Kibi Line (JNR/JR West) in the 1970s and 1980s

[miyakoji]

OHK (Okayama Broadcasting) has posted some interesting archival footage of the Kibi Line (Okayama-Soja) and around Okayama Station from the 70s and 80s.

 

 

1:30 - Bizen Mikado Station.  Tickets were available from the shop in front of the station, Nagahara Shoten.
2:20 - Kiha 10 or related type arrives.  Students at Kanzei and Okayama Joshi high schools use the station a lot.
2:45 - Bitchu Takamatsu Station.  Saijo Inari Gate is immediately northeast of the station, and the Saijo Inari temple complex is a few kilometers up the road.
3:50 - Soja Station.  You can see the outline of the former lettering.  Once upon a time, Soja was West Soja, and present day East Soja was Soja.
4:30 - Slightly west of Okayama Station, an at-grade crossing causes a lot of backups.  Someone in a small white car is in a big hurry.  Later in the video we'll see the work to elevate this section of the line.
5:05 - Okayama station, June 1978.  A shiny new Kiha 47 arrives at the platform.
5:50 - Higashi (east) Soja.  Renewal of the station is complete.  I used this station during 2003, this is how I remember it.  Based on Google Street View, it's still like this.
6:15 - A Kiha58/28 comes in.  I used to go to Okayama City for Japanese class, rolling stock was Kiha 40s 99% of the time, but on a few occasions these were used.  I remember riding a bright yellow one with white stripes, and a purple/teal paint job, possibly the Kyuko Notoji and Sakkyu liveries.
6:40 - A statue of Sesshu Toyo is unveiled in the Soja ekimae rotary.
7:10 - Bizen Ichinomiya.  If I understand the narration, she is a maybe a contract employee of JNR?  She looks like she's in charge.
7:40 - Prelude to the elevetion of the section of track shown at 4:30
8:10 - September 1986, the twilight of JNR.  The elevated track is cut in and all is well.
9:00 - December 1988, Bitchu Takamatsu again.  A Kiha 40, now with the JR logo, arrives.  A new north gate is planned for the station for the convenience of those en route to Saijo Inari.  The large gate is shown at 9:25
9:40 - C56 160 is motive power for Kibiji-go excursions for only 3 days during golden week.

 

At the end there's some talk of converting this line to LRT.  I've been reading about that before I even lived there, still nothing doing.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibi_Line

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesshū_Tōyō