Client - Plum Design, Tokyo, Japan
Location - Northern England and Yokohama, Japan
Description
IRHC was approached by Plum Design in Tokyo to source original Victorian carriage and/or wagon components for incorporation in a replica of Japan’s first ever (UK-built) railway carriage of 1872, and to provide design research, advice and appearance consultancy. The replica was to be coupled up to the original earliest Japanese steam locomotive and was to be a part of a display to be mounted in a shopping centre in Yokohama. Working in close cooperation with the client, IRHC was able to source, acquire, refurbish, and ship to Japan (from the Port of Newcastle using Nippon Line shipping) all the components the client needed. An interesting challenge was the unavailability of buffers to the correct pattern, these being incredibly rare. IRHC overcame this problem by engaging with a local (North Yorkshire) carpenter who managed to manufacture four identical replica buffers to the correct design. These are now fitted to the replica carriage, and it is impossible to detect that they are made of wood rather than cast steel.