Scenes from the past: Hankyu Nishinomiya Kitaguchi flat crossing

[bikkuri bahn]

NHK Osaka segment from 1984:

 

Dig not only the crossings but the long-gone Hankyu rolling stock: 800 series, 1010 series.  I went to Osaka for the first time sometime in 1983, a pity I didn't get to see this.

[bill937ca]

Are those diamonds long gone?

[bikkuri bahn]

Are those diamonds long gone?

 

Yes, they were removed sometime after this news report.  The Imazu Line ceased to be a through line, becoming two branches that required passengers travelling from Imazu to change trains here if they wanted to continue on in the Takarazuka direction.  Essentially this function of the Imazu Line was sacrificed to increase capacity on the much more important Kobe Main Line.  Apparently Hankyu didn't want to spend the money to make a grade separation- you can see the new station under construction towards the end of the segment, basically they built a concourse above the ground level tracks/platforms.

 

This may have been posted before, a railfan video contemporary with the NHK report:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laU1x__G1Ow

[miyakoji]

Awesome find.  The "derailment switch" really is just that, I don't think I ever saw anything like that before.  At least those little spurs that JNR/JR has at the ends of station limits and signal blocks have some length and run into ballast piles, rather than like 6 inches and then on the ground!  And of course, this guy at 2'22", he should be the senior Hankyu spokesman!

[bikkuri bahn]

And of course, this guy at 2'22", he should be the senior Hankyu spokesman!

 

Yes, quite the image of a Kansai ossan.  Calls to mind this:

http://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/tensaibakabonx2.jpg

[Nick_Burman]

And of course, this guy at 2'22", he should be the senior Hankyu spokesman!

 

Yes, quite the image of a Kansai ossan.  Calls to mind this:

http://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/tensaibakabonx2.jpg

 

Excuse me my ignorance...but what is an "ossan"? In any case the gentleman in the film does look like the cartoon you sent...

 

The short bit of early footage of the interurbans literally took my breath away. Were all images taken on the Hankyu (or its predecessors)?

 

There is still one active diamond crossing on a private line, but nothing on the scale of Nishinomiya Kitaguchi; this is the crossing between Meitetsu's Higashi-Nagoya-Ko branch and a stub of the Meirin (Nagoya Rinkai) system. Interesting detail is that Meitetsu ran the Meirin under contract until the mid-1960's, when the contract was rescinded and the port railway was set up on its own.

 

Cheers NB

[miyakoji]

Nick - ossan is a contraction of obousan, a Buddhist priest.  I think it's used for a middle aged man, but not really old.  I never got creative with words like this, I wanted to avoid offending anyone, so I'm not entirely sure.  What cracks me up is not only his appearance but his voice and speech.

 

All the footage is Hankyu, except for the pictures at the end, which are the other Kansai private railways, in order Hanshin, Nankai, Kintetsu, and Keihan, which is geographically correct starting around 9 o'clock and going around Osaka counter-clockwise.

 

Very interesting about the Nagoya Rinkai, thank you.  I sometimes saw their diesels come in at Kasadera, with gondolas if I recall correctly, and JRF EF210s would pick them up and go north.

[bikkuri bahn]

"Ossan" is (based on how I and my friends use it) mainly a perjorative term, though I used it in this case in a more endearing way. Similarly the term "nechan" or "musume" referring to a young woman can be endearing or rude depending on context. 

[bikkuri bahn]

There is still one active diamond crossing on a private line, but nothing on the scale of Nishinomiya Kitaguchi; this is the crossing between Meitetsu's Higashi-Nagoya-Ko branch and a stub of the Meirin (Nagoya Rinkai) system

 

 

Don't forget Iyotetsu in Matsuyama:

[JR 500系]

Wow looks dangerous... No gates? No signals? Must be very good controlling system used there!

[Nick_Burman]

Don't forget Iyotetsu in Matsuyama:

 

Iyotetsu isn't quite the same thing, after all it's the crossing of a railway over a tramway in a city street. I'm thinking only of railway over railway crossings and AFAIK the Meirin-Meitetsu is the only one left...

 

Cheers NB

[Nick_Burman]

Wow looks dangerous... No gates? No signals? Must be very good controlling system used there!

 

The trams are protected by grade crossing signals; the railway has crossing occupancy signals on the approach to the crossing.

 

Cheers NB