What did you run today?

[brill27mcb]

I just wish people would not list railway trains under "trams" on Ebay! That really clogs up the searches. So does listing replacement bogies as "trolleys."

 

Rich K.

[cteno4]

Rich,

 

do you use the “report this item” feature?  They have a category for this and I’ve done this on some categories I scan and it helps the absurd listings in the wrong categories or with wrong/misleading subjects.

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[200系]

10 hours ago, bill937ca said:

The public doesn't know or care whether its a train or a tram.

 

That's because the distinction between a tram/streetcar or train doesn't really exist in Japanese, or at least not in the same way it does in English.

 

All electric self-propelled passenger trains are referred to as densha (電車) in Japanese, with densha being a contraction of denki kyakusha (電気客車) which translates to electric passenger car. Streetcars are sometimes referred to as either romen densha (路面電車), literally road surface electric train, or shiden (市電), a contraction of shi densha which can be translated as city/town electric train. Officially, streetcar type vehicles are simply classified as trains by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and are subject to the same standards applied to other ordinary (other than shinkansen, monorails, guided railway vehicles etc)  electric trains when it comes to mandatory inspection standards etc. The word Densha itself, though technically having a much more specific origin as I mentioned above, has of course become pretty much synonymous with train in Japanese since the end of the pacific war, as electric trains started to become the mainstay during the post-war period (at least for the National Railway, the major private railways had been the main drivers of electric multiple unit development prior to the war, and would hold this position up till the end of the Shōwa period)

 

With regards to the infrastructure itself, there is a little bit more nuance, however it more or less follows the same principle. Though the Japanese word kidō (軌道) is often translated as tramway in English, this isn't strictly the case as kidō on its own has no relation to tramways at all. Kidō literally means track or orbit, though in this case track is a more accurate translation, and as the name suggests simply refers to railway track in general (as in the physical infrastructure). The use of kidō for streetcar systems is actually the result of the promulgation of two related pieces of legislation, the Kidōjōrei , or track ordinance, of 1890 and its successor the 1921 Kidōhō, or track law, which governed the construction of new railways using tracks laid on roads ((sic)道路に敷設されう軌道->dōro ni fusetsu sareru kidō), or combined track. The track ordinance was originally drafted as a way to allow for the construction of both privately owned and publicly owned horse drawn streetcar systems, which otherwise wouldn't have been possible under the rather restrictive Private Railway Ordinance of 1887. The Kidōjōrei would be amended in 1892 to allow for the construction, or conversion of existing systems, of electric railways. Though it was originally intended to promote the construction of urban streetcar systems, the three articles of the ordinance didn't provide any guidance as to track gauge, vehicle type or size, though the railways constructed under this ordinance would be limited to a maximum train length of two-cars, including a motor car and a single passenger/freight car, and a maximum speed of 8 miles per hour (raised to 25 miles per hour in 1911, miles are being used because prior to the systemwide implementation of the metric system by the Ministry of Railways on the 1st of January 1930, imperial units were used in addition to traditional measurements (Shankanhō)). Similarly, though the presence of a section of combined track was to be an important part of this ordinance, it didn't specify exactly how much of the railway had to be built as such. As a result, in combination with the restrictions imposed by the Private Railway Ordinance and its successor the Private Railway Lay (1900), in addition to the number of actual streetcar systems established under this ordinance a number of railways were established which were most certainly not tramways, at least not by the traditional definition of the term. 

 

A good example of this would be railways like the Hanshin Dentetsu, Minō Arima Denkikidō (predecessor of the current Hanshin Kyūkō Dentetsu (Hankyū)) , Keihan Dentetsu and Ōsaka Denkikidō (predecessor of the current Kinki Nihon Dentetsu (Kintetsu)), which were all established under the Track Ordinance, though designed as full fledged electric railways using American interurban based technology in order to get around the limitations imposed by the original kidō concept. All of these railways would start converting existing combined track sections to dedicated track in the 1920's/30's, as well as building new high-speed railway lines, either directly or through wholly owned subsidiaries (Shin-Keihan, Sangū Kyūkō etc.). Similarly, with the promulgation of the Local Railway Law (1919), these private railway companies would eventually apply for a change of status to local railway companies more less concurrent with the conversion of their main lines, though for some this would only become reality long after the end of the Pacific War.

 

The same was true for the equipment used, Keihan for example, eventually ended up operating their early post-war series on the sole remaining section of combined track between Tenmabashi and Nodobashi, with 1300 series, 1700 series and even the 1800 series cars operating on this section up till its abolishment in November 1954.

Similarly, the Sanyō Tetsudō would operate full-size cars on the combined-track section (also governed under the Track Law) of the Sanyō Main line until this section was abolished in April 1968, including the ~20m class cars of the 700 series (Ministry of Railway MoHa 63 type cars assigned to, and built specifically for, Sanyō in 1946).

 

The promulgation of the Local Railway Law in 1919, as well as the Track Law in 1921, helped close the loophole created by the original Track Ordinance

as well as the Light Railway Law, as was one of the main intentions behind these laws, while also loosening some of the operational restrictions of their precursors. That being said, even with the new Track Law, a not insignificant number of railways were built under the Track Law which do not fit the international definition of a tramway. The Ōsaka Municipal Bureau of Transportation for example, built pretty much all of the initial lines of the Ōsaka subway network under the Track Law, and a number of contemporary monorail and AGT systems, including the Chiba Urban Monorail, Ōsaka Monorail, Okinawa Urban Monorail, Nippori-Toneri Liner, Tōkyō Rinkai New Transit Line, Hiroshima Rapid Transit etc. were also established under the guidance of the Track Law, and are still registered as such.

 

So for the tldr, internationally accepted definitions are not always, and more often not, applicable to the definitions used in Japan, both on a technical and a linguistical level. Tramway and tram/streetcar most certainly fall in this category as I've mentioned in the above section.

 

13 hours ago, bill937ca said:

The Hiroden Miyajima Line was formerly a high floor railway line and there are still stations with high and low platforms. Now this line runs through to the JR Hiroshima  station over Hiroshima's streets with Hiroden's other tram lines.

 

The Miyajima line is still officially classified as a railway line and as such is governed, and registered under, the 1986 Railway Business Law, which superseded the 1919 Local Railway Law, despite the switch to low-floor equipment.

[Englehart]

MA DD51 pulling kiha 30

 

 

[bill937ca]

Set up a temporary layout today and ran several long trains, something I cannot normally  do.  I ran an E231 Shonan-Shinjuku set, a Odakyu 60000 MSE and a a ten -car Sotetsu 11000 on a V11 track set.

Edited May 20, 2023 by bill937ca

[cteno4]

Nice bill, does your building have a common area and tables like this for you to use? You could set up a whole temp layout with buildings and all! Get a little wagon to take it all down for an evening!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[bill937ca]

Yeah, this is the activity room in the basement  of my building. The tables are each 96 x 30 inches and very heavy. I could do this, but for now just a train driving session  as they call it in Japan. Its all new track and power, with old trains. I might add a couple of add-on sets for more 10 car trains. i was also looking for a Gorky.

[ED75-775]

A slightly different running session today, normally I run trains at home in New Zealand but today after a lot of walking I got to Stage 1 in Kokura and paid ¥400 to run trains for half an hour - actually, the owner was generous and I got slightly more than half an hour allocated! Very kind indeed.

 

  

 

Much to my delight, everything ran well. I knew that my 'standard' D51 would run as I'd tested it a few days before at Popondetta Sunmall Hiroshima, but the 8620 and my latest 'Slug' were unknowns. To my delight, both ran smoothly and quietly. Not bad, especially since the 'Slug' had been declared a junk model when I brought it the day before!

 

 

And the three stars of my first rental layout session, post-session. I had an absolute ball watching these running, it's the first time I have had access to a fully-scenic'd N-gauge layout as my own setups tend to be just temporary table layouts.

Not any more though, as I now have a station in transit to New Zealand, and a truss bridge in my luggage which went from 'complete' to 'some reassembly required' as I jolted and banged around Akihabara acquiring more items. Oops! At least I have salvaged all the separated bits, and once reassembled satisfactorily I'll find a nice red-oxide coloured spray can and give it a tidy up. Bright red plastic is a bit distracting, not quite bright yellow distracting but then it's not how the real thing looks, is it?

 

Alastair

[ED75-775]

Back home again, the last two packages of trains are in the country, and I *was* enjoying running some trains until one of my siblings turned up and started watching a sitcom... best way yet to get rid of me, because I hate sitcoms. The televised equivalent of spray-on cheese!

 

Rant aside, time for pretty pictures:

 

 

Tonight’s layout, utilising one of the inspection pit tracks I got in Hiroshima and a #4 turnout from Popondetta in Kyoto. The Unijoiner thingamajig is standing in for a track bumper that should be here by this weekend, or so I hope.

 

 

Three of five running trams: Kyoto 2001, Hiroden 352 and Nagasaki 215 congregate around the yard. This was the first time the latter two had run in my ownership and ran... very well.

 

 

New station, new train, and I’m feeling a massive Chichibu Railway vibe from this! It’s like they were made to be together like this.

 

Alastair

[SL58654号]

Giving my most recently acquired electric locomotive a running-in session on my temporary coffee table layout, along with giving my SL Hitoyoshi a whirl.
This'll have to do until I hopefully begin the permanent layout benchwork at the start of next month.

 

[cteno4]

Great you are starting to play with your new layout design with track and trains. Really is important to make sure you are totally happy with your track plan and if there are any gotchas with equipment and the plan.

 

jeff

[SL58654号]

Oh, I'm getting just a tiny taste of how much train action I'll be wanting for the layout (I want three running lines, no less, and gobs more sidings and points) but it's nice to just use my table in my Japanese room to run trains at my leisure.

Now, here's my ED19 (I like it since it was partly built by Baldwin) pulling the freight set, and the EF65 is pulling the SL Hitoyoshi cars. If you think that's absurd, just you see what I'd do if I had some British N gauge locomotives, or Bavarian or American locomotives! (Now where can I get some of those?)
I'm loving Japanese electric locomotives, though I wish that KATO made the EF50 (JGR 8000) built by the North British Locomotive Co.

 

[Beaver]

Reminds me of an article in I forget which magazine trying to see how much railway you could fit into one tatami mat's worth of space. Even with main line stock, it was a surprising amount.

[SL58654号]

@Beaver I'd really love to see that, wherever it may be. Part of my upcoming layout's inspiration is from a layout designed around the size of a tatami mat built by the British diplomat for Japan and was presented to the Japanese Railway Society, for whom I write articles. 

[cteno4]

The tatami mat is a unit of measurement in japan! 
 

that’s why I like the 50 small layouts book as most are around tatami mat size and they all feel compact but not cramped. It is a nice size to play with. 
 

jeff

[disturbman]

On 7/5/2023 at 8:16 AM, ED75-775 said:

 

New station, new train, and I’m feeling a massive Chichibu Railway vibe from this! It’s like they were made to be together like this.

I know it's not really your style, but you should look into getting some of the EMUs that were released by GM and Tomytec to go along your Deki.

[SL58654号]

I own several old time brown JGR/JNR passenger cars for my steam and older electric fleet, but today I snatched up a マニ60 200 (5240) from my local hobby shop for a steal of ¥1,900, when these are selling for over ¥3,400 on Amazon Japan. I'm always a happy buyer at the Kumamoto hobby store, and they regularly have new stock arrive. The tail light on the rear end can be turned on/off. 

[Beaver]

Wouldn't it be fun to have a マニ shaped money box? I'm thinking HO or O scale sized and probably a shorty, to have the right size and proportions.

[tripel7]

About 17 carriages worth of E5 and E6 combined:

 

Edited August 2, 2023 by tripel7

[Kamome]

Well Typhoon Khanun is upon us so what better way to enjoy hiding away then making a short track loop in my tatami room. 

 

 

Edited August 9, 2023 by Kamome

[ronin]

Sorry, not a great pic, but threw up a simple layout so I could run some of the trains I got to ride during my most recent trip to Japan this summer.

 

I'm curious how quickly someone can identify them all.

[Kamome]

On 8/12/2023 at 12:07 PM, ronin said:

I'm curious how quickly someone can identify them all.

So Pink, I might vomit Train 

Blue Darth Vader train

Invisible train? (next to the Haruka)

 

Yes, I’m afraid none of these are obscure enough for most of the members to not know what they are immediately. Don’t have a lot of West region stock myself. Starting to think I should rectify that as I’ve had to go to Osaka numerous times for work over the last 6 months. 

 

Took my eldest to the rental layout Stage One as he wanted to pick up 

a Kato mini diorama kit after being inspired over the weekend. 

 

We took a range of commuter and expresses in JR East to run, most of which haven’t had exercise for a good while. First time to run the E233 with all 15 coaches, which my kids call the 7/11 train on account of its green and orange banding. We were lucky to get one of the tracks that navigates the whole length and width of the n scale layout. 

 

 

On the home set up, there’s been a lot of JNR Iida line including a couple of short Chichibu and Myojo cement trains pulled by an ED62 and ED19.

 

 

 

I was slightly envious of a chap with some very nice Microace Ube Taki 1100 cement tankers which I might need to look for. A3111

[072hawk]

it’s been quite a while since i last posted. here are some photos from my last 2 visits to the local rental layout

 

97952 485-1000 series “Komakusa”

98523 KiHa183-6000 Japanese Style Saloon car

97947 E4 new colour/last run livery

92970 Sayonara Hokuriku

92969 Sayonara Noto

98815/98816 E1 Max

98654/98655 253 Series Narita Express

92573 KiHa82 (Hokkaido area)

[Bigdog]

All I ran today was the e5 and e6 set around and around. 

[MeTheSwede]

Today I brought out my minirail points and constructed a shunting puzzle for myself. It turned out to be harder than expected to solve and also made me take a closer look at the underside of the rolling stock.

 

 

 

 

It turns out that not all two-axeled wagons can be reversed through a 140mm radii s-bend (illustrated above). I hadn't been thinking about what rolling stock is Kato and what is Tomix, but turnes out the Kato couplers on these type of wagons are less capable at small radii, which is easily recognised at close inspection. A couple of offending Kato WAMUs can be seen standing in the back, sent out of the game. The very shortest Kato wagons behaved.