Nittsu original container

[bikkuri bahn]

On the outward leg of my trip over to Niigata a week and a half ago, a combination of the call of nature and an out of order washroom on the local I was riding forced an unplanned detrain at a station on the Joetsu Line (Koide).  As off peak this stretch of the Joetsu Line doesn't see much service, I had more than a hour to kill before the next train for Nagaoka.  All was not lost however, as freight #95, a high speed container freight originating in Kajigaya Freight Terminal in Kawasaki, and bound for Sapporo, stopped on the down track due to a signal check.  I was able to take some pictures of a container I haven't seen before.  It's a Nittsu 6 foot 2 ton container that combined with a UM9A adapter, allows two be carried in the same space as a standard JRF container.

 

The last picture is the shipping bill attached to one of the containers.  It is a shipment of mechanical parts/precision mechanical parts from Pioneer to Jupiter Telecom Sapporo.  It originated at Niiza Freight Terminal in Saitama and is bound for Sapporo Freight Terminal.  Train #95 is an interesting service, it traverses the Joetsu Line and then proceeds up the western side of Japan for Hokkaido, most container freights originating in the Kanto area use the Tohoku ML route.

 

Nittsu website detailing the 2 ton container:

http://www.nittsu.co.jp/rail/6feet_container.html

 

Freight #95 at Echigo Yuzawa, led by an EH200.  The train I observed at Koide was also pulled by an EH200.

[KenS]

Interesting. I'd never heard of containers that small (other than ones for airplanes, and this seems designed for truck/train use).

[bikkuri bahn]

It seems to be intended mainly for customers who are moving house (likely singles and couples w/o much furniture), as a toll free number for Nittsu's moving service is on the container. Each container can hold 200 standard size moving boxes. The website also mentions the clean interiors of these units (restricted service) so it may also appeal to business customers who are shipping more delicate merchandise.

[cteno4]

Very cool, wonder when someone is going to produce n scale versions of these!

 

Jeff