Steam Locomotives on the Iida Line?

[Steve]

Hi Folks,

 

does someone know if there werey any Steam Locos on the Iida Line before 1975?

 

When yes - which Classes were used?

 

Thanks!

[bill937ca]

From Japanese Wikipedia:

 

Once upon a time , the Iida line was known for the existence of so-called old-fashioned national trains and old-fashioned electric locomotives . Also, steam locomotives will only be commissioned during the war.

 

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/飯田線

 

I haven't found an answer on steam locomotives yet, but this is a page on Vehicles that ran the Iida Line.

 

http://kokuden.net/mc53/sub.htm/sub2.htm/sub2.html

Edited June 6, 2020 by bill937ca

[railsquid]

The entire line was electrified in 1925, so steam traction will have been relatively short-lived.

 

From a quick search I can't find any references to steam locomotives other than the unrelated JGR/JNR era ones which are exhibited at various locations along the line.

[Nick_Burman]

The northern end (Tatsuno - Ina) was built as an electric tramway in 1909, rebuilt as an (electric) railway and extended to Tenryukyo in 1923.

 

The southern end was the Toyokawa Raiway, built as a steam line between Toyohashi and Omi in 1897, electrified 1925. This was extended to Mikawa-Kawai by the Horaiji Railwyay, which was electrified at the same time as the Toyokawa Railway.

 

The central section was the Sanshin Railway, built in stages between Mikawa-Kawai and Tenryukyo and opened throughout in 1932.

 

The southern section was controlled by Meitetsu for a while, but I don't know if the control extended to the central and northern sections.

 

The Iida line was nationalized in 1943; in 1955 the central section was realigned in conjunction with dam construction on the valley followed by the railway.

 

So yes, there was steam on the Iida Line, but in pre-JNR times and only on the southern section. I'm unsure if there was any during the JNR tenure of the line, however given some of the steep grades on the line (the Iida line has a short section of 4% at one point and several sections of 3.3%) steam traction would have been a very difficult proposition.

 

 

Cheers NB