Squeezing past

[Nick_Burman]

Hi all,

 

(Feeling inspired today. Not much to do at the office. All reports ready and filed )

 

Most rural private railways had passing sidings set up to cope with the typical trains expected of these kinds of lines, usually a motor + trailer (I'm talking of mainly electric lines; the steam lines obviously had longer sidings) but sometimes anything up to 3 passenger vehicles. For most passenger services this was more than adequate, usually. Freight being of secondary importance, most of the time it was hauled either behind the motor car or in short trains. However at times the number of cars handled could be larger than usual, requiring the handling of longer trains. Sometimes these trains would be apparently longer than the passing sidings, as this Niigata Kotsu freight with 9 WaMus behind shows (http://tsushima-keibendo.a.la9.jp/niigata/niigata-3.html - scroll down - train is obviously longer that the apparently 45m limit between fouling points at passing sidings). Question, how these trains were handled - were they given priority over the passenger services during meets? Or when things got too big for the sidings they scheduled more trips?

 

 

Cheers NB

[bikkuri bahn]

I have a feeling the freight trains were scheduled so as not to interfere with any passenger trains.  Likely that meant mid-day runs, where there was plenty of room for pathings in the diagram.  The website you reference has some hints- the second page has some pics of freights, all taken after 12:30.  Another website states there were 4 r/t freight services/day as of Showa 44 (1969), between Tsubame and Shirane, which is the lower half of the line.  You can only be sure of the movements by seeing an actual diagram, unfortunately the only one I can find is in that website, but it only shows movements in the AM hours.

 

Here is a page detailing the terminus at Tsubame, where freight was interchanged with JNR:

http://senrohaisenzu.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2008/07/197989_55dc.html

[Nick_Burman]

BB,

 

Thank once again. In fact I was using Niigata Kotsu as an example because of the picture which showed a clearly oversized train. I guess that that particular train must have been given a clear shot around any meets it might have had along the way. What site was this where you saw the 4x daily freights?

 

Incidentally, I'm with Google Earth on, looking at Tsubame station and much to my surprise the entire route out of town is traceable. Was the JNR yard just a yard or did it serve some industry? In any case, it's amazingly gone without trace...

 

 

Cheers NB

[bikkuri bahn]

Here's that website:

http://tnk-ko.a.la9.jp/niigata/niigata.html

 

I think the yard was merely to store/shunt freight cars off the Niigata Kotsu interchange, though maybe there is something off to the side on the yard.  The area around the station looks primarily residential.  Given the 4 freight workings/day off the Niigata Kotsu, those diesel shunters pictured must have had a decent if not overwhelming amount of work. Note that there is catenary over the auxiliary main line JNR track (this is where the DE10 is pictured), as well as a good portion of the lead to the yard, for the Niigata Kotsu boxmotors to use.　The Yahiko Line itself was not electrified until April, 1984 (by then freight service had ceased).

Edited July 4, 2013 by bikkuri bahn

[Nick_Burman]

Here's that website:

http://tnk-ko.a.la9.jp/niigata/niigata.html

 

I think the yard was merely to store/shunt freight cars off the Niigata Kotsu interchange, though maybe there is something off to the side on the yard.  The area around the station looks primarily residential.  Given the 4 freight workings/day off the Niigata Kotsu, those diesel shunters pictured must have had a decent if not overwhelming amount of work. Note that there is catenary over the auxiliary main line JNR track (this is where the DE10 is pictured), as well as a good portion of the lead to the yard, for the Niigata Kotsu boxmotors to use.　The Yahiko Line itself was not electrified until April, 1984 (by then freight service had ceased).

Thanks once more BB. I wonder who was/were the main customers on the Niigata Kotsu. As you have said, there must have been a quite decent amount of freight moving around. Those gondolas full of wire coils suggest some kind of metallurgical works, like barbed wire or nails, although the carloads of steel coil suggest something larger. I followed the trackbed from Tsubame to Niigata and the only industry of any size worth being rail served was an injection-moulding tooling manufacturer.

 

Cheers NB

Edited July 4, 2013 by Nick_Burman