Level crossing...

[Nick_Burman]

 

...for trucks! Ube Materials' cement hauling rigs ply backwards and forwards between mill and silo. Tractors are mostly US-made Kenilworths. The operation is impressive - the cement mill is some 30km inland from Ube-ko and is connected by a dual-carriageway private highway, which has a spectacular bridge across Ube bay (visible in Panoramio) No other traffic other than the Ube rigs (and service vehicles) is permitted to use it. At Ube-ko the cement is transferred to coastal shipping for further transit.

 

Cheers NB

[Mudkip Orange]

When I used to live in Washington State I sometimes used logging roads to cross reservations. The reservation roads were paved, but twisty and usually posted at 25-35. The logging roads, while gravel, were arrow-straight and you could run a solid 50-60 if you had your wits about you.

 

I have to admit though that I find this a bit puzzling. Surely they wouldn't need a solid four-lane section the whole way, when they could use a 3-lane section with alternating passing lanes. Kentucky and Oklahoma are big on this, as are the Swedes. But even more perplexing, there are a few full interchanges that appear to have been built and then fenced off. It's not emergency access, it's full trumpet/parclo with a concrete pad where a toll plaza would go.

 

This sort of makes me think that they built this thing with future plans of land development and eventually opening it up to other vehicles.

[miyakoji]

There's a trolleybus (electric bus, in my opinion) somewhere in Japan that is legally a railway.  Is this the same situation?

[Nick_Burman]

When I used to live in Washington State I sometimes used logging roads to cross reservations. The reservation roads were paved, but twisty and usually posted at 25-35. The logging roads, while gravel, were arrow-straight and you could run a solid 50-60 if you had your wits about you.

 

I have to admit though that I find this a bit puzzling. Surely they wouldn't need a solid four-lane section the whole way, when they could use a 3-lane section with alternating passing lanes. Kentucky and Oklahoma are big on this, as are the Swedes. But even more perplexing, there are a few full interchanges that appear to have been built and then fenced off. It's not emergency access, it's full trumpet/parclo with a concrete pad where a toll plaza would go.

 

This sort of makes me think that they built this thing with future plans of land development and eventually opening it up to other vehicles.

 

I guess you are right, however this road cuts across what is the main direction of movement. What kind of normal traffic it would receive if open to the public is a mystery. I was giving a good hard look at the factory on Google Earth and the funny thing is that it's rail-connected, to JR's Asa line. I wonder if it gets any service from JRF - somewhere in the back of my mind I remember that there was a line in the region plied by JRF freights which was hit by floods and washed out, I think it was the Asa line. I wonder when this highway setup was built...

 

Cheers NB

[Nick_Burman]

There's a trolleybus (electric bus, in my opinion) somewhere in Japan that is legally a railway.  Is this the same situation?

That's on the Tateyama - Kurobe Alpenroute. It's the "Kanden", Kansai Electric Power's line from Ogizawa to Kurobe Dam. There is also another trolleybus route in the Alpenroute, from Daikambo to Murodo, but the Kanden was the first one.

 

Cheers NB

[bikkuri bahn]

Speaking of Ube Industries, here is a service (the "Okami Freight"- 1r/t day), that JR-F runs for the firm, the Ube-branded cars bring in calcium carbonate and haul out flyash from Chugoku Electric's Misumi Power Generation Plant:

 

 

*apologies if this has been posted before...then again, any footage of double-headed dd51's is worth seeing again :)

[Martijn Meerts]

Hmmm.. Looks like I need to get some more DD51's so I can double head them pulling the MicroAce release of those Ube-branded cars ;)

[Nick_Burman]

Speaking of Ube Industries, here is a service (the "Okami Freight"- 1r/t day), that JR-F runs for the firm, the Ube-branded cars bring in calcium carbonate and haul out flyash from Chugoku Electric's Misumi Power Generation Plant:

 

*apologies if this has been posted before...then again, any footage of double-headed dd51's is worth seeing again :)

Thanks BB, that explains it...I suppose the calcium carbonate is for flue gas scrubbing? I wonder if JRF picks the resulting Calcium Sulfate (synthetic gypsum) haul...I doubt it... :-(

 

Cheers NB

[marknewton]

Wow, rubber-tired hopper cars! 

 

I like the Okami freight, too, with its pastel hoppers.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.