Eki ranpu (aka lamp hut)

[bill937ca]

In Japan a small number of masonry huts survive at various stations. I'm sure Europeans would tell you its a washroom as washrooms in European stations are located in outbuildings on the platforms. But no, this is not a washroom.  These are eki ranpu or lamp huts once used to store kerosene.

 

These were found at major stations built by the Japanese National Railways in the Meiji era. As stations were rebuilt these huts disappeared rapidly.

 

Japanese Wikipedia page:

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ランプ小屋

 

Example at Inari station.

http://travelstation.tokyo/station/kinki/jrw/nara/inari.htm

 

A Kyoto Museums page on the Inari Station lamp hut.

https://www.kyoto-museums.jp/museum/south/656/

 

Tsubata Station Lamp Hut

Dangerous goods warehouse that remains at Tsubata Station on the Hokuriku Main Line and Nanao Line

https://ameblo.jp/ironmaiden666666/entry-12338435167.html

 

The Wikipedia article has a list of stations with surviving Eki ranpu.

 

[cteno4]

Learn something new every day! 
 

we had these at my JR high and high school for the shop classes. All flammable were kept there when not in use! We use to have a rotating assignment for the last 5min of class to clean up and put everything back and if it was the last class of the day or before lunch then one person had to pick all the cans of oil, thinner, varnish and take them to the cement block she’d just Behind the shop building! In the morning and after lunch you just had to wheel the cart back in.

 

jeff

[railsquid]

4 hours ago, bill937ca said:

In Japan a small number of masonry huts survive at various stations. I'm sure Europeans would tell you its a washroom as washrooms in European stations are located in outbuildings on the platforms.

 

 

Speaking as a European, I'd assume it's just some random item of railway-related infrastructure...

 

FWIW Tomytec provide similar buildings in a slightly different style as part of Diocolle Set 107 (情景小物107 線路周り小物).

[disturbman]

I won’t pretend to know all the particularities of the European rail networks but I definitely wouldn’t assume they are bathrooms. I don’t remember ever seeing bathrooms in independent buildings. They were either within the station building, accessible from the platform if the station was small/rural, or non existent if the station was a commuter station. The annoying part is the fee, or worse the coin operated bathrooms.

[marknewton]

As an Australian railwayman, I'd assumed they were lamp rooms, as we had much the same thing here. They're attractive little buildings, made more interesting by being brick-built. 
 

Probably worth mentioning that the kero being stored was used in signal lamps before they were electrically powered. On my railway they were known as "eight day lamps". If they were set up correctly, they'd burn for up to eight days before needing attention. The signals within stations and yards were attended by the station staff, but those outside stations were the responsibility of the lamp trimmers. They had special tricycles equipped to carry lamps and keresone drums.

 

https://collection.maas.museum/object/36773

 

Thanks Bill!

Edited May 18, 2020 by marknewton

[marknewton]

50 minutes ago, disturbman said:

I don’t remember ever seeing bathrooms in independent buildings.

Very common in France, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Or wherever the railways were funded and built by French or Belgian companies.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[disturbman]

Memory is never a reliable tool 😉 Most of my memories is to have to walk along the platform until a door in the main station building, usually at one end of the building, usually located on the opposite side of the station building than where you were standing.

 

Mind you I was born with the TGV and my memories don’t involve much traveling through small, local stations except In the French Alps.

[ranger10178]

In the UK, they often ended up just being "tin sheds" - small corrugated iron huts! They were usually either on a station or near a signal box - as the oil was for lighting the signal lamps.

 

They're fairly easy to spot on heritage railways - look for the shed with a load of waterbuckets outside!

 

Of course most of these buildings are long gone, but some still exist on heritage lines, or in various states of decay on the UK network.

 

Even though there are still areas served by traditional semaphore signals in the UK, these are now all electrically lit. Worcester and Shrewsbury are two particularly impressive areas which have retained their semaphores. (Indeed Shrewsbury has the largest working mechanical signalbox in the world - with around 180 levers (although only 100 or so are still in use).