thoughts and musings on the first Yokohama and Shinbashi stations

[MichiK]

Originally, this was named 'translation needed (first Shinbashi station)', but I'm hijacking my own thread now !

 

Hi everyone!

 

I could do with a translation with regards to the attached floor plan of the old Shinbashi station - maybe somone here can give the answer:

What are the two marked annexes?

 

 

(picture taken from this dissertation, p.15)

Edited May 9, 2020 by MichiK

[railsquid]

Left: toilets for  "upper" and "middle" class passengers (1st and 2nd class)

Right: toilets for "lower" class passengers (3rd class)

(According to Wikipedia: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/等級_(鉄道車両)#三等級制時代（1960年以前） this terminology was in use between 1872 and 1897, when it was replaced by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd class denotations).

[MichiK]

Thank you for the quick response, Squid!

 

Considering the architectural similarities, I think it is safe to assume that the arched roofed hut just in front of the central hall houses Yokohama station's toilets (don't let the caption puzzle you - the picture definitely does NOT show Shinbashi!). This helps quite a lot!

 

Michi

[ranger10178]

28 minutes ago, MichiK said:

Thank you for the quick response, Squid!

 

Considering the architectural similarities, I think it is safe to assume that the arched roofed hut just in front of the central hall houses Yokohama station's toilets (don't let the caption puzzle you - the picture definitely does NOT show Shinbashi!). This helps quite a lot!

 

Michi

Hi Michi,

 

My personal opinion would be that the curved roof building would more likely be a ticket office, shop, refreshment room etc. Usually station toilets are at least somewhat out of the way!

 

However I base that on stations in the UK, not 19th Century Japan!

 

Kind regards,

[railsquid]

8 hours ago, MichiK said:

 

Considering the architectural similarities, I think it is safe to assume that the arched roofed hut just in front of the central hall houses Yokohama station's toilets (don't let the caption puzzle you - the picture definitely does NOT show Shinbashi!). This helps quite a lot!

 

Interesting, I happened to go past the site of the old Yokohama station a few months back, didn't realise it looks like that. There's another shot from a similar angle at the bottom of this page:

 

https://www.tetsudo.com/special/report/20180909/

 

 

[MichiK]

13 hours ago, ranger10178 said:

My personal opinion would be that the curved roof building would more likely be a ticket office, shop, refreshment room etc. Usually station toilets are at least somewhat out of the way!

Those huts actually are somewhat out of the way - the mere floorplan is a bit misleading in that respect: The station building consists only of the blue part. The pink one is a transversal platform - roofed over, but open to wind an weather otherwise.

 

 

Wikimedia has a nice drawing of Shinbashi's interior (looking from the 3rd class waiting room towards the platform). The small edifice in the centre looks very much like a ticket office to me, and I guess that Yokohama had similar arrangement.

 

 

4 hours ago, railsquid said:

 

Interesting, I happened to go past the site of the old Yokohama station a few months back, didn't realise it looks like that. There's another shot from a similar angle at the bottom of this page:

 

https://www.tetsudo.com/special/report/20180909/

 

 

 

The similarity of the two shots is remarkable, indeed!

[ranger10178]

I had assumed you're talking about the bit I've circled in red? I really wouldn't have thought that'd be a set of loos!

 

The building I've circled in blue, however is a more likely candidate!

[MichiK]

Short version: Yes, I was referring to the hut in the red circle!

I shall sum up my reasoning soon, but firstI quickly shall present my main references on Yokaham station (and afterwards I'll have dinner, so please have a little patience with me!)

 

Exhibit A, which in the future I shall referre to by [Yoko_1], is a photograph of Yokohama station's construction site about ~1871. The station building is finished but the platforms are still missing completely...

 

[Yoko_2], the finished station around 1872 - there's also a part of the same photograph at a higher resolution in this Japanese blog post.

 

[Yoko_3], the photo from my earlier post.

 

[Yoko_4], Yokohama station viewed over Bentenbashi bridge.

 

[Yoko_map], the closest to a track plan of Yokohama station I could get - it's rather a parcelling plan, but still quite useful. The whole plan is rather big and unwieldy, so I've extracted the part with the station:

 

 

And now for dinner... 😉

 

 

 

[MichiK]

Now for the toilet building...

 

Shinbashi and Yokohama are often called twin buildings, and if you compare photos both buildings look very similar, indeed. If you compare [Yoko_1] with Shinbashi's floorplan you see that the four marked doors are present in both buildings exactly the same.

 

 

Indeed, I assume that both buildings were errected to the same plans, including their inner arrangement (this, of course, is only an assumption, but a quite sound one).

The other - obvious - assumption is that Shinbashi and Yokohama had comparable facilities.

 

I.e.,

- Yokohama had toilets,

- but not inside the main building, and

- the toilets had to be accessable from the waiting rooms.

 

If we look for suitable buildings adjacent to the station building, there are only three:

- the building in the blue circle could be a waggon shed ([Yoko_1], [Yoko_map]) but surely no toilet for travelers

- the narrow shed outside of the station, and

- the building in the red circle

 

I put my money on the latter because it resembles Shinbashi's toilet buildings in visual appearance and in mode of acces much, much more than the narrow shed outside of the station.