The ubiquitous vending machine.

[ben_issacs]

Folks, 

When travelling in Japan, one notices the large number of vending machines for drinks, cigarettes, ice cream etc.all over the place.

One unusual location is one that I saw from a train on one of my journeys there.

Rolling along, looking out through the window at an area of rice paddies, there in the middle of a paddy was a red and white vending machine!.

An interesting project for a model railway layout. 

Rice paddy fields are divided up by earth bunds, generally about a yard or so wide at the top, these are to allow the harvested rice to be carted away. 

This vending machine was on one of these bunds.

The machine would need two things, access so that it could be replenished, and a supply of electrical power.

Usually there is a road alongside the paddy field, and the bunds often connect with this road, so the person responsible for replenishing the machine would park his truck on the road, unload the case of drink cans or whatever onto a trolley , and push this along the bund to the machine.

For power supply, I could see along side the machine a 3 by 3 timber pole, seven or eight feet high. this was obviously carrying an electric supply cable from a street pole.

Finally, there would have to be an electricity supply meter at the machine, probably mounted on the pole, not obvious from my seat in the passing train.

So, this is something that could be an interesting feature on a rice paddy model.

If setting such a thing up, don't forget the supply pole at the machine, and a utility pole adjacent on the street alongside, and a meter box on the pole or the machine.

Regards,

Bill,

Melbourne.

 

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[cteno4]

They are everywhere! I’ve seen many out in the country like this along a road thru paddies. 

 

Lots of talk of vending machines in several modeling threads. Some have even made some back lit ones.

 

we have a thread on vending machine photos for reference as well

 

jeff

Edited January 10, 2019 by cteno4

[ben_issacs]

Jeff, 

Something else that would be required alongside these out in the bush vending machines are rubbish bins.

From my train window I couldn't see any such item, but there was probably one there.

Regards, 

Bill, 

Melbourne.

 

[cteno4]

Sometimes you see a recycle bin next to drink machines, but many are alone. Folks in japan probably can give s better estimates on how many have recycle bins next to them. It may also be where  the machine is as to if they tend to have recycle bins next to them.

 

the really striking picture of them is them just sitting there all over the place all alone, out in the weather, glowing away late at night.

 

lighting them is the really big thing in my mind’s eye to make them pop as that glow both day and night is something engrained in my memories of japan.

 

jeff

[railsquid]

1 hour ago, cteno4 said:

Sometimes you see a recycle bin next to drink machines, but many are alone. Folks in japan probably can give s better estimates on how many have recycle bins next to them. It may also be where  the machine is as to if they tend to have recycle bins next to them.

 

Both with and without is prototypical. Certainly if there's no space, you won't see a bin. I imagine if it were in an exposed location, it might be a problem fixing one in place. Some might have a box-like "extension" attached to the side of the vending machine acting as a bin (common on vending machines on station platforms).

 

Also I seem to recall that bins were a lot less common in the 1990s, and got installed because there was a problem with cans/bottles being dumped around vending machines. Come to thing of it, the sole vending machine in the general vicinity of Chez Railsquid (set into the wall in someone's garden) has no bin (no space) and is a minor trash attractor.

[railsquid]

For reference, the sole vending machine (so far) on my layout:

 

vending-machine by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[ben_issacs]

Folks, 

On the machine that I saw out in the paddy field, if it had a rubbish bin, whose responsibility would it be to empty this bin from time to time?

I can't imagine that the person replacing the cans would do so, , but this task may be in his or hers contract.

Perhaps one of the field hands might have been paid a bit extra to be rubbish bin monitor!

Regards, 

Bill, 

Melbourne.