Street Track in Japan

[Szdfan]

This recent video popped up in my YouTube suggestions. It depicts model mainline trains going down the middle of a street.

 

 

This begs the question: other than trams, are there examples (both historic and current) of street track in Japan?

[railsquid]

Current:

 

 

Historic:

 

 

[railsquid]

Very historic (freight):

 

 

[bill937ca]

Enoden (current)

 

 

 

Edited May 11, 2021 by bill937ca

[katoftw]

Kumaden

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4-Z0WNMIzZM

[Das Steinkopf]

2 hours ago, katoftw said:

Kumaden

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4-Z0WNMIzZM

 

Pretty much everytime the Kumaden has a derailment it's because a train has come a gutsa on that section of the line, luckily they are not moving quick so they are always upright with very little damage done other than mainly the track needing to be regauged.

[Szdfan]

Thanks everyone!

 

I’ve been saddened that the South Shore is rerouting it’s mainline out of the street in Michigan City, IN. This helps a bit. 

[cteno4]

I think the Amtrak still goes down the embarcaderro in Oakland ca, so some left here still. That part of town was grunge (except for the jack London square waterfront), but really went swank with lofts and live/work places (where Jerry brown lives in town). sadly it took out almost all of the funky artist colony that was there. I grew up a half mile from there.
 

Was always fun to be around when the Amtrak just ambled down the street like a big old long truck! 

 

 

jeff

[Cat]

Union Freight Railroad is long gone from Atlantic Avenue in Boston, but has always been a contender for us to model.  They ran nighttime operations hauling freight cars between North Station and South Station, and serving a few businesses along the way.  Some years ago, there was a nice article in Model Railroader of an HO layout.  If set before WW2, there was also an elevated trolley line running above the street tracks.  That stretch of el got torn down for scrap iron during the war.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Freight_Railroad

[bill937ca]

It was the Atlantic Avenue Elevated that the Boston Elevated Railway operated.  Basically a branch of  the Main El and a predecessor of today's Orange Line.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Avenue_Elevated

 

The Great Molasses Flood of 1919 was part of the story.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_Flood

Edited May 11, 2021 by bill937ca

[serotta1972]

On 5/10/2021 at 7:02 PM, Szdfan said:

This recent video popped up in my YouTube suggestions. It depicts model mainline trains going down the middle of a street.

 

 

This begs the question: other than trams, are there examples (both historic and current) of street track in Japan?

 

Cool street running and video.  What is that train at 3:17?

[railsquid]

47 minutes ago, serotta1972 said:

 

Cool street running and video.  What is that train at 3:17?

 

The Youtube description lists it as "サープラストレイン(余剰電車) (フリーランス車両)", i.e. "Surprise train (surplus cars) (freelance cars)".

[serotta1972]

8 hours ago, railsquid said:

 

The Youtube description lists it as "サープラストレイン(余剰電車) (フリーランス車両)", i.e. "Surprise train (surplus cars) (freelance cars)".

 

Ah, thank you @railsquid.  

[HankyuDentetsu]

Current - Randen (Keifuku railroad) Kyoto, road running sections from 4:35 - 8:41, then 9:25 - 11:18, then again at 14:20 for the briefest of moments. Most of you will know this one already, but thought I'd post anyway.

 

Legally considered a tramway, but very much operates as a local train - it's a standard gauge ワンマン with standard height platforms.

 

 

Edited May 23, 2021 by HankyuDentetsu

[Welshbloke]

If we're expanding worldwide then...

 

Weymouth Harbour Tramway in England is finally being lifted. I think the last train of any sort ran down there about twenty years ago, the regular boat trains connecting to the ferries ended even earlier. It had enough trouble with badly parked vehicles and clueless road users back then, people would be even more bemused by the sight of a train ambling towards them now. Lifting the track uncovered all sorts of buried leftovers from the sidings which used to serve businesses along the route.

 

You can kind of see it in Bristol when the Harbour Railway is running. They've managed to save enough of the old quayside lines to give a 5min train ride at a slow walking pace (necessary as the quayside is also covered in inattentive pedestrians and cyclists). It's amusingly out of place to find an 0-6-0 saddle tank gently chuffing and hissing in a 2020s city centre with a couple of open passenger wagons (seats added to a bogie ballast wagon and a 4w container flat) and a brake van for the lookout to ride in while propelling. The van is the best place to ride as you get a roof...

 

The Rhätische Bahn in Switzerland/Italy do it in a couple of places, I suspect in their case it's a leftover from when the lines were opened. Roadside tramways which ran into the town square by way of a station weren't uncommon across Europe, when there was little other traffic and the trains would be a little wooden-bodied electric railcar or two hauling a couple of coaches and maybe some freight on the back. It was, after all, what post/stagecoaches had done for centuries beforehand.

[marknewton]

Street running in Victoria from 2.20 onwards:

 

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.