Prototypical Japanese sidings

[Dashworth87]

Hi all, not sure if general is the right place to pop this down but here goes.

 

i have almost finalised my layout and have been playing with a shunting yard as i want somewhere that I can keep some rolling stock on so I don’t need to keep putting stuff away. 
 

anyway. These are two options im playing with at the moment and just asking for some opinions. 
 

the first photo takes up a lot less room but strikes me as a bit more prototypical due to how ordered and regimented the Japanese railway systems seems to be.

 

the second option needs a little more rejigging to get right but gives me a lot more room to store longer trains.

 

my only concern with option 2 is that it effectively makes one side of the layout nothing but track and will effectively remove the need to model much scenery making the board very lopsided.

 

i await your opinions.  

[bill937ca]

Sidings are not as common as they once were in Japan. All less than carload freight was discontinued in the late 1980s.  There is very little shunting now.

https://www.eonet.ne.jp/~inmylife/geo.html

 

What shunting that does exist has often been privately owned railways.

 

For some reason this link does not translate in screen. When I copy and paste in Google Translate I get this.

 

This is JR Yamazaki Station.  

JR lines around here are quadruple-track, but at Yamazaki there is a siding outside the outbound train line (used by special rapid service, limited express, and freight trains), where sometimes outbound trains and freight trains stop. The siding runs to Nishiya crossing on the Osaka side, and from there you can return to the main line at a point. There is a similar facility in Takatsuki.

 

There is a track plan at this link.   https://www.eonet.ne.jp/~inmylife/geo.html

 

 

Edited December 3 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

This a thread from 2020 on Shunting at Ryuo Station (Video with Yard Diagram)

 

 

 

[bill937ca]

Many container terminals are only sidings.

 

Translated text.

Train 57 from Nagoya arrives at Kitakyushu Freight Terminal. This is the Fukuyama Rail Express, operated exclusively by Fukuyama Transport Company. The rear four cars are detached, and the remaining 11 cars head for their final destination, Fukuoka Freight Terminal. Trucks are gathered just before the train arrives, and when it arrives, inspection, separation of the train, and loading and unloading work start immediately. Fukuyama Transport Company Private Train. The truck is waiting for the train to arrive. When the train arrives, the transshipment work starts and is carried out immediately.

 

 

 

[Dashworth87]

Thanks @bill937ca much appreciated. Certainly doesn’t seem like there is a great deal these days.

 

i think given my layout is based in or around the early 2000’s I will limit the siding capacity 

[Dashworth87]

Tidied it up and minimised it a little. Will keep sidings to this I think 

[Kamome]

I think 2000 is pretty much the cut off for the last reminances of mixed freight in rural settings. The Wamus were still in use but leading up to and after privatisation, most freight would move to container based or specific train types. Piggyback trucks became obsolete around this time too. 

 

If you wanted sidings to move stuff then a specific industry may be the way to go.

Chemical factory would receive short sections of Koki trains with containers or tank containers. 

Petroleum facility would receive tankers and have awaiting fuel trucks.
Cement factory would have outgoing tankers as well as incoming raw materials. 

 

MOW sidings could have ballast hoppers and other equipment. 

 

There are ways to include some shunting and still keep the realism. 

Edited December 3 by Kamome

[Tony Galiani]

You might check out Nosuview's Japanese freight vlog on youtube for examples of modern shunting.  This video shows the Diao paper plant in Ehime prefecture which has a number of sidings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBEBROTlSUo

I am not positive but I think the Koki's are shunted into the building so that paper products can be loaded/unloaded out of the weather.

I am currently working on borrowing this idea for a small siding area on a layout.

He also has quite a few other videos you might find interesting.

Ciao,

Tony

[bill937ca]

There was the Gakunan Tetsudo which was the last line to accept blue WAMUs with newsprint.  This was a private railway accepting traffic off the JR network.  When did it close? It closed because the demand for newsprint was declining.

 

 Freight trains also operated until March 16, 2012. In the timetable just before the freight trains were abolished, there were four freight trains per day between Yoshiwara Station and Hina Station . The trains were basically made up of only boxcars , but there were a few trains that had container cars attached.   https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/岳南電車岳南鉄道線

 

 

 

March 16, 2012. A Gakunan Railway freight train. An ED402 electric locomotive is detached from a WAM80000 freight train at the JR-Gakunan Railway freight receiving line at Yoshiwara Station and parked at platform 2 of Gakunan Railway Yoshiwara Station. DE10 1723 is coupled to a WAM80000 freight train. While the locomotive exchange is taking place, a 7000 series bound for Gakunan Eo departs, and a JR Tokaido Line 211 series bound for up arrives.

 

 

Edited December 4 by bill937ca

[Dashworth87]

13 hours ago, Kamome said:

I think 2000 is pretty much the cut off for the last reminances of mixed freight in rural settings. The Wamus were still in use but leading up to and after privatisation, most freight would move to container based or specific train types. Piggyback trucks became obsolete around this time too. 

 

If you wanted sidings to move stuff then a specific industry may be the way to go.

Chemical factory would receive short sections of Koki trains with containers or tank containers. 

Petroleum facility would receive tankers and have awaiting fuel trucks.
Cement factory would have outgoing tankers as well as incoming raw materials. 

 

MOW sidings could have ballast hoppers and other equipment. 

 

There are ways to include some shunting and still keep the realism. 

I think that’s a great idea.

 

i will certainly look to make the sidings as interesting as possible. 
I suppose if there is some industry in the immediate area, it will certainly make it look more believable.

 

i have an abundance of koki with the smaller domestic Japanese cargo containers so I may look at creating some sort of trade deport/distribution hub