Welcome to Tōkyō, or something like it

This site is an online notebook devoted to my N-scale model railroad, the trains I run on it, and my experiences in building it. It’s also a repository for my notes on Japanese railroading, scenic features and other things I am considering or have considered including on the model.  Click on the links to the left (or above) to view the various sections of the site. The railroad itself is an attempt to capture the flavor of urban railroading in Japan’s capital city, Tōkyō.

If you want to jump right to the pictures, see the three “scene” entries under “The Layout” category to the left, or go to the Photo Collections (although many of those are of diagrams or “work in progress” photos, and may not be as interesting.

Tōkyō is a big city. Actually, Tōkyō is a city, a prefecture (the Japanese equivalent of a state or province) and a “metropolitan area” that extends even beyond the prefecture. The prefecture contains twenty-three “special wards”, originally the city of Tōkyō itself, that are effectively individual cities, plus twenty-six additional cities.  There are over 8 million people in the special wards, nearly 13 million in the prefecture, and 35 million in the Greater Tōkyō Area that sprawls beyond its boundaries. Over two and a half million commuters flow into Tōkyō every day, many, perhaps most of them, by train. And that doesn’t count the regional and long-distance trains traversing greater distances.

The city itself is visually interesting as a backdrop for trains, or in its own right. Modern concrete and glass structures tower into the sky alongside centuries-old buildings and more recent ones in traditional style. Like any city that’s grown from a pre-industrial past, the side streets are narrow and twisting, and not really suited to motorized vehicles in many instances. But above, under and around them run highways choked with cars and trucks, some of them built above canals, as that was the only available space. And scattered about are public parks, wooded temple grounds, and other islands of nature amidst the concrete.

Tōkyō is also very much a seaport city, with extensive docks and industrial areas, some of them now converted to residential or entertainment districts. The edge of Tōkyō bay is dotted with artificial islands separated by narrow canals, but otherwise indistinguishable from the city around them. Much of the land is low, some of it below high tide level, and tidal barriers, locks, and levees dot the edge of the bay.

Several rivers run through the city, including the Sumida river, a branch of the Arakawa river, which bisects the city. Many rail lines cross the Sumida, and I’ve taken that as one of the key scenic elements of my model.

Trains run through this at ground level, on elevated structures, and underground, and stop at stations from small single-track platforms that can only handle a few cars, to massive stations such as Shinjuku, the busiest passenger station in the world, which handles up to 3.64 million people PER DAY, with over 200 separate exits.

Tōkyō’s busiest commuter line moves over 90,000 people per hour at peak times, and there are quite a few lines in the 75,000 - 90,000 PPH range. Lines radiate out from the city in all directions, or circle around it in belt lines at various distances.

Most rail lines are double-tracked, and a few have separate tracks for local and express trains. In many places several separate lines run alongside each other, and trains on the same track often run at separations of only a few minutes at peak time. In stations, busy lines will have multiple platform tracks to accommodate frequent trains. Grade crossings exist, and some of the busiest are closed more often than they are open, at least at peak hours.

And the trains themselves come in a variety of forms. Although Commuter and Suburban trains look similar, being variations on a common pattern, the Limited Express and Shinkansen equipment is more individualistic.

My initial focus is on the trains operated by JR East, partly because they appeal to me visually, and partly as a way to give my collecting some focus. I expect this will change over time.

Note: while there is no RSS feed for the site as a whole (gee, thanks Apple), there is one for the blog page (Updates and Musings), and another for the Photo Collections. Go there for the buttons if you want to subscribe.