The Riverside Station Scene
Loosely (very loosely) based on Ochanomizu Station on the Chūō (“Central”) and Chūō-Sōbu lines, the Riverside Station scene depicts a ground-level urban station where two lines come together alongside one of the numerous canals/rivers of the low-lying parts of the city. On the other bank of the river is a second line (not a feature of Ochanomizu Station), and beneath them a subway line pops briefly into view crossing the river and runs into a subterranean station.
The ground-level station serves the Commuter line, and trains connecting from it into the subway line. The subterranean station serves the (presumably Tōkyō Metro) subway. And the track above the subway in the Express line, which depending on circumstances may be used to replicate either a Shinkansen (standard-gauge bullet train) or another commuter-type (narrow gauge) line used by express trains bypassing the station.
Note: photo credits for the backdrop photos can be found on the Backdrop Scenery reference images page, and details on how I made them can be found on the Making Backdrops page in the Making Things subsection of this section.
Naming the Stations
A station needs a name, and I used a Japanese word for “riverside” (thank you Google Translate), which gave me 川手 (Kawate). Both stations will bear the name, but their signage will identify them as JR East (commuter) and Tōkyō Metro (subway) stations. So far I’ve only made signs for the subway.
Subway Station version of the sign
The above-ground station remains to be named, but will have a variation on that name, with a JR East design to the signs.
Note: it’s been pointed out that this isn’t the word normally used for “Riverside” in Japanese (so much for Google Translate). It can still be read that way, and place names are often non-standard, so it’s not necessarily wrong as a name.
The Subway Station
The subway station is built (all it is, is a back wall and some platforms), but the rest of the scene is still under construction. In places, temporary structures (like the green bridge below, made of cardboard cut from a spare Kato building box and a strip of gray foam-core road) stand in for final ones.
Note: additional photos can be found in the Station photo album.
Kawate Subway Station: Tōkyō Metro 10000 Series (Greenmax) train, note the Tōkyō Metro logo next to the door
Kawate Subway Station: Schoolkids at the vending machines
Above-ground Station
The above-ground station represents a typical mid-size station on one of the commuter lines in Tōkyō, this one where two lines come together.
Back left corner, where the subway runs beneath the commuter line and a road crosses under the Express line.
Commuter tracks under construction (rear) and exposed subway (front) after hanging the backdrop photo.
M250 Super Rail Cargo (left), and E231 Commuter train (right) on the Express line
Loco-hauled passenger train on express line in front of mocked-up commuter station with two commuter trains.
There’s a lot more work to be done to finish this scene, and more photos will be posted as it progresses.
