Toden Arakawa line - B&W photo questions

[velotrain]

I've managed to track [sic] down the location this photo was shot from.

 

View from unnamed (unlabeled) one-lane street by Daiichi Junior High School, looking toward Arakawaitchumae station - first station after Minowabashi.

 

However, I can’t get Google Streetview to position itself at the exact location I need to replicate the perspective of the original – I’m guessing because the camera only fires every couple of seconds – it’s mindboggling to think of that much data every ~20 feet, from millions of streets/roads all around the globe.

 

 

I have a few questions for any old (or young) Japan hands.

 

What are the low white stakes?  These seem to be placed at the apex of each curve.

 

It looks like every third tie is concrete - is this true for the whole line?  I'm guessing this is so that even if the wood ones corrode/shift over time, the concrete ones will maintain track gauge.

 

There are drainage ditches on each side, but I'm wondering why most line poles are built in the middle of the ditch, but others are anchored on concrete peninsulas coming out from the track, with the ditch routed behind them?

 

What is the black cylinder near the top right corner of each view?  It seems to be related to rail operations.

 

What is the function of the Y-shaped bracket in the middle of the catenary crossbars?  It generally doesn't seem to have anything connected to it, but I notice that it's included on all the model 2-track catenary supports.

[kvp]

I'll try to answer what i can:

 

The mixed concrete ties seem to be a cost cutting mesure, they only replaced every 3rd or so. You can see, that the guard rails are only connected to the concrete ties. This means the old ties only provide vertical support, but only the concrete ties are used to hold the rails horizontally.

 

The poles seem to be a mix of new and old and the building strategy seems to have changed between them, but they do look slightly funny this way.

 

The V shaped bars are used to connect the pull off wires of the inner contact wire in curves. The outer ones are connected to the outer poles. On the streetview pictures, you can see the wires and the isolators on them. On straight lines (if used) one end of the crosswire is connected to one pole, the middle to this bar and the other end to the other pole. The catenary wire is hanged from the cross beam.

 

 

[Nick_Burman]

kvp and velotrain,

 

 

Replacing every third tie in a rail line is an accepted practice when renewing track on a limited budget, or when traffic cannot be interrupted for a thorough renewal project. When crews finish replacing every third tie, they'll return to the beginning and start replacing every second tie and so forth until the whole line/section is converted.

 

The black (actually gray) barrels are part of the level crossing warning system, telling the motormen if the crossing barriers are closed and if the section between the barriers is free of obstacles.

 

Cheers NB

Edited July 25, 2014 by Nick_Burman

[velotrain]

Thanks much for the info guys.

[Guest ___]

 

Replacing every third tie in a rail line is an accepted practice when renewing track on a limited budget, or when traffic cannot be interrupted for a thorough renewal project. When crews finish replacing every third tie, they'll return to the beginning and start replacing every second tie and so forth until the whole line/section is converted.

 

 

Sadly, concrete ties mean no date nails

[Nick_Burman]

Sadly, concrete ties mean no date nails

 

But in some cases it means date RFIDs/transponders...

 

Cheers NB

[katoftw]

Normally just spray paint a double digit representing the year they were fitted.

[gmat]

After my morning lesson, I went to Ojibwa Station and rode the Arakawa Line to the spot in the picture. The Arakawa Line replaced the wooden ties during the 1980s. The dark ties are also concrete ties. They have a date on one end. At the station before the curve in the top picture, the ties are dated as 81 and there are no light colored ties. Two crossings closer to Minowa Station, the dark ties are 87 and the light colored ties, generally every fourth tie, are dated 07. Possibly enough ties are replaced to maintain strength and save on replacing every tie. The white markers seem to be used on the inner curves only at thus location. Going towards Waseda Station, I noticed white marked ties on a straight section and did not see other curves with the white markers. I got off at Otsuka Station.

 

More later.

Best wishes,

Grant

[westfalen]

I thought of this photo I took last month to show the rose bushes that are planted along most of the right of way but it also shows wooden ties under the rail joints.

[Guest ___]

But in some cases it means date RFIDs/transponders...

 

Cheers NB

 

Pft, try reading one of those without a scanner.

 

The blown highlights in the BW image hurts my eyes.

[gmat]

Westfalen, did you see where they were moving the tracks closer together to widen the roads on either side? They have ties, rails and cement blocks stockpiled on either side. I walked by to shoot some photos as I thought I saw some wood ties there. There were wooden ties, but too short to be normal ties. There were some longer wooden ties to be used for the temporary tracks. What seems to be wooden ties to be placed under the rail joints, doesn't look like real wood. When you examine the cross cut, you can't see rings or grain. The station before the curve has one rail joint with the old style wooden ties. They use two ties, one on each side of the join. And you can clearly see that it is deteriorated wood. The new version uses only one. The surface and edges were so regular that I thought that it might be a metal plate. I think that there is a fiberglass board covering whatever is used to form the tie.

 

Am still at Shinjuku Station and haven't returned home yet.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

Edited July 26, 2014 by gmat

[bill937ca]

 

 

The poles seem to be a mix of new and old and the building strategy seems to have changed between them, but they do look slightly funny this way.

 

Pole replacement was my thought too.  Pole replacement and pole removal could be two different contracts.  There may be places where other utilities have wires on the poles and pole removal cannot occur until their wires are moved.

[velotrain]

Thanks for the on-site research Grant.

 

>  "The dark ties are also concrete ties."

 

My initial distinction was caused both by the color and the more prominent upsweep towards the ends of the newer ties.  Looking back at the B&W photo again, I can see that there is a much more subtle upsweep, much closer to the rail, on the older concrete ties.

 

I had noticed the tie variation at Arakawaitchumae station.

 

I take it the narrow/shallow concrete culverts under the rails here are for passing communication cables?

 

There's also a "closed" concrete form with an angled section between the tracks, and similar-looking ones in the middle-ground.

 

I take it the yellow bricks represent "walk this way".  On a Finger Lakes bicycle tour, I rode down a street in the town where the author of "Wizard of Oz" once lived, and the sidewalks were solid yellow brick.

 

Charles

 

 

[kvp]

 

 take it the yellow bricks represent "walk this way".

They are actually patterned tiles that could be used by vision impaired people to board the trains without help. In europe, they are also installed at road crossings (with audible traffic signals).

[katoftw]

In Australia we call the tactiles. The circilar ones represent a point of interest. ie kvp's example of a road crossing/edge of guttering, or in front of an entry, or elevator doors etc. The longish hotdog/frankfurt shape ones lead between those points of interest.

 

http://www.sydneytactileinstallations.com.au/sydney-tactile-installations-whats-hot

 

In the example of velos pictures. A line of circles are at the walkway entry, bottom of ramp and top of ramp or elevation changes. And the long ones go from the entry to the top of the ramp.

 

You cannot see it in the picture, but you may find the VIP/wheel chair boarding area to have the circle tiles in place. OR even the whole length of the platform.

Edited July 26, 2014 by katoftw

[katoftw]

I found a good example pic from another Toden stations:-

 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Toden-arakawa-line-Mukohara-station.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Toden-arakawa-line-Asukayama-station.jpg

Edited July 26, 2014 by katoftw

[gmat]

Here are some of the pics that I took yesterday.

http://s187.photobucket.com/user/gmat6441/library/Arakawa%20Line/Arakawa%20Line%2026%20jul%2014?sort=2&page=1

 

Best wishes. 

Grant

 

Edit to previous post before this one.

The wooden ties shown stockpiled may be only for the rail joins. Don't know why I thought they were too short.

The new ties for the rail joins can be seen in single or double placement.

In the rail join ties, detail shots album, there is one of the new type ties with a whitish surface on top in the first and second photos If you blow it up, it looks more like fiberglass than wood to me. But I could be wrong. In the third photo, if you look at a blowup of the diagonal cut that removed a thin top section. I was wrong to say that there was a fiberglass cover. Sorry.

 

With apologies,

Grant

[velotrain]

Grant - I don't see where you have anything to apologize for.

 

Thanks for the photos.

 

> In the third photo, if you look at a blowup of the diagonal cut that removed a thin top section.

 

All I see in the third photo are two wood ties and two old concrete ties, so I don't understand about the "diagonal cut".  There are short sections of two new "rail join ties" at the very top of the frame, but I don't see any cuts there either.

 

I'm wondering if anyone has thoughts on the reason for those two short sections of rail sitting perpendicular to the running rails?

 

I was interested by the vertical sections of rail used to retain the "concrete tiles?" along one side of the drainage ditch.

 

Charles

[velotrain]

OK - I was wondering why I hadn't seen the "cut", and just realized I had missed the detail shots sub-album.

 

Some of the ties are clearly wood, while others seem to have too smooth a surface texture.

 

Although - image #6 makes me wonder if perhaps it's wood impregnated with something, which in some situations results in all that white stuff.  The texture here does look like wood.

 

However, the material in the first three shots looks very strange indeed, perhaps some very dense - or processed, wood; the "end grain" in particular has an odd pattern.

[katoftw]

They are painted yellow. So probably stopping marks of some desciption. Or warning marks.

 

As for the vertical section of rail used to make the retaining wall. Rail companies have been using pieces of rail for any job at hand. Fences, retaining walls, garden edging etc. Once a piece of track has fatigued and been removed, any way to reuse it is money saved. Although nowadays in a modern world, with steel/mineral prices as high as they are. They sell them off for recycling. So you dont see them being reused these in various ways anymore. Or too expensive to use them for things like retainer and fences. Concrete is much cheaper.

Edited July 27, 2014 by katoftw

[bikkuri bahn]

The brown, not quite wooden-looking sleepers are likely fiber reinforced foamed urethane sleepers (FFU合成まくらぎ). 

 

http://hosenwiki.com/index.php?title=%E5%90%88%E6%88%90%E3%81%BE%E3%81%8F%E3%82%89%E3%81%8E

http://www.sekisui.com/search/detail-0750.html

[cteno4]

http://www.thomasnet.com/articles/plastics-rubber/polyurethane-railway

 

http://www.railway-technology.com/features/feature92105/

 

Jeff

[katoftw]

Modemo have released the 8800 trams in rose and yellow colour Arakawa Line for pre-order.

[velotrain]

Thanks - but I was specifically looking for the one in the photo, and David was able to locate one for me.

 

My crazy idea is to try to build a diorama-module and stage that scene as closely as I can get.

[katoftw]

No problem.  Just saw them and remembered some was modelling Toden.  So thought I'd post it up.

Edited August 24, 2014 by katoftw