Old wooden carriages

[katoftw]

Trying to find out more info about the old jnr/jr wooden carriages.  Ohani Oha Sufahu etc.

 

Some were blue. Some were brown.  Guessing brown was a early era and blue was more recent.

 

I attempt googling by only find websites that aren't giving good info.  Lots of pics, no details.

 

What colour do they use for special SL weekend runs in Japan?

 

Are brown versions only in museums now?

 

Thanks.

[Fenway Park]

Hi,

 

Brown was indeed the colour applied to coaches on Japanese Government Railways and then Japanese National Railways. When the 20 series sleepers were introduced, the blue livery was a success and it was decided to repaint the other carriages in blue over a period of time. 

 

I am away from main computer where I have the dates and numbers for the changeover from brown to blue usually accompanied by a change from steam to electric heating denoted by the coach number being altered also.

 

Will try to find the data for you.

[bikkuri bahn]

What you are describing as wooden coaches were likely steel coaches post WWII- many wooden coaches were rebuilt in steel- for example the 60 series (oha 60 et al).  Coaches before the 1960's tended to be brown (or a deep burgundy brown) to make the soot from steam locomotives less apparent.  Blue was introduced for express services, but later in the 1970's there was a mix of the two colors, as loco-hauled trains dwindled in number.

[westfalen]

They use a bit of everything on SL excursions.  JR East has a very nice looking set of brown cars they run behind C61 20 and D51 498 but they also use a set of modern blue series 12 cars that I believe came out toward the end of the steam era.  The Oigawa Railway, the last time I was there at least, uses authentic steam era brown cars but most of the other SLs use modern cars painted to look authentic, or at least some graphic designers idea of authentic.

[katoftw]

D51 498 = Orient Express?

 

Thanks for the info.  Sufahu Oha Ohanis etc were what I was look at.  Mainly to do steam era modelling, but a SL or two can be thrown into a modern era model as SL excursions.

[westfalen]

D51 498 = Orient Express?

 

Thanks for the info.  Sufahu Oha Ohanis etc were what I was look at.  Mainly to do steam era modelling, but a SL or two can be thrown into a modern era model as SL excursions.

The same loco, was restored in 1988 to pull the Orient Express and has been part of JR East's heritage fleet ever since.

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9B%BD%E9%89%84D51%E5%BD%A2%E8%92%B8%E6%B0%97%E6%A9%9F%E9%96%A2%E8%BB%8A498%E5%8F%B7%E6%A9%9F

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AA%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A8%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A8%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9%E3%83%97%E3%83%AC%E3%82%B9_%2788

In Japanese, but the Japanese version of Wikipedia has much more content than the English version when it comes to Japanese railways. A pity because I think the visit of the Orient Express to Japan is one of the greatest feats in the history of railways and hardly anyone except us serious fans of Japanese railways know about it.

[katoftw]

I sure I have a N scale static model of it somewhere.  Has Nostalgie Istanbul Orient Express on the side of the tender and red painted side rods.

[bikkuri bahn]

A pity because I think the visit of the Orient Express to Japan is one of the greatest feats in the history of railways and hardly anyone except us serious fans of Japanese railways know about it.

I saw the train depart Ueno Station back in 1988, it was a zoo with railfans jostling for position.  I had a little 35mm Olympus rangefinder then, I really worked the film advance crank on it that day.

 

Old Fuji TV program, here you can see the changeout of the euro-spec bogies with TR40's at 5:38.  As the Orient Express coaches are longer than standard Japanese coaches, they had to run a structure gauge car (oya 31, nicknamed "oiran ressha") to check clearances, see it in operation at 9:13.

 

[miyakoji]

Nice one Bikkuri, I've seen pictures of the gauge cars many times but I'd never seen it in motion.  I'd imagined being pulled much more slowly.  I had a good laugh when one of the fingers hit that sign at speed.

[Densha]

A few years back the Orient Express, of course with standard gauge bogies, passed through my hometown. Was pretty cool to see it in person!