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Planning Aizu


Pashina12

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Thanks much for the feedback! Building mockups or models of the modules isn't something that had occurred to me, but it's such a brilliant idea that it seems to me it should've been obvious.

 

I'll explore the various suggestions for the piers; the plaster casting idea sounds good, but if using wooden moulds, wouldn't that result in a grain pattern that would be waaaay overscale?

 

Speaking of wood chip cars, I ran across this site, which should appeal to your statistical side ;-)

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://butsuryu.web.fc2.com/chip.html&prev=search

About halfway down, there is a very grainy image that may show a train of all-cage cars (Kuji Chi Chi Center)?
The adjacent photo shows some sort of hybrid type of chip car - that I haven't previously seen, being unloaded.

Also, at the bottom there are a couple of action photos of a 90000 being unloaded on a rotary tipper.

 

Interesting link, I like those pictures. The rotary tipper photos remind me of the photos of seen of boxcars full of grain being unloaded here back before the cylindrical hoppers became ubiquitous.

 

That photo of the Kuji Chip Centre could've been fine, if only people knew about descreening photos when scanning out of books/magazines... unfortunately I don't think this photo, as it is, gives us much more info than the one with the C11.

 

The car in the photo adjacent, at the Nishi-Wakamatsu chip centre (something else to look up, since directly relevant), looks to me like a ToRa90000 with three-slat cage.

 

What the info on this page and that photo makes me wonder about is that if the wood chips from the Aizu Line were destined for a paper mill at Iwaki-Nishigō/Shin-Shirakawa, why is that ToRa being unloaded at Nishi-Wakamatsu?

 

I hadn't noticed the hinges on the Tora 90000 cage structure before, but just ran across a detail image that shows the two types - mounted at the top for rotary dumping, and down one row for the front-end loader unloading - both processes shown at the previous link.

https://image.space.rakuten.co.jp/lg01/92/0000167992/54/imge84a5117zik5zj.jpeg

 

Interesting catch! I wonder though if one came before the other. Also, in the photos of the rotary dumping on the previous link, the one on the left looks like a three-slat cage with hinges at the top - which is the first time I see that arrangement; all the other 3-slat cages I've seen so far are hinged on the second cross-post from the top. Another observation is that in the photo on the right, that's not a 90000, based on the peaked end? What else did they mount cages on like that?

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> I'll explore the various suggestions for the piers; the plaster casting idea sounds good, but if using wooden moulds, wouldn't that result in a grain pattern that would be waaaay overscale?

 

I suspect that there would actually be few - if any, grain patterns if using balsa or basswood in N scale. I had done this in HO, and was more after the "board by board construction" look.

 

 

> Interesting catch! I wonder though if one came before the other.

 

My guess is that it's not so much a temporal issue, but rather if the receiving end was equipped for rotary unloading; probably only the larger paper plants had that.

 

 

> Also, in the photos of the rotary dumping on the previous link, the one on the left looks like a three-slat cage with hinges at the top - which is the first time I see that arrangement; all the other 3-slat cages I've seen so far are hinged on the second cross-post from the top. Another observation is that in the photo on the right, that's not a 90000, based on the peaked end? What else did they mount cages on like that?

 

There seems to be a very wide variety in these cars, and perhaps there's a publication in Japanese that discusses them and how they came to be. It could possibly be an issue of what open body cars were available at the time they needed a batch of pulp wagons. The hinge location is undoubtedly determined by the planned emptying method.

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Cool, that's good to know then. I'll be looking into that plaster casting thing further, then.

 

When my brain feels rested enough for intense kanji work, I'll try to dig further on these cars and those cages. It's not likely to affect the modelling aspect much, but I'm intrigued now.

 

And now, before I head out, some further sketches of the line.

 

post-7682-0-59696800-1490980134_thumb.jpg

Third Ogawa bridge to Yunokami. It's rather a long and narrow scene, will definitely need compression, but there are a couple of interesting scenes that I think would need to be incorporated.

 

post-7682-0-88950000-1490980450_thumb.jpg

Yunokami to the 5th Ogawa Bridge. Nothing overly extraordinary in this part scene-wise, but the bit coming off the 4th Ogawa bridge might be interesting enough to model down the road, and probably necessary as a transition from the town back to the undeveloped scenery.

 

post-7682-0-55382500-1490980550_thumb.jpg

There are a couple of distinctive rock formations along the river around the part where the line turns after crossing the 5th Ogawa bridge, but the section to Yagoshima isn't particularly noteworthy other than that. However, after the line leaves Yagoshima, the bit before the tunnel is a spot that shows up in many photographs, as the line is built onto these half-bridge sort of structures right up against the cliff face, which are very distinctive

 

post-7682-0-41209900-1490980776_thumb.jpg

Note the town part between the two pink lines is drawn bigger than the bits to the left and right of the lines. Interesting enough area for what it is, but nothing that I'd say would be a "must model" sort of scene.

 

post-7682-0-74678100-1490980876_thumb.jpg

Again, pretty enough but nothing too special, and the stations at Aizu-Ochiai and Aizu-Nagano are just platform+shelter alongside the single track. The Kadotani bridge is kinda pretty, though by no means the nicest on the line.

 

post-7682-0-96511300-1490981049_thumb.jpg

Tabehara - Aizu-Tajima - Nakaarai. Well, this'll be an interesting challenge to design, but kinda essential. Aizu-Tajima had locomotive facilities including a turntable, and this was as far as freight trains went by the 1970s. Tabehara is another platform+shelter only but it's a very nice scene.

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Interesting... although I don't think that's actually Aizu-Takinohara? If I'm not wrong Showa 45 is 1970, and what I see on the picture there doesn't fit very well with what you can see in other photos from there from the late 60s/early 70s...

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Huh, I just went with the translation of the text with the picture.  You'd know more than me I suppose! 

 

Edit:  Heres what I got for the translation:

     

Aizu Line C11 I unintentionally took when I went through Aizu Takinohara station in the summer of 1955 at the camp in the geography department.Well, I think that it was an eye drop or something CM, but in the exchange scene of the C11 towing passenger train on the Aizu line, a man of traveling throws an apple for a woman on the opposite train and smiles, I do not remember and it is hazy. Does anyone remember it?

Edited by Kiha66
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Yeah I've noticed translate does weird things when the text gets longer, and it especially doesn't seem to like years unless you ask it to translate the year on its own.

 

1955 definitely doesn't fit though because Aizu-Takinohara station was opened in 1953 and the stuff in this pic you linked looks rather more than 2 years old.

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The Facebook message consists of mainly random ramblings about someone reminiscing summer camp and an old television commercial.

 

The interesting information in this post is that this photo was taken during Shōwa 45 (for us the year 1970) at Aizu-Takinohara Station (会津滝ノ原駅) on the JNR Aizu Line. Wikipedia tells us that "the station name was changed to Aizukōgen Station (会津高原駅) on October 9, 1986 and subsequently to Aizukōgen-Ozeguchi Station (会津高原尾瀬口駅) on July 16, 1987."

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@Densha: I'm fairly convinced that that photo was *not* taken at Aizu-Takinohara. Especially for 1970 the buildings and lay of the land don't match up with other photos taken there in the late 60s/early 70s...

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Just a little note to say that I'm still around, but Life is consuming basically all my time, so been spending what little free time I have on getting a few Z's here and there.

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30 minutes ago, Kabutoni said:

Maybe the newest edition of Torain magazine might be of interest to this project: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1967808106775457&id=1724700161086254

 

That looks really neat, and it looks like amazon.jp both carries it and ships internationally.  I may have to pick up a copy myself.

Edited by Kiha66
Added link for those interested.
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I'm still alive and I haven't given up on this!  Just been slammed with life. Happened to be in the vicinity of my LHS so grabbed a pack of Central Valley bridge girders. Hopefully over the next few weeks I'll have time to start planning construction of the Kuragawa bridge.

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This picture (from 会津田島 1979/8/8 その2 ) is the first I've found that directly shows the woodchip loading facility at Aizu-Tajima - the spout.

 

While most of the stations on the line are fairly similar in arrangement to how they used to be, Aizu-Tajima has changed a great deal between 1979 and now... to the extent that looking at current views on Google Earth/Wikimapia is of limited use... I'll need to spend a couple of evenings studying the old photos and comparing them to the current overhead shots, to sort out exactly what was located where...

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Nice photo find Pashina.  I'm wondering if anyone has an explanation (guesses are fine) for the near foot crossing in this image:

 

http://senrohaisenzu.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2017/04/12/0519790808a1.jpg

 

The two wider ones further down have steps cut into the platform edge for access, while this narrower one ends at an unstepped platform face.

 

I can't see anything that suggests a reason for a crossing here, so I'm puzzled by it.

It seems unlikely, but could it be a remnant from before the right platform was lengthened? 

I don't see anything in the wear pattern of the concrete to suggest this. 

No biggie, but it's the sort of curiosity that intrigues me because it stands out.

 

 

 

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From what I can deduct from the information, the place of the chute would be about where the maintenance vehicles are located now.

 

P.s. did you order that piece of literature I mentioned a few posts ago? This should be of great help to you! :)

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5 minutes ago, velotrain said:

Nice photo find Pashina.  I'm wondering if anyone has an explanation (guesses are fine) for the near foot crossing in this image:

 

http://senrohaisenzu.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2017/04/12/0519790808a1.jpg

 

The two wider ones further down have steps cut into the platform edge for access, while this narrower one ends at an unstepped platform face.

 

I can't see anything that suggests a reason for a crossing here, so I'm puzzled by it.

It seems unlikely, but could it be a remnant from before the right platform was lengthened? 

I don't see anything in the wear pattern of the concrete to suggest this. 

No biggie, but it's the sort of curiosity that intrigues me because it stands out.

 

 

 

 

 

Nice catch! XD I have no idea why that might be there... especially when it's so close to one that actually makes sense. I think you're right about the platform, I don't see anything on it either that'd suggest it had been lengthened.

 

 

4 minutes ago, Kabutoni said:

From what I can deduct from the information, the place of the chute would be about where the maintenance vehicles are located now.

 

P.s. did you order that piece of literature I mentioned a few posts ago? This should be of great help to you! :)

 

 

I haven't yet actually read the text on that page... I probably should. I'll do that after the Whitecaps game is done.

 

I haven't ordered that magazine yet but it's next on my list. That package of girders was my first modelling-related purchase in several months... I impulse-bought a new (to me; it was made in the 1980s) synthesizer a couple months ago, which at $1500 ate up a few months' worth of free-money budget... there's also a DVD I found a bit ago of Kokutetsu-era footage from the old Aizu Line which I think will also be of immense help to me with this project. But I've also still got to renew my passport and then pay for the work permit for our upcoming tour of the US, so... egh. Still waiting for this rockstar thing to actually start bringing the seas of cash in... :P

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3 hours ago, Pashina12 said:

 

if we look at this diagram, the photographer of the above picture was standing on the track between switches 55 and 53.

 

In the attachment I made a very rough sketch of how I'm understanding the layout of the old track arrangement compared to the present one. I've got to head to work shortly, but when I'm home from work in the morning I'll look further and try to make a better interpretation over the entirety of the yard area.

sketch1.png

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So attached is another, better sketch of the old track arrangement at Aizu-Tajima laid over the current area. I've labelled the tracks and switches per their labels on the track diagram, and looking at old photos of the station area, I've sketched in the locations of the old buildings as they were back then. It's not super accurate but it is more-or-less so... enough to give a sufficient idea of the place to start thinking about how things can be compressed...

sketch2.png

Edited by Pashina12
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On 2017. 11. 03. at 3:53 AM, velotrain said:

Nice photo find Pashina.  I'm wondering if anyone has an explanation (guesses are fine) for the near foot crossing in this image:

I see some irregularities on the concrete face and on the top stones. My guess that there was a step there too, that was filled in. Also the bottom strip of the platform looks different, so imho the platform wasn't lengthened, but it was raised.

 

So imho the timeline is the following:

-the crossings were created for the low platforms

-the steps were added to all of them when the platforms were raised

-one of the steps got filled in for some reason

 

Reasons could include:

-it was unused (not really needed)

-a passenger vehicle door was usually positioned right at that location (and exiting into a stairwell is dangerous)

 

ps: If you look at the footpath on the left, the straight across direction would be through the closed crossing, while if you arrive from the direction of the other platform, the other one is better.

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Nice work Pashina, that sketch would make a great blueprint for a set of now/then modules.  Seems the only thing that hasn't changed is the platforms.

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On 03/11/2017 at 12:11 PM, Pashina12 said:

I impulse-bought a new (to me; it was made in the 1980s) synthesizer a couple months ago, which at $1500 ate up a few months' worth of free-money budget... 

 

If it's a Yamaha DX-7 or Roland Juno 60 or similar, all is forgiven. : P

Edited by Kabutoni
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