cool port scene

[cteno4]

very cool little port scene across the channel from the himiko water bus port at toyosu. a cement plant with a very cool articulated bulk crane.

 

http://goo.gl/maps/oSjHc

 

http://goo.gl/maps/YIoat

 

just need a fleet of cement trucks!

 

looks like a small cement carrier, like a 140' x 25' ship.

 

http://goo.gl/maps/JBi6Y

 

close to the weller shell 1/130 tanker (scales to n scale well as the deck spacing is pretty minimal.)

 

https://secure.hlj.com/product/akmak40011/Nav

 

even a cool old rail bridge next to it

 

http://goo.gl/maps/250Tc

 

jeff

[KenS]

That cool rail bridge is about all that's left of the old Harumi line, which appears to have been the name of the line that extended onto the artificial island of Harumi from the end of what's now known as the Etchujima line, the latter today used only by JRE MOW trains as far as I can tell (the last customer, a chemical plant, apparently closed c. 1997).  That's an oddball Tokyo line that caught my eye due to the welded rail terminal on the canal at the end of it. If you use Google Earth, you can see some photos from 1997 showing the old right of way, which didn't appear to have tracks on it at that point. Those remnants were mostly eliminated c. 2003 by construction.

 

I particularly like this loco, apparently working the welded rail yard in 2009:

 

Here's a neat blog with some photos on the ground, including a view across the bridge towards the cement plant:

 

http://www.nyohohodentetsu.com/railtokyo-rinko.html

 

And that's a lot of cement trucks.  I think you'd need some serious "selective compression" to model that!

[miyakoji]

This sort of thing is always very interesting.  Zooming out on the google map I saw the Tokyo Metro depot on Shiohama, I was a bit surprised to see that there's no connection to the Etchujima Line, even though gauge and DC is the same.

[velotrain]

Jeff's mention of the Shell Welder intrigued me, which was only increased by the box cover art on HLJ - however, they show it as Discontinued.

 

It looks like a neat kit, and should be convertible to a generic coastal freighter.  Much more reasonable size (and price) than the Sylvan freighter.

 

BTW - the latter features on a very impressive N-scale double-deck layout: 

http://www.railroad-line.com/discussion/post.asp?method=ReplyQuote&REPLY_ID=382736&TOPIC_ID=22610&FORUM_ID=8

 

I've seen later photos of the ship with details and crew added, most likely additional posts to the same forum, or perhaps the modeler's own web site.

 

 

I decided to try to find the Shell Welder on the net, knowing there are stores that specialize in old plastic kits.

 

It turns out that maybe HLJ has discontinued it, but it's still in production by Ark.

 

I've just ordered two here:  http://www.hobby.dn.ua/shell-welder-coastal-tanker-1130-p-68327.html?language=en

[velotrain]

I noticed that unlike the Streetview shot, Jeff's satellite photo showed a ship with a very large on-board crane.

 

The current Streetview image shows this ship, although the crane is inexplicably poised over the water.

 

Now I know what to do with my second Shell Welder kit ;-)

[cteno4]

The crane appears like it might be an articulated vertical lift crane to load/unload cement hoppers from the ships. Looks like the ship there has hoppers in it. The crane is stationary as it has to unload from the ship and drop there at the dockside distribution system. From the two bulkheads on either side of the crane this is where the ship is moored and easily winched back and forth as needed.

 

It looks like the satellite view has two image, one with the ship under the dock crane and one with just the other ship moored below. In google maps app there is a higher resolution than when I did it on the web maps last year. The lower ship looks to have its own unloading system and sealed bunkers. The bigger ship is just a big open central bunker hold. The crane on the ship I'm sure is to load/unload at ports w.o a dockside bulk crane. Pretty common on coastal freighters to be able to load/unload themselves at smaller ports/docks.

 

The dock crane reminds me of the wild old huellet loaders, but not the same.

 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1RJfnk2S330

 

The shell weller was re-released last year by ark and hs had them, they are just out of stock now. The ark/frog/model craft/novo come across ebay fairly often, usually going for $25-50 shipped.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[velotrain]

Actually, the dock crane looks like an updated version of a kind very common in northern European ports, and I believe there are HO scale kits of this type.   N . . .

 

I just had a thought - the reason the crane on the ship is swung out over the water (Streetview shots) is to keep it out of the way of the dock crane !!!

 

The satellite image with it angled across the ship seems to show an empty cargo hold, so they could bring it back "on board".

 

The ship crane looks like a land-based boom crane on a tracked vehicle, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was put on the ship by an even larger crane.

 

The smaller vessel looks like it has an assortment of roundish containers on the deck, so it might carry "minority" minerals / chemicals used in the process.

[velotrain]

Jeff - here you go !!!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqy8rP4MGqc

[velotrain]

I’m starting to acquire materials for a rendition of the "Toyosu" Cement plant, back-dated a TBD number of years. 

I’ve got a couple of the Shell Welder kits coming (the original British Frog version - with English instructions), a crawler crane to go on the ship, a rail crane to become the dock crane – likely mounted on a Faller gantry crane base.

My current thoughts are to combine the Walthers Glacier Gravel and ADM grain elevator for the buildings – they have a gravel plant, but the ADM provides better kit-bashing materials.

 

However, I will have to wait for a re-run of the Tomytec cement trucks before I can take the project seriously.

 

Here's some info and photos on the proto Shell Welder:

 

http://www.tynebuiltships.co.uk/S-Ships/shellwelder1955.html

 

I've found a number of kit reviews indicating that the castings are of generally poor quality.  Luckily, I'm not a serious ship modeler and thereby have very low standards.  I'm generally interested in what is known as "the look and feel".

 

There is nothing available in N scale that is even close to the "cool articulated bulk crane" that Jeff mentioned, which is largely why I will need to backdate the scene.  Although, I have no idea just how long it's actually been there.

 

I have some questions about the proto scene, if Jeff or anyone has any answers.

 

I'm now thinking that what the (larger) ships brought in is gravel.

 

What is the fixture at the end of the boom on the ship-board crane?  I've never seen anything like it, and can only imagine that it is some sort of scoop to pick up a load of gravel from a pile.

 

Since the "inbound" conveyor apparently starts directly underneath the port crane, what are your ideas on how the gravel got there? 

It looks like there may be some sort of "pen" at the water's edge next to the crane. 

 

It seems to me that the gravel is taken to the top of the main (largest) building, then gets mixed with the other dry materials, and is finally lifted by zig-zag conveyor lines to the top of the tallest building, and then dumped into the trucks at the bottom of that.  However, all the mixing could get done in this building.

 

What is the function of the two large tanks at the far end of the property?

 

I've also found some additional views, which help to clarify the routes of the conveyors.

[cteno4]

Glad you have gotten into the scene! It is a fun one and I think freelancing it to fit stuff you can kitbash easily will make it much more easy to do.

 

I assumed the large tanks were more cement silos.

 

The shell weller is decent moulding, at least the two I have. Could be a model that was repressed over and over and moulds degraded with time.

 

There is a guy currently selling quite a few bandai cement mixers, would need to reprint, but hard to amass a lot of the same truck unless you like the tomytec 2 truck mixer and dump truck sets. Tomytec seems not to be re releasing the big sets much at all. Just did it for a few car sets, but nothing recently...

 

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Model-Railroads-Trains-/479/m.html?item=311036505424&hash=item486b386d50&pt=Model_RR_Trains&_ssn=fw190k

 

Keep us posted on the project!

 

Cheers,

 

Jeff

[velotrain]

> I assumed the large tanks were more cement silos.

 

I don't think so.  There is no visible connection to the rest of the facility.  They seem to be part of an independent operation on the same property.  If you blow up one of the photos ("another view" @ 200% +), you can see what looks like a large, open truck-loading bay behind the tanks - somewhat similar to road salt loading bays in the U.S.  Any chance that could be what it is?

 

> The shell weller is decent moulding, at least the two I have. Could be a model that was repressed over and over and moulds degraded with time.

 

The model seems to have a very long history, and one reference claimed it was simultaneously produced by three different companies.  Since the kits I'm getting (today I hope) are by Frog, that means they're from early in the mold's life-cycle.

 

I just noticed something interesting.  There is a truck dump ramp just to the left (in satellite photos) of the conveyor support tower - the shadow proves it is a ramp, and that there's a flat spot at the top for the truck to discharge.  Trucks back up it and dump into an opening at the high end.  This in turn connects to a small conveyor, which ends over the main conveyor from the dock crane to the support tower.  If you look at "small photo" @ 400%, you can see that the upper conveyor connects to the main conveyor there.  I'm guessing this is used for sand, which seems the ingredient in concrete that a truck is most likely to bring in.  In fact, there's a "dumpster" beneath the conveyor connection to catch any spillage - no doubt an idea that gained one employee a bonus.

 

I'm wondering why the conveyors have the tubular covering, if anyone has any ideas.  Is it perhaps related to some Japanese safety law?

 

Speaking of conveyors, check out this site:  http://www.traincat2.com/

 

I also just noticed that in the photo from the "old RR bridge", you see an older version of the far end of the property, before the two new tanks were built.  It looks like there might have been some other facility for unloading from ships - since torn down.

 

I'm now thinking the main building is only used for processing and storing aggregates (stone and sand), while the cement component is mixed in the tall white structure - which has a half-dozen smaller tanks around it, as well as connections to the buildings on the far side.  The aggregates entering this at the top gives them space to combine everything before loading it in the trucks below.

 

I think my biggest problem will be to determine a suitable level of detail that satisfies me, without making it a mega-project.  I'm planning to have the sand brought in by rail - to justify the connection.

 

I've got a couple of leads on a large number of identical mixer trucks.  Speaking of which, I'll need to include an on-site repair facility for them.