How is a Bullet Train nose made? Not how you think.

[dxg]

So, these Japanese - bastions of technology, right? Surely their iconic trains would be precision engineered in the latest of automated factories?

Wrong. They're hand-crafted:

Yamasta Kogyosho (jp) is a small manufacturer of about 30 people based in Kudamatsu, a city in Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan. Like many small urban factories (so-called "machikoba"), they specialize in precision metalwork under contract to major corporations. But Yamasta Kogyosho is special: they create the noses for bullet trains. By hand.

http://www3.gov-online.go.jp/gov/book/hlj_img/vol_...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDnSfyUmQJM


From metafilter.

Edited by dxg on Saturday 29th August 08:33

[dcw@pr]

Interesting. I guess it comes under the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" category. Also, given the limited numbers made perhaps setting up the tooling for automated manufacture isn't cost effective?

By the way - the latest shinkansen which is replacing a lot of the older ones, doesn't have a nose made by these guys. Whether it's hand made by someone else I don't know.

And another bullet train tidbit - this is officially the strangest looking train in the world,

Edited by dcw@pr on Friday 28th August 21:54

[kazste]

aaaaaarrrrrr bullet trains so cool, only went on the slower ones permitted through the rail pass, but man they are fast and so smooth. just do not try their on board ready meals, you have been warned!!!!

[Taffer]

dcw@pr said:

And another bullet train tidbit - this is officially the strangest looking train in the world,

Good reason for the Cyrano de Bergerac look though - it is designed to reduce the effect of the shock wave when entering tunnels (potentially damaging the concrete), and has aerodynamic and aeroacoustic benefits as well.

[Somewhatfoolish]

Does the driver actually drive them still or is he a glorified door opener?

[dcw@pr]

kazste said:

aaaaaarrrrrr bullet trains so cool, only went on the slower ones permitted through the rail pass, but man they are fast and so smooth. just do not try their on board ready meals, you have been warned!!!!

the only ones you can't do on the rail pass are the Nozomi, which don't go faster, they just stop slightly less often.

[kazste]

i knew it began with a N! is it the 700 and 900? think the one we spent most of the time was called the shinkansen, very impressive but thought the nozomi's did have a higher top speed.

[dcw@pr]

kazste said:

i knew it began with a N! is it the 700 and 900? think the one we spent most of the time was called the shinkansen, very impressive but thought the nozomi's did have a higher top speed.

I'm not a train buff by any means, so the following could be wrong.

The only trains that I know which are on Nozomi and nothing else are the 500 series. The N700 is the new train that they are making loads of, and is predominantly on the Nozomi routes, but not exclusively (I went on one for a short ride earlier this year). I don't think there is a 900 series. Shinkansen is the name for all the fast trains, Nozomi is just a special route on the Shinkansen which stops slightly less often. I think the Tokyo - Osaka Nozomi route is something like 5 minutes faster than the non-Nozomi (about 2.5hrs total) so not a great deal faster really...

edit - turns out the 500s aren't only on Nozomi...

Edited by dcw@pr on Sunday 30th August 18:50

[kazste]

fair dues was really trying to pay attention to them as they were something else but was over there with the wife,her sister, brother in law, mother in law, and father in law. so not really having the time of my life at that point!!!!!

[heightswitch]

No different to the metal bashing that all UK Locos were constructed with. What made the bullet very special was when it was made. Compare the bullet with a 1st generation UK diesel or this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNe7eGBqNJI

no different.

N.

[dcw@pr]

heightswitch said:

No different to the metal bashing that all UK Locos were constructed with. What made the bullet very special was when it was made. Compare the bullet with a 1st generation UK diesel or this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNe7eGBqNJI

no different.

N.

But the company in the OP were making these noses at least up until 2006 - and maybe they still are now. Does Eurostar or the TGV have hand beaten body work I wonder?

[Bish]

i have a feeling that a lot of the body parts on the TGV and Eurostar are composites or fibre glass..........much easier and cheaper to manufacture than alloys.

[heightswitch]

dcw@pr said:

heightswitch said:

No different to the metal bashing that all UK Locos were constructed with. What made the bullet very special was when it was made. Compare the bullet with a 1st generation UK diesel or this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNe7eGBqNJI

no different.

N.

But the company in the OP were making these noses at least up until 2006 - and maybe they still are now. Does Eurostar or the TGV have hand beaten body work I wonder?

Yes an old metal bashing company making an old style nose for an old locomotive. the bullet looks modern but it was made in the early 60's (50 years old)

N

[dcw@pr]

heightswitch said:

dcw@pr said:

heightswitch said:

No different to the metal bashing that all UK Locos were constructed with. What made the bullet very special was when it was made. Compare the bullet with a 1st generation UK diesel or this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNe7eGBqNJI

no different.

N.

But the company in the OP were making these noses at least up until 2006 - and maybe they still are now. Does Eurostar or the TGV have hand beaten body work I wonder?

Yes an old metal bashing company making an old style nose for an old locomotive. the bullet looks modern but it was made in the early 60's (50 years old)

N

???

The first bullet train was made in the '60s yes, but there have been many new models since then. The 700 series was produced from 1996 and had a nose hand made by these guys.