Yodogawa Bridge

[Guest ___]

I saw pix on Steven's site and asked in his blog, but it donned on me, he';s out of country and when he replies I have to manually remember to check as there is no email notification tied in to his blog.

 

So, I'll post here. Where exactly is this bridge at?

[bikkuri bahn]

The Yodogawa is the main river that flows through Osaka.  There are numerous long railway bridges that cross this river.  Could you link to Steven's blog?  Maybe I can pinpoint the specific bridge (unless Steven himself beats me to it).

[Guest ___]

It's the pedestrian-singe track truss train bridge. http://modelrail.otenko.com/sites/default/files/Dsc00931.jpg

[bikkuri bahn]

Oh yes, the Akagawa Truss Bridge (proper name "Jyotoukamotsusenyodogawakyouryou"- what a mouthful!).  It's used by freight trains, and apparently, deadheading emus as pictured.

 

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9F%8E%E6%9D%B1%E8%B2%A8%E7%89%A9%E7%B7%9A%E6%B7%80%E5%B7%9D%E6%A9%8B%E6%A2%81

 

google maps:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=osaka&sll=37.370157,-95.712891&sspn=48.262195,67.5&ie=UTF8&ll=34.733448,135.526003&spn=0.006181,0.012306&z=17&iwloc=A

 

This woman (Saya Ogura) is a well known railfan of freight trains, here she is on location at the aforementioned bridge(at about 1:50):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tP9wN2yXwU

[Guest ___]

Ah, I see my future wife was on the the YouTube, excellent.

 

Anycase, how the heck do I get to that bridge?

[bikkuri bahn]

Probably the easiest way to get to the bridge would be to to take the Hankyu Kyoto or Senri line to Awaji Station, and walk the estimated 1.2km to the bridge.  There doesn't seem to be a direct road to the bridge proper, but it shouldn't be too hard to get there- just walk towards the river, and once you get to it, you will be able to spot the bridge.

[stevenh]

I bought a 4,000Yen Mamachari (bicycle) and rode around to takatsuki to get all the pics.

[disturbman]

Buy?! Wasn't it simpler to rent the bike instead?

[Guest ___]

Buy?! Wasn't it simpler to rent the bike instead?

 

Alpine could have meant rent, as I'm sure there ware terms the boys down under use we don't here in the states. But, I do recall the cost of renting a bike when I was in Osaka was quite high and I was put off by it.

[bikkuri bahn]

If you look around, and are not too picky, you probably can buy a second-hand bicycle for 4000 yen.  If you're a conscientious fellow, the problem would be how to dispose of it when you're finished.

[Guest ___]

Do what I did with the umbrella I bought. Just hand it over to a person at random walking down the street.

[stevenh]

To use concise english... i 'bought'/'purchased'/'acquired-with-the-transferral-of-money' a bicycle from a second hand store just down the road. This was over 2 years ago and rentals to foreigners wasn't a popular thing. I'd left the bike under the apartment I was staying it but it wasn't there this time around ('lost','impounded' or 'stolen' me thinks :P)

Just recently I saw that there was a new rental store under Shin Osaka station that wasn't there before. 300yen for 10hours or something to that effect.

[Tenorikuma]

If you look around, and are not too picky, you probably can buy a second-hand bicycle for 4000 yen.  If you're a conscientious fellow, the problem would be how to dispose of it when you're finished.

 

You can even buy a new one for ¥8,000 at the right place. When you're done, sell it to a second-hand shop for a couple of bucks.

[disturbman]

When I was in tokyo I rented a bike... 5€ the whole week. A real bargain.

 

And 8,000 yen a bike! That's so cheap!!! Anyone has an idea how much will it cost me to import one?

[bikkuri bahn]

When I was in tokyo I rented a bike... 5€ the whole week. A real bargain.

 

And 8,000 yen a bike! That's so cheap!!! Anyone has an idea how much will it cost me to import one?

 

Certainly much more than the price of the bicycle.  The 8000 yen bikes are cheapies made in China.  If I were seriously considering importing a "mama chari", as the iconic everyman cycles are called here, I would go for the made in Japan types, that typically start new from 22,000 yen or so.  There is even a very nice bicycle hand made by a small bicycle shop in Kurashiki, costs about 40,000 yen if I recall correctly, that I have had my eye on- I wonder how much it would cost to ship it up here to Hokkaido...

[Guest ___]

Pft, if I ever ride again which I cant thanks to my knees, I'd just have another mountain bike.

[bikkuri bahn]

Just visited the bridge yesterday, unfortunately, I got a little lost at the beginning on the way there, so I missed by about 5 minutes a DD51 hauled container train   Next time I'll know the way...

 

The bridge itself is a fun walk- some of the boardwalk decking is a little loose- makes for a little thrill when crossing the Yodo River.

[stevenh]

Those DD51s are really quite quiet when traversing the bridge.... This one snuck up on me as well. I really should've just gone back here 2 months ago instead of trekking to Niigata for an SL that wasn't ever going to run :P

 

 

See more pics in here: Japan in Dec2007 to Jan2008

[Guest ___]

I have girlfriends in Osaka, so on the next trip, I'm going to force one of them to take me to the bridge to fan. Thankfully, Japanese women are very patient when it comes to men and their toys.

[Mudkip Orange]

Japanese women are very patient when it comes to men and their toys.

This was always the impression I got from porn, but I always doubted it, because can you really believe porn?

[Guest ___]

Porn!? I'm completely lost. I don't see the connection between porn and model trains. 

[Guest ___]

Those DD51s are really quite quiet when traversing the bridge.... This one snuck up on me as well. I really should've just gone back here 2 months ago instead of trekking to Niigata for an SL that wasn't ever going to run :P

 

See more pics in here: Japan in Dec2007 to Jan2008

 

What is the frequency that can be expected to see trains use this crossing?

[stevenh]

I can't give you exact numbers, but it was nearly 2 trains per hour. Primarily freight, but if you're there before a peak-period then you'll find the passenger services taking the backroads to provide extra services around town.

[bikkuri bahn]

You'll have to be careful about the times when you visit this bridge.  There are 7 (scheduled) trains that traverse this bridge in each direction a day, but some of those run "as needed" or run only on weekends or weekdays, so the actual number is smaller.  Think of a typical secondary freight line in the U.S. to get an idea.  Also, the schedule times are somewhat approximate, since we are talking about freight.

 

This blog has a schedule of the trains that run on this route (Jyouto Kamotsu Line):

 

http://d.hatena.ne.jp/katamachi/20080812/1218602165

 

The top table is down trains, bottom is up trains.  The bridge is between Suita (吹田) and Shigeno (鴫野).  In the remarks column on the far right you have motive power type as well as exceptions:

 

月曜運休 does not run Mondays

休翌日運休  does not run Sun/holidays

(土休日) runs Sat/Sun/holidays

臨時  runs as needed

日曜運休 does not run Sundays

[Guest ___]

Hmm, so it's a crap shoot as I expected. I'll try to make a mid-week shoot early then. Still need to work out how to get there from Shin-Osaka.