Seibu cab ride

[Nick_Burman]

Cab ride on Seibu's Chichibu line, from Seibu Chichibu to Hanno.

 

 

 

It looks like a very scenic trip...but one wonders what was the business case for Seibu to drive such an expensive-looking line (especially that summit tunnel) across sparsely-inhabited mountain areas. I wonder if it was done on the whim and orders of that Seibu Group president who is now serving a term in jail (forgot his name now, the one who ran the company for years without issuing a shareholder's report...).

 

A couple of questions...first, the line used to host freight trains which carried cement, what was their final destination? When and why they were withdrawn? Second, if one looks along the track one sees what look like surveillance cameras, with a rotary beacon under them, what are these "thingummies" and what are they used for?

 

Cheers NB

[bikkuri bahn]

I think this line was built both to serve as a link to the limestone quarries and cement plant(s) in the Chichibu area, as well as for tourists wanting to visit the scenic valley there.

 

The limestone trains served the Mitsubishi Cement plant at Higashi Yokoze freight station. I assume cement then was shipped out bound for Shin Akitsu, which has an interchange with the Musashino Freight Line.  Trains continued to run until 1996, when the amount of traffic handled no longer was sustainable.

 

I don't know what the lineside contraptions are, perhaps lineside obstruction warning devices?

 

*I like that double slip at the station throat in the first video at 1:36, which serves as a connection with the Chichibu Railway, visible below and to the right the Seibu line.

[Nick_Burman]

I think this line was built both to serve as a link to the limestone quarries and cement plant(s) in the Chichibu area, as well as for tourists wanting to visit the scenic valley there.

 

The limestone trains served the Mitsubishi Cement plant at Higashi Yokoze freight station. I assume cement then was shipped out bound for Shin Akitsu, which has an interchange with the Musashino Freight Line.  Trains continued to run until 1996, when the amount of traffic handled no longer was sustainable.

 

I don't know what the lineside contraptions are, perhaps lineside obstruction warning devices?

 

*I like that double slip at the station throat in the first video at 1:36, which serves as a connection with the Chichibu Railway, visible below and to the right the Seibu line.

 

Thanks BB. By any chance do you know what was the final destination of the cement trains, once they were interchanged to JR?

 

Cheers NB

[bikkuri bahn]

By any chance do you know what was the final destination of the cement trains, once they were interchanged to JR?

 

I assume they would go on to numerous on-line cement distribution facilities (in Japanese "nama-con"), which would process the cement to be carried by mixer trucks.  Referral to a JRF timetable prior to termination of these services would likely yield a definite answer.  Of course, nowadays most cement is just trucked from the cement plant (which is why the trains were axed).

 

*I came across some nice old videos of the Seibu cement trains.  I'll make a new post for that.