Ken Ford Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 I have an interest in modeling grain shipments by rail - it's my main focus for US HO. Here in the Midwest you can't swing a cat by its tail without hitting at least three grain covered hoppers. Does or did Japan have any intensive grain shipping by rail? I've run across the Hoki2200 which I've gathered was commonly used for rice shipment, but they apparently are all retired. Has grain been containerized, or has it all gone to trucks? Link to comment
Nick_Burman Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Ken, There used to be rail shipment of grain - I have a book about the Tsurumi line and there are pictures of strings of HoKi2200 cars parked at silos for loading/unloading. I don't know about containers, but from what I saw during my trip most imported cereals seem to travel mainly by sea, even domestically. Inland crops theses days must travel by truck, unless there is some movement of bagged cereal in containers by rail. Cheers NB 1 Link to comment
Ken Ford Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 Thanks, Nick! Link to comment
miyakoji Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 (edited) (Duplicate post, please delete) Edited February 16, 2015 by miyakoji 1 Link to comment
Ken Ford Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 I think the Japanese Wiki page for the Hoki2200 mentioned rice, but I can't check it from here. Link to comment
kvp Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Maybe the fact that most rice production in Japan happened on small scale plots resulted in less bulk shipments and instead the traditional bagged transfer was used. For that, you could always use boxcars with hand loading, later palettes with forklifts and finally containers on flatcars. This has the added benefit of being transferable relatively easily between various modes of transportation and no specialised equipment is needed for it. Bulk shipment is only usable between large scale storehouses or when using large automated marchinery with large flat fields. Covered hoppers are also usable between a bulk grain carrier ship and a storage or factory, so mostly for imported rice. 2 Link to comment
Ken Ford Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 From some of the photos I've found it looks like some of the breweries received rice in covered hoppers. I need to figure out the appropriate Kanji and do some photo keyword searching. Link to comment
Ken Ford Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 Are bulk containers used domestically? I've noticed boxes and tanks, but haven't seen bulk dry containers. Link to comment
katoftw Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 From some of the photos I've found it looks like some of the breweries received rice in covered hoppers. I need to figure out the appropriate Kanji and do some photo keyword searching.Yes they did. The only reason I know this is because you can by n scale models of them. Link to comment
miyakoji Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 We discussed this list of very specialized JNR freight cars http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/国鉄貨車の車両形式 before, but looking through it now, I don't see anything about rice. I'm a bit surprised, they even had cars for pigs and pottery. I'm looking at it on a cell phone screen, maybe I'm missing it. Link to comment
bikkuri bahn Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Yes they did. The only reason I know this is because you can by n scale models of them If you can tell us the car designation we can probably find out their service usage. I have my doubts about use of bulk haulage by rail of consumer use rice (as opposed to use by factories). I reckon most was bagged near the harvest point and distributed locally, at least before the mass motorization age. 1 Link to comment
westfalen Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 (edited) I took this photo from the window of the southbound Hokutosei along the Tohoku Line somewhere north of Tokyo in 1990, I can't narrow down the location any further than that though. This possible grain silo was along the Banetsu West Line on the outskirts of Aizu Wakamatsu in 2010, it looked like it hadn't been out of use for very long. Edited February 17, 2015 by westfalen 1 Link to comment
Nick_Burman Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 I took this photo from the window of the southbound Hokutosei along the Tohoku Line somewhere north of Tokyo in 1990, I can't narrow down the location any further than that though. 90 Japan304.jpg This possible grain silo was along the Banetsu West Line on the outskirts of Aizu Wakamatsu in 2010, it looked like it hadn't been out of use for very long. DSC03590.JPGDSC03591.JPGDSC03592.JPGDSC03593.JPG Alvin, The Aizu silo belonged to Cement Terminal (CT). Cheers NB 2 Link to comment
Nick_Burman Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 (edited) Maybe the fact that most rice production in Japan happened on small scale plots resulted in less bulk shipments and instead the traditional bagged transfer was used. For that, you could always use boxcars with hand loading, later palettes with forklifts and finally containers on flatcars. This has the added benefit of being transferable relatively easily between various modes of transportation and no specialised equipment is needed for it. Bulk shipment is only usable between large scale storehouses or when using large automated marchinery with large flat fields. Covered hoppers are also usable between a bulk grain carrier ship and a storage or factory, so mostly for imported rice. Most silos I saw in Japan were located by the water, so most grain is/was handled by ship. One user (I think that in fact it was the last flow) of HoKi2200 cars was Kirin, which I think brought hops from Hokkaido by rail. Cheers NB Edited February 17, 2015 by Nick_Burman 1 Link to comment
Nick_Burman Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Are bulk containers used domestically? I've noticed boxes and tanks, but haven't seen bulk dry containers. Yes, for chemical traffic. MCLC (Mitsubishi Chemicals Logistics) has a large series which turns up regularly on the Mitsuii Miike line. Cheers NB 1 Link to comment
Ken Ford Posted February 17, 2015 Author Share Posted February 17, 2015 If you can tell us the car designation we can probably find out their service usage. I have my doubts about use of bulk haulage by rail of consumer use rice (as opposed to use by factories). I reckon most was bagged near the harvest point and distributed locally, at least before the mass motorization age. That's what I was thinking - bulk grain shipments for industry. A small brewery or a commercial bakery is what I'm considering at the moment. Link to comment
Ken Ford Posted February 17, 2015 Author Share Posted February 17, 2015 Most silos I saw in Japan were located by the water, so most grain is/was handled by ship. One user (I thin k in fat it was the last flow) of HoKi2200 cars was Kirin, which I think brought hops from Hokkaido by rail. Cheers NB Nick, any idea when Kirin quit receiving hops by rail? Link to comment
Ken Ford Posted February 28, 2015 Author Share Posted February 28, 2015 Nick, any idea when Kirin quit receiving hops by rail? Does anyone know? Link to comment
Nick_Burman Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 Does anyone know? Sorry, meant to give you an answer. I don't know exactly but I have a hunch it was in the 1990's. Cheers NB Link to comment
Ken Ford Posted February 28, 2015 Author Share Posted February 28, 2015 That helps - thank you! Link to comment
katoftw Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 http://www.1999.co.jp/search_e.asp?Typ1_c=104&scope=1&scope2=0&itkey=kirin you need these... 1 Link to comment
Ken Ford Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 I saw those - alas, N scale... Link to comment
Sacto1985 Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 So, how is riced transported in Japan nowadays? Is it mostly by truck? Or bags loaded onto container boxes and loaded onto flat cars to be transported by JR Freight trains? Link to comment
kvp Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 So, how is riced transported in Japan nowadays? Afaik in bags of various size and mostly on pallets. The pallets can be loaded into trucks and containers with forklifts. The containers can be transported by trucks, trains or ships. Link to comment
katoftw Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 I saw those - alas, N scale... C'mon. Japan trains = N scale by default. Gimme a hint if you are talking a different scale. haha Link to comment
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