International Railroad Discussion > Iidabashi Yard & Station (Tokyo, Japan)

That's "iidabashi" if not capitalized, 2 i's, and pronounced like "ee" with an inaudible gap in between.

Steinzeit had a great historical photo of the area from about half a century ago, in response to dwatry's great report on Ochanomizu:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,6023006,6024576#6024576

I made my "next time" trip to Japan recently, and while riding a Chuo Line Rapid eastward to Tokyo, I took a peek at the former Iidabashi Yard. When I spotted a Kiya E195 DMU (yellow) parked there, I detrained at Ochanomizu right away then hopped on a Sobu Line (Chuo Line local) train the other way to Iidabashi. 

Kiya E195 is a work train, often carrying around stick rail, but can do other work train duties. I'll have a separate report on the Kiya E195 later, not so easy to catch. I seized the moment to document that and the former Iidabashi Yard.

First clip has me riding east from Iidabashi to Suidoubashi, but a westbound Sobu Line E231 set partially blocks my view. Got a good look at the Kiya E195, though. Second clip has me riding from Suidoubashi back to Iidabashi, Limited Express E353 set already passed so I got a clean look at the former yard.

- "Steinzeit angle" is no longer accessible. Next to the incoming E231.
- Looking the other way. Old platform is a fenced path now.
- Riding video of Iidabashi Yard + little railfanning.

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Iidabashi Station went through a big makeover between 2016 and 2020. The dark, modern building seen in shot #2 is the new station building on the west exit. In the process, the platform migrated 200 meters west (~650 feet), which made the platform "straighter" without needing to modify the ROW.

Iidabashi is a station I rarely used, so I don't remember what the old west exit looked like. But the east exit hasn't changed much, so I documented that. I do vaguely recall that the old west exit had a similar utilitarian architecture of the east exit (see photo below). Hiroshi-san might be able to help.

- Iidabashi east exit. E231 is already accelerating to the left.
- The new Iidabashi station building.
- Tokyo bound (east) Chuo Line Rapid E233 incoming.

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The old east end of the Iidabashi platform is beyond reach, about 280 feet away. That's where it's fenced off and the stairs down to the east exit is located. That leaves about ~370 feet of the old platform used as a walkway between the stairs and the current platform in use. About 260' of the new platform is seen in the last 2 clips of the video where I'm railfanning from the bridge at the west exit.

The former freight yard handled about 11 trains per day in its prime, in the mid-1980s. Nearly 47,000 cars per year. DE10 took over the DD13 switcher documented by Steinzeit by that time, and remained there until the yard's closure in 1999, according to Japanese wikipedia. Transloading to trucks are now done at Niiza and Sumidagawa freight terminals, ~18 and ~5.5 miles away, respectively.

- Looking east + Chuo Line Rapid E233 to Tokyo.
- Looking west with E231 and E233 going east and away.

That's it for the report.

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What's the story on the 6 wheeled  [?] diesel shunter in white w/ green trim and matching rail handling cars ?  Can the loco be controlled from the cab at the far end ?  JR or private ?

SZ

Steinzeit2 Wrote:
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> What's the story on the 6 wheeled  [?] diesel
> shunter in white w/ green trim and matching rail
> handling cars ?

Looks like the TMC400B (Track Motor Car). It's difficult to see in the video, but 2 axles, 4 wheeled. Various information I found, comments from open house attendees imply TMCs are used like speeders.

>  Can the loco be controlled from
> the cab at the far end ?  JR or private ?

The crew car on the other end seems to be used for inspection, as some call it inspection car. No idea if there are remote controls for the TMC, but it seems a bit small for that. My guess is that there might be controls for the cranes to lift/drop stick rail.

This TMC400B was manufactured for JR East. Other JR Groups have TMCs of various flavors, and JR West's TMC400Bs look different, even if functionally the same. Non-JR railroads and some industries seem to have their own TMCs, too.