build something as sublime as that?

*cries*.

[Pashina12]

As if I didn't already have reasons enough to want desperately to visit Japan...

[Densha]

Just came across this video on YouTube of a whole recording of the story being told about Tsuruga. You might need some knowledge of Showa-era Fukui dialect, but if you get it it's pretty interesting.