International Railroad Discussion > Japanese Freights with Helper engines

In the Hiroshima suburbs I went to Mukainada station to see a few freights being pushed in the rear up a steep eastbound grade

these freights have to maintain passenger train speeds to integrate with the many commuter services

Hiroshi is this the only area in Japan today to have push up locomotives attached to the rear?

also can you tell us the gradient here 2 per cent 3 per cent ?

the line is the Sanyo main line

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

Thanks for sharing this great video.

Stanley Jackowski
Valrico, FL

22.6 per mil

Hope this helps

Hiroshi

bakersfielddave Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In the Hiroshima suburbs I went to Mukainada
> station to see a few freights being pushed in the
> rear up a steep eastbound grade
>
> these freights have to maintain passenger train
> speeds to integrate with the many commuter
> services
>
> Hiroshi is this the only area in Japan today to
> have push up locomotives attached to the rear?
>
> also can you tell us the gradient here 2 per cent
> 3 per cent ?
>
> the line is the Sanyo main line



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/18 05:30 by Hiroshi.

Neat. What is the overhead voltage?

1,500 V DC.

Hope this helps.

Hiroshi

BobP Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Neat. What is the overhead voltage?

that grade would be 1 in 75 if expressed in English gradient?

bakersfielddave Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> that grade would be 1 in 75 if expressed in
> English gradient?

More like 1 in 40 (22.6 per mil=2.26%; 2.0%=1 in 50; 1.5%=1 in 75).

Roger Lewis (airbrakegeezer)

It is well-known as “Senohachi”, a segment of the Sanyo line between “Hachihonmatsu” and “Senohachi” (10.6 kilo-meter). It was the most staple hill climbing part of the mainline operation both now and the past. Long and heavy, and priority freights required pushers like EF67s (rebuilt from EF60s and EF65s) and EF210 (300 series) in both directions.

Hope this helps,

Hiroshi

bakersfielddave Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In the Hiroshima suburbs I went to Mukainada
> station to see a few freights being pushed in the
> rear up a steep eastbound grade
>
> these freights have to maintain passenger train
> speeds to integrate with the many commuter
> services
>
> Hiroshi is this the only area in Japan today to
> have push up locomotives attached to the rear?
>
> also can you tell us the gradient here 2 per cent
> 3 per cent ?
>
> the line is the Sanyo main line

thanks for correction that is a steep grade for sure

GREAT Video!!!! Is this line standard gauge or narrow? I wish the US freights would operate at passenger speed.

Narrow gauge, Sir.

Hope this helps.

Hiroshi

CPRR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> GREAT Video!!!! Is this line standard gauge or
> narrow? I wish the US freights would operate at
> passenger speed.

CPRR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wish the US freights would operate at
> passenger speed.

If some manager decided to call a helper for a 15 car freight train in the U.S. he'd be looking for a job the next day. LOL!

Looks like everything there is intermodal? No conventional wagons?

Also, are all those containers for domestic service? I don't think I saw any ISO's in there.

Very interesting, thanks for posting,

LJG

LJGross Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Looks like everything there is intermodal? No
> conventional wagons?
>
> Also, are all those containers for domestic
> service? I don't think I saw any ISO's in there.
>
> Very interesting, thanks for posting,
>
> LJG


just about 90 percent of freight is domestic JRF containers a number of JOT refrigerated containers and half height containers are frequently seem

there are a lot of oil fuel trains running here as well

some ore and ballast trains can be seen occasionally

and also block loads of welded rails also at times

no box cars are seen these days

but a few ISO containers are mixed in with general domestic services I have never seen a full ISO block container train here in 15 years yet

freight trains in certain areas run on 10 minute intervals nearly 24 hours a day

there are some Toyota COFC block trains and a high speed container service with special locos end to end operation front and rear haulage

Thanks for the great report.

Nice variety of locomotives besides the EF210, a second-generation EF66, and the 8000 hp EF200 in the mix. Even that brute needed the services of the EF81 helper.

LJGross Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Looks like everything there is intermodal? No
> conventional wagons?
>
> Also, are all those containers for domestic
> service? I don't think I saw any ISO's in there.
>
> Very interesting, thanks for posting,
>
> LJG

I have some comments to add to bakersfielddave's reply. The number of trains that carry ISO boxes (20' and 40') per day can be counted with one hand, and they are mixed with Japanese domestic boxes (12', 31', etc.). There are good number of trains that carry tanktainers which I guess would be ISO.

I've hunted down the two trains that carry ISO boxes in my past reports. If you are curious, I refer to them as "marine boxes" or "marine containers" for TO search engine purposes.

I have noticed in the past year the use of EF 67 locos has decreased and the EF210-300 series new locos of which there are about a dozen now work the banked trains

one most unusual train I had seen was a complete train of 26 empty koki container flats all empty not one box,but with an EF210-300 at each end pull push

the locos all detach at Saijo and after a short break between commuter trains return lite engine downgrade to the HFT