Shinkansen Depot

[gmat]

Went cycling last Sunday and ended up near Tokyo Bay. What is the proper name for this depot? There are at least two overpasses that cut across the depot. Unfortunately, the north side is too far away and the central one is heavily blanked off.

 

 

 

The central overpass runs over the middle of the depot, but is blanked off. Judging from the usage of solid sheet with small circular holes rather than chain link, I guess it is used to discourage photographers from hanging around and taking photos or observing operations.

 

 

 

Does anyone know what this is and what it does? I saw a couple of them.

 

 

Thank you,

Best wishes,

Grant

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Hi Grant,

 

The mystery unit is one of the M250 Express container sets running between Tokyo and Osaka...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M250_series

 

I very strongly suspect the depot is Oi - I've seen it spelt in various forms...

[gmat]

Thank you Claude,

I've seen it referenced as a rolling stock depot, but no official title in English.

 

Thanks,

Best wishes,

Grant

[KenS]

I've seen the Shinkansen yard called Oi Rail Yard. Next to it is the Tokyo Freight Terminal (narrow gauge tracks, rather than the standard gauge of the Shinkansen facility). Among other things, TFT is one end of the M250 route.

 

The artificial island both are on doesn't seem to have a name, but it's also the site of the Oi Container Terminal (for ships, part of the Port of Tokyo).

[gmat]

I came across the tracks on the opposite side of the Oi Rail Yard and cycled down a bike ramp to the street level. I crossed the street to the Yard side and climbed a set of stairs and took a pair for long distance shots of the Yard. Then I heard a Shinkansen behind me entering the yard. I was only able to get this shot. Tail end going to the left.

 

About 10 minutes later, a pair of Shinkansen trains left the Yard, about 7/8 minutes apart. This is the first one. I missed the head shot and got these of the tail end, heading to the right.

 

I had started out at about 6:00 in the morning and here it was about 2:00. I had gone through two sets of batteries and had half of another pair left, so I started conserving shots. It was a just about the halfway mark of the day's journey.

 

Another shot of the Yard. The ones that were heading out had white lights shining.

 

This is the second one to leave. I prefer this one to the newer pinocchio types.

 

 

 

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[gmat]

I got off the overpass and cycled along the main street and followed a taxi that went on a side street that went closer to the yard. This is an abandoned section and the the poles had been removed from the crossing guards.

 

 

 

 

These photos also posted on the signals thread.

Best wishes,

Grant

[gmat]

This M250 was on the north side of the Yard.

 

Just before the entrance to the Oi Rail Yard, with a security guard box, I turned left and crossed the Tokyo Freight Terminal and these active tracks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[gmat]

I continued further south and turned west to cross over the Yard and go back to the mainland.

Shot these photos of a maintenance shed and a wash rack.

 

 

 

They don't look like any subway trains that I know....

 

 

 

 

Next time, I'll come here with a full set of spare batteries and shoot the H*ll out of this place.

Best wishes,

Grant

[gmat]

Last set. I head mention of Dr Yellow here and didn't know what as meant. I guess that it was the Yellow Shinkansen. Where and when is a good time and place to shoot it?

 

 

 

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[bill937ca]

Last set. I head mention of Dr Yellow here and didn't know what as meant. I guess that it was the Yellow Shinkansen. Where and when is a good time and place to shoot it?

 

Generally it only runs when the lines are shut down.  You might have some luck very early in the day (sunrise), but you would need to have info on where and when it appears.

[bikkuri bahn]

They don't look like any subway trains that I know....

 

That's the Rinkai Line Yashio Depot.  The Rinkai Line links Osaki on the Yamanote Line with Shin-kiba (Yurakucho line and Keiyo line).

[to2leo]

Hey Grant,

All your pictures are making me wanting to visit Japan again and I just did it last year!  Maybe you should start offering a Japan train travel guide in English!

[gmat]

Thank you, bill37ca, bikkuri bahn and to2leo for your comments.

I can take photos, but am woefully ignorant of the proper terms of what I'm shooting.

Best wishes,

Grant

[cteno4]

 

Next time, I'll come here with a full set of spare batteries and shoot the H*ll out of this place.

Best wishes,

Grant

 

Grant,

 

Please do! wonderful stuff there. love train yards! great picts.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

Love all the details..

 

The problem is, now I'm wondering how to scale them down to 1:150 =)

[bikkuri bahn]

Love all the details..

 

The problem is, now I'm wondering how to scale them down to 1:150 =)

 

The good thing about having pictures of the prototype is not so much the details, but getting a sense of the overall atmosphere, including spatial aspects, building placement, etc.  I think in N scale you can take advantage of the space to create believable scenes.  I'm more interested in modeling pre-JR railways, so I try to take as many pictures of abandoned lines and stations here in Hokkaido, as well as still extant but old infrastructure (station sidings, stone platforms, surplus rail-built overpasses and platform sheds), both for the details and to record their placement in the context of their surroundings.  One thing noticeable when looking at before/after pictures of the railway infrastructure is how often modernization either changes or even obliterates (in the case of elevation of stations) the unique atmosphere of that location.

[Martijn Meerts]

Love all the details..

 

The problem is, now I'm wondering how to scale them down to 1:150 =)

 

The good thing about having pictures of the prototype is not so much the details, but getting a sense of the overall atmosphere, including spatial aspects, building placement, etc.  I think in N scale you can take advantage of the space to create believable scenes.  I'm more interested in modeling pre-JR railways, so I try to take as many pictures of abandoned lines and stations here in Hokkaido, as well as still extant but old infrastructure (station sidings, stone platforms, surplus rail-built overpasses and platform sheds), both for the details and to record their placement in the context of their surroundings.  One thing noticeable when looking at before/after pictures of the railway infrastructure is how often modernization either changes or even obliterates (in the case of elevation of stations) the unique atmosphere of that location.

 

 

Good point.. I'm a bit focussed on details right now because I'm trying to plan a 0-scale layout, which will be all about the detail. Although, even in N-scale I do tend to add a lot of details ;)

[ShinCanadaSen]

Wow just found this place on Bing and Google Maps, It's huge !!  I realy want to incorporate something like this into my layout.

 

Bing Maps:

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=35.59688522931646~139.7610809120324&lvl=15&sty=h

 

Google Maps:

http://maps.google.ca/?ie=UTF8&ll=35.597612,139.760685&spn=0.023624,0.042572&t=h&z=15

 

I was also using the "Bird's Eye" view on Bing and you can see lots of detail !

[smg id=922]

[KenS]

Keep in mind that what you're looking at are two separate yards: the standard-gauge Shinkansen depot to the west, and the narrow gauge Tokyo Freight Terminal to the east. They look like one big yard, but since they're different gauges, they aren't.

[miyakoji]

The artificial island both are on doesn't seem to have a name, but it's also the site of the Oi Container Terminal (for ships, part of the Port of Tokyo).

Yeah, the Japanese wikipedia entry on Shinagawa-ku Yashio doesn't say much of anything about the island itself, other than that it was poured (or reclaimed or whatever) in 1939.

 

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%85%AB%E6%BD%AE_%28%E5%93%81%E5%B7%9D%E5%8C%BA%29

[bill937ca]

I've become aware recently that most of the distinctive Japanese trains that we covet models of are built in very small quantities.  As most of these trains are custom built they may be virtually hand built compared to other locales  Even standard looking trains often have motor cars and trailers so no two cars may be alike.  For over 35 years NA transit systems have gone to Japan for one-off work cars.