Umekoji roundhouse in 1946

[miyakoji]

Umekoji roundhouse, which now has the Kyoto Railway Museum around it, in 1946.  Nice footage.  A different location is depicted around 5:28, the video description says it may be the Keio Inokashira Line.  Definitely not Kyoto Station :).  Although I was wondering if it was Hankyu Arashiyama, that's a two-track physical terminus.

 

 

 

[200系]

Thanks for sharing @miyakoji, the post-war reconstruction era is one of the most difficult, though also fascinating, periods in modern Japanese history, and this certainly extended to the railway system as well. Though I personally knew about the existence of this video, it's actually part of a longer feature which I'll include at the end of my post, I do think it's important to see it shared on this forum.

 

5 hours ago, miyakoji said:

the video description says it may be the Keio Inokashira Line.  Definitely not Kyoto Station :).  Although I was wondering if it was Hankyu Arashiyama, that's a two-track physical terminus.

 

Most certainly not, that section was indeed shot at the (Dai-)Tōkyū Inokashira line, Shibuya Station to be precise, which would indeed become the Keiō Inokashira line after the dissolution of Dai-Tōkyū in 1948. The line itself had of course originally been built by the Teito Dentetsu, which had been absorbed by the Odawara Kyūkō Dentetsu in 1940, and had been absorbed together with the Odawara Kyūkō Dentetsu into Dai-Tōkyū in 1942.

 

The station layout and damaged canopy are a good indicator, the original Teito Dentetsu Shibuya platforms did indeed feature a two-track, island platform + side platform layout, as well as the distinctive double canopy, the remains of which can be seen in the video. In addition, as the camera pans away you can see part of the Tōyoko Department Store building (seems to be parts of the original, damaged, Tōyoko Department Store (East building) and parts of the Tamaden building (West building)) which was located directly across the Inokashira line platforms.

the Shibuya-ward was hit hard during the Yamanote air raid which took place on the 25th of May, 1945, the results of which are still clearly visible in the video, both in terms of the visibly damaged canopy, as well as the barren wasteland still surrounding the station.

 

https://www.asahi.com/articles/photo/AS20200109000939.html

->The eastern Shibuya station area after being reconstructed, the semi-elevated Keiō (at that point in time) Inokashira line platforms are clearly visible in the upper left corner, with the Tōyoko Department Store building directly behind it. Also notice The Tōkyū (former Tamagwa Dentetsu(Tamaden)) Tamagawa line, with, what looks to be a former Tamaden No.16 type or No.22 type car (Tōkyū DeHa 1 type) in front, as well as the Ginza line (former Tōkyō Kōsokutetsudō section) storage yard, which included a number of Eidan 100 type cars (former Tōkyō Kōsokutetsudō MoHa 100 type cars) and what looks to be either a Eidan 1300 or 1400 type car on the second track.

 

 

Another clear indicator is the actual car shown during this part of the video. The car seen in the video is either a DeHa 1400 or DeHa 1450 type car, though I personally suspect this is one of the DeHa 1450 type cars. These were former Teito Dentetsu MoHa 100/MoHa 200 type cars, a group of more or less identical cars built in 1933, 1934 and 1936 by Kawasaki Sharyō and the Tōkyō branch of Nippon Sharyō respectively, which were based on the design of both the Shōnan Dentetsu De 1 type cars, tall crew and passenger windows rounded front, and the Meguro Kamata Dentetsu MoHa 510 type cars, overall layout and cab window visors, which had also been designed by Kawasaki Sharyō prior to the introduction of these cars.

 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Teito_107.jpg
[Wikimedia Commons, public domain, Ogiwara Jirō]

 

If I recall correctly, the footage shown in the video you posted is actually an excerpt of a longer feature produced by and for the Allied occupation forces, read American, in Japan. According to the National Archives It was published under the title: Japanese Transportation and Equipment, shot between April 14, 1946 and June 1, 1946, and was published in 1947.

 

Full video:

 

[SL58654号]

Nice footage indeed. I have got to get to Umekoji one day.
Yoshitsune, 8630 and C53 45 are, among others, the highlights of the collection in my view. 

Edited September 9, 2023 by SL58654号

[SwallowAngel]

1 hour ago, SL58654号 said:

Nice footage indeed. I have got to get to Umekoji one day.
Yoshitsune, 8630 and C53 45 are, among others, the highlights of the collection in my view. 

I actually visited Umekouji this spring and caught 8630 in the process of being prepared for operation. Sounded like the some steam generator was being used...

 

 

[SL58654号]

Steam generator? What do you mean? 

[SwallowAngel]

On 9/9/2023 at 6:38 PM, SL58654号 said:

Steam generator? What do you mean? 

(I'll pretend I didn't miss this reply for way too long)

 

I guess I worded my earlier post poorly. I was referring to short chuffs you could hear while the locomotive was standing still. I thought it was an electrical generator being powered by the steam generated...

Though thinking back it probably was a air pump (or smt like that), as generators powered by steam are usually operated by a turbine, and not some piston setup...

 

If it helps, the steam was emanating from the cylinder-shaped thing(?) behind the funnel, seen in this picture.