Kamaishi Line


The Kamaishi Line is a rural railway line in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company. It connects Hanamaki Station in the city of Hanamaki with Kamaishi Station in the city of Kamaishi.
Kenji Miyazawa, known for literary works such as Night on the Galactic Railroad, was born in Hanamaki City along this line. Consequently, the line bears a commemorative nickname and operates tourist trains. The landscapes along the line depicted in "Night on the Galactic Railroad" are said to be modeled after the Iwate Light Railway, the predecessor of this line, and the route's nickname, "Galaxy Dream Line Kamaishi Line," reflects this connection. Similarly, Kenji Miyazawa's Signal and Signaler personifies the signals of the Tohoku Main Line and Kamaishi Line as a romantic tale between a man and a woman. Furthermore, because Miyazawa frequently used Esperanto words in his works, each station has been given an affectionate nickname in Esperanto.

History

The precursor to the line opened in 1915 as the Iwate Light Railway, a light railway extending 65.4 km from to Sennintōge Station. The original plan was to link with Kamaishi Mine and Kamaishi Port, but at an altitude of 887m, the mountain pass at Sennintōge prevented immediate expansion eastward to Kamaishi. A ropeway conveyor was used to convey goods onward to Ōhashi, from where a 16 km 762mm gauge mining railway provided the service to Kamaishi.
The railway was nationalized in August 1936, and the line became the "Kamaishi Line". Motive power for the line was provided by six JNR Class 231 steam locomotives, built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in the USA, and numbered 231 to 236. Work started on upgrading and re-gauging the line, and the first section, the 31.2 km from Hanamaki to was regauged to the standard Japanese track gauge of and re-opened from September 1943. The mining railway between and Kamaishi was also upgraded to gauge by October 1944 to meet the urgent need for increased capacity to transport iron ore during the war period, and was named the Kamaishi East Line. The entire 90.2 km line was finally completed between Hanamaki and Kamaishi in June 1950, opening to traffic on 10 October of that year.

Stations

All stations are in Iwate Prefecture.

Closed stations

  • Yasawa Station, between Nitanai and Oyamada, 2.5 km east of Nitanai, opened 25 October 1913, closed 14 March 1985 when the nearby Shin-Hanamaki Station opened.

    Rolling stock

Kamaishi Line services are operated using KiHa 110 series diesel trains.
From 12 April 2014, a newly formed SL Ginga "Joyful Train" began operating on the line at weekends using the restored JNR Class C58 steam locomotive C58 239 together with a train of four modified former KiHa 141 series diesel cars purchased from JR Hokkaido. The diesel cars provide additional power to cope with the line's gradients. The coach design work was overseen by industrial designer Ken Okuyama.

Former rolling stock

Following the full opening of the line in 1950, passenger and freight services on the line were hauled by JNR Class D50 2-8-2 steam locomotives, necessary to negotiate the steep gradients on the line of up 25 ‰. A couple of JNR Class 8620 steam locomotives were also used for shunting at Kamaishi Station. JNR Class C58 2-6-2 steam locomotives were also used on both passenger and freight services running to and from the Yamada Line. Six JNR Class D51 2-8-2 steam locomotives were subsequently transferred to the line, displacing some of the earlier D50s, but steam haulage on the line was entirely replaced by diesel haulage from March 1967.