Combined Interurban and Streetcar Local Private Railways

[bill937ca]

At one time Japan outside the big cites was full of local private railways that operated interurban lines between towns and streetcar lines at the local destination city.  In the classic sense, an interurban is an electrically powered railway line with tighter curves, steeper grades, more frequent service,closer stations and lower fares than a steam railway.  Today,three local private railways remain with both streetcars and interurbans. Both streetcars and interurbans meet at Minami Toyama station where the streetcar depot is also located.

 

Toyama Chiho Railway

 

The Toyama Chiho Railway operates two rail lines and two streetcar lines.  The fleet includes ex-Seibu Red Arrows, ex-Keihan Limited Express trains and ex-Tokyu 3 door trains for local runs along with vintage and modern low-floor trams.

 

 

 

 

Iyotetsu 

 

Iyotetsu in Matsuyama operates 5 streetcar lines and 3 railway lines.  Iyotetsu streetcar and railway lines cross on only one of three diamonds on Japanese tram lines. (The other two are on the Hankai Tramway and Tosaden Kotsu

 

 

 

 

 

Toyohashi Tetsudō

 

The Toyohashi Railway operates a single 1500v railway line (once a 600v line) and single streetcar line.   

 

 

 

Edited April 25, 2016 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

There is one other Japanese railway that still operates streetcars and railway operations.  That is the Toyku Corporation.  Until 1969 the Tokyu Tamagawa Line operated in the street to Shibuya in Tokyo with the Setagaya line branching off the main line. Because the Setagaya line was on private right of way it was retained. Once the streetcars were gone construction began on what is now the  Den-en-toshi Line. 

 

 

 

Tamaden Shibuya station in the 1960s.

Edited April 24, 2016 by bill937ca

[railsquid]

There is one other Japanese railway that still operates streetcars and railway operations.  That is the Toyku Corporation.  Until 1996 the Tokyu Tamagawa Line operated in the street to Shibuya in Tokyo with the Setagaya line branching off the main line.

 

Shurely 1969?

[bill937ca]

Shurely 1969?

Up, 1969.  Typo, thanks.

Edited April 24, 2016 by bill937ca

[ToniBabelony]

Another company, despite being a public company, operates both subway and tram services. This is Toei in Tokyo with the single Arakawa tram line and a handful of subway lines (Marunouchi, Ginza, Asakusa, Mita, etc.) and other transport systems (Nippori Liner, Ueno Monorail, Busses, etc.).

[bill937ca]

Now some former railway and streetcar operations.

 

Meitetsu 600v lines at Gifu, ended service March 31, 2005 after years of declining ridership.

 

 

 

 

Hiroden Miyajima Line

 

The Hiroden Miyajima line opened in 1922 with high floor railway equipment and operated as far as a terminal at Hiroden-Nishi-Hiroshima.

 

http://rre.ninja-web.net/prvrc/hiroden2/html/hirode26.htm

 

Rolling stock was generally second-hand ex-Hankyu or Keihan stock in  later years.

 

Through operation to the JR Hiroshima Station during midday hours was offered beginning 1962.1.10, but the trams were still required in town during the peak periods. Platforms were rebuilt in the early 1960s to accommodate both low floor streetcars and high floor interurbans.  As new articulated streetcars were acquired streetcar service continued to grow and by 1980 streetcars were running to Miyajima throughout the day.  Interurbans remained supplementing streetcar service although their numbers declined over the years.  At the end of 1990 only 2 1090 series interurban sets remained and these were retired on 1991.8.7

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcAwtkzESEw

 

 

 

More on former systems later........ :)

[miyakoji]

Great posts, thanks Bill.  In particular I like the Iyotetsu and Meitetsu.  I've been to both places and even lived in Nagoya while Meitetsu's trams in Gifu were still running, but didn't ride either :(.  At least there's a next time for Iyotetsu...

[katoftw]

Thank you for the explanation on the Hiroden system.  I always assumed the case for hi-low operation after seeing many videos with the platforms as such.  I think you can still find some of those platforms still standing today.

[Nick_Burman]

Don't forget Fukutetsu - THE combined streetcar/interurban op in Japan.

 

Cheers NB

[bill937ca]

Don't forget Fukutetsu - THE combined streetcar/interurban op in Japan.

 

Cheers NB

 

I'm coming to that.   :)

 

The Fukui Railway may be modernizing, but some things don't change.

Edited April 25, 2016 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

From Saynonara Streetcar by Ralph Forty (Interurbans Press, 1978) comes a list of private railways and there streetcar lines:

 

Hashin Railway                      West Osaka local lines, May 6, 1975

Shizouka Railway                  Shimizu city line, March 20, 1975

Fukui Railway                        tramway service, 1972

Nankai Electric Railway      Wakayama city lines, March 31, 1971

Tobu Railway                          Nikko-Umagaeshi  line, February 24, 1968

Shizouka Railway                  Fukuroi rural tram, September 19, 1962

Shizouka Railway                  Shizouka city line, September 14, 1962

Nagoya Railway                     Ichinomiya –Okoshi line, January 1, 1953

 

Now, I will see if I can locate anything online on some of the more obscure lines.

[bill937ca]

The Wakayama Electric Tramway opened 1909 and attained a total of 16.1 Km including a 13.4 Km suburban tram line to Kainan. Most of the 3'6" track was double track in paved streets although the Kainan line had an extended stretch of reservation on the side-of-the-road.  In 1961 the Nankai Electric Railway took over the struggling system. Near the end there were 47 cars, most of them double-truck. The Wakayama system closed on March 31, 1971.

 

There are a couple of Japanese language web pages with information and photos of the Wakayama system during the Nankai Electric Railway years. There is another page with a couple of color photos.

 

One of the surviving Wakayama trams.

 

Edited May 2, 2016 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

The Fukui Railway continues to run its Takefu interurban line today and it continues to enter the heart of the city over street trackage.   In 1933 a 3.2 km city service was added on over these tracks from the JNR station around to the Keifuku Railway's Tawaramachi interurban station.  Four double-truck city cars maintained the local service and these were later replaced with three ex-Kanazawa city cars.

 

Tramway service ended in 1972 but no track was closed. Ex-Gifu 562 (originally Kanazawa car 2202) was acquired in 1989 for special event service on Fukui street track. Later it operated a Sunday-only town tram service.  Tram 562 was retired in 2006 after duty testing lithium-ion batteries.