Tokyo Station --steam and Shinkansen

[bill937ca]

From RMS comes a photo of Tokyo Station in 1970 with a D51 and a Shinkansen taken from a rooftop.

 

The photo is here.

[Densha]

Where there still steam trains in regular service in that time or was it just a commemoration ride?

[200系]

Densha, IRC JNR ended steam operations in 1975, however I'm not 100% sure steam engines where still regularly used around Tokyo at that time, or if they where relegated to Hokaido only. Some of our members who are more knowledgeable about JNR steam operations might know more.

 

Bill, nice find! It's also interesting to know, that the area used by this particular train, now (since 1992) hosts the JR East Shinkansen Platforms.

[Densha]

Hmmm... feels pretty late to me for such a developed country, but Germany wasn't really early either.

Where there only 4 Shinkansen platforms at that time at Tokyo station? That's not many.

[tsubasa119]

Here is a machine translation of the caption: Sounds like it may have been a special

 

To commemorate the line electrification Takashima, goodbye Tokyo train - has been driven between the Port of Yokohama. Hall was taken from the rooftop KOKURO this train. Shinkansen smoke 蒸機 expiring along with D51 was mapped to the sky of Tokyo. D51 791: machine. Hiroyuki Uchida: P Tokyo '70 .10.18

 

Regards,

Allastair

[Densha]

If there's "Shinkansen smoke" then there's something wrong I think.

Machine translations from Asian languages makes so less sense...

[200系]

Densha,

 

Hmmm... feels pretty late to me for such a developed country, .

 

One thing to remember is that Japan in 1970, although at this point firmly in the "years of rapid economic growth" was still pretty much developing into a developed country at this point.

While they had made some enormous strives at that point in history, Japan at that point in time still had some way to go before they became the Japan we know (and love) Today. Especially on A personal level, there was still quite some time before the average Japanese could profit from their remarkable recovery.

 

Another factor may simply have been production capacity. If you look at the enormous amount of new EMU, DMU and Locomotive types build from the 1960's on, as well as the continuing expansion/electrification going on, I guess there simply wasn't enough production capacity to replace every steam engine before 1975.

 

but Germany wasn't really early either

 

they certainly weren't (West Germany 1977, East germany/GDR/DDR 1988).

 

Where there only 4 Shinkansen platforms at that time at Tokyo station? That's not many.

 

Yes, but you have to remember that at that point of time (1970) only the Tokaido Shinkansen was in operation, and even though the original 0系 Formations where being extended from 12 to 16 cars (30 out of 85 formations in service at that time) Traffic wasn't as dense as it would be in later years (even though the 1970 Expo in Osaka provided a surge in passengers). Now, after 1972 after the opening of the Sanyo Shinkansen up till Okayama, and 1976 with the opening of the full Sanyo Shinkansen (till Hakata) traffic increased again, and I believe it was in this period that 2 platforms where added, bringing the total to 6 (as it still is today). Now the Eastern Shinkansen is another story altogether, when the Tohoku and Joetsu Shinkansen opened in 1982, they only went as far as Omya due to budgetary concerns. However construction of the Shinkansen section between Omya to Ueno (110km/h max) commenced immediately, and this section opened in 1985. In 1992 with the opening of the Yamagate mini-Shinkansen the Eastern Shinkansen where extended tot Tokyo station, their platforms alongside (but not connected to, as I mentioned in another threat) the Western Shinkansen for the first time. In 1997 with the opening of the Nagano Shinkansen, 2 extra platforms where build to accommodate the extra traffic this would bring.

 

Hope this helps.

[westfalen]

There is video of this on one of the DVDs I got from Mat in Tokyo a couple of years ago of some late night fillers from Japanese TV. We had a discussion about it then and I think we decided it was a fan trip commemorating the last steam in freight service in the Tokyo region.

[Densha]

@200系

Yup, it helps a lot!

[bikkuri bahn]

however I'm not 100% sure steam engines where still regularly used around Tokyo at that time, or if they where relegated to Hokaido only.

 

Regular steam operations ended in the Tokyo area in October of 1970, notably on the Takashima Freight Line in Kanagawa Prefecture, and the Hachiko Line in western Tokyo/Saitama.

 

Takashima Freight Line last SL run (0:30 to 1:08)

 

Hachiko Line final SL:

[bikkuri bahn]

Machine translations from Asian languages makes so less sense...

 

Yes, indeed.  The picture is from the same event/train as the youtube video I posted- which commemorated both the end of steam on the Tokaido Freight Line/Takashima Line, and the electrification of the latter (the Tokaido Line of course had already been electrified decades earlier).  The photo caption mentions that the d51 hauled train departed alongside the shinkansen, and the smoke ejected from the d51 "billowed into the Tokyo sky", or something to that effect...

[westfalen]

I wondered in the previous thread if this was the last time an 'in service' steam locomotive visited Tokyo station as opposed to a 'preserved' engine such as D51 498 or C61 20. That is if they have ever been there, most excursions I have noticed that start out from Tokyo have an electric loco haul them out to Takasaki, if so then this may have been the last steam loco at Tokyo station. It reminds me of steam excursions in Queensland around the end of steam in the late sixties when all you had to do was grab one of the remaining engines and a crew, none of the problems associated with running mainline steam today.

[keitaro]

this was the sayonara run for the d51-791 it ran between tokyo to takashima in october 1970. You can see the badge in the link from bill also here is a link for a bit of detail on it

 

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/kay31527/34849039.html

 

 

hmm on a side note of ending of steam operations the C57 135 was the locomotive that hauled a scheduled steam service in 1975

 

 

14th of December with train No.225 on the Muroran line..... Muroran to Iwamizawa with a class C57, No. C57-135.

 

refference

http://homepage3.nifty.com/EF57/lastday/lastday.htm

 

this link at the bottom also includes a pic of a steam passing a newly manufactured shinkansen. Quite Epic if you ask me!