Nankai Koya Line?

[Mudkip Orange]

Nominally it runs from Shiomibashi Station in Osaka out to Koya-san. In practice, the line is split in two where it crosses the Nankai Main Line at Kishinosato-Tamade; trains over the majority of the line operate to and from Nanba, while the segment between Shiomibashi and Kishinosato-Tamade is served by the two-car trains running on a half hour headway.

 

I'm curious about the line's history prior to this split. Machine-translating the Japanese wiki suggests that trains operated from Shiomibashi onto the full length of the Koya Line all the way until 1985. Also, the architecture of the bridges and stations along the line (in particular the interior of the terminal at Shiomibashi and the bridge over national route 26) suggest that Nankai made a substantial investment in this line sometime in the 1950s, then essentially forgot about it over the next half-century.

 

Questions I have include: Why did they sever the lines to begin with? Was it a capacity issue with Koya Line trains tying up the entire Nankai Main for extended periods? Moreover, why did they bother to upgrade the Shiomibashi segment back in the 50's? Was Nanba a less-accessible terminal in the days when Osaka had more streetcars then subways? And when the connection was still active, did any trains operate from the southern portion of the Nankai Main Line to Shiomibashi? It'd also be awesome if there was a track diagram out there somewhere showing what Kishinosato-Tamade looked like when the lines still intersected.

 

Pics:

1: Fifties-modern bridge over National Route 26

2: Shiomibashi exterior. You can see the cutouts where large glass windows once stood, which are now filled in with more concrete.

3: Shiomibashi interior. The vaulted reinforced-concrete arches and stepped ceilings remind me of an airport terminal from the 50's. There is also a beautiful hand-painted route map of the entire Nankai system (including lines that have since been abandoned or sold to smaller operators (i.e. Wakayama and Stationmaster Tama-Neko).

4: Kishinosato-Tamade station track diagram (current configuration)

 

Youtube: Two-car train pulling into Shiomibashi

[Mudkip Orange]

Well it seems I've answered some of my own questions. Upon further reading, Shiomibashi was destroyed during the March 1945 air raids, and trains operated out of temporary platforms until 1956, when the current terminal was built. So it's possible that Shiomibashi was *never* a major station, at least not after Nankai Nanba was constructed in the 30's.

 

But that just makes me more curious about the historic operational patterns.

 

Presumably, some Koya Line trains always operated to Nanba, since that station appears to have always had an eight track capacity (see the attached photo in which Nankai-Nanba is one of only a handful of buildings left standing). Which leads me to ask: what sorts of Koya line trains *didn't* operate to Nanba? Was it just locals? Was it alternating expresses? Was through service from the outer Koya Line to Shiomibashi just a rush-hour thing?

 

Inquiring minds want to know.

[Guest ___]

More annoying the question should be, why have three unconnected train stations named Namba? It's logistical nightmare in my trip planning. Poor JR Namba is way out there alone, at least with Osaka-Namba and Nankai-Namba there's a two minute walk to the Namba Subway station. (I correct myself, four Namba stations)

[bill937ca]

Nankai acquired the Koya Railway in 1922.  The first Koya Railway section opened on 1898.1.26 between Sakai-higashi and Sayama and reached Nagano on 1898.3.29.  An extension from Sakai-higashi and Shiomibashi in Osaka opened on 1900.8.30.  The company became Koya Tozan Railway in 1907,  the line was electricified (1912.10.10) and extended south across the mountains reaching Mikkaichi in 1914. In 1915, the company became the Osaka Koya Railway.

 

After the Nankai acquired the Koya line, trains were re-routed to Namba and the line from Kishinosato to Shiomibashi became a minor branch.

 

Data source: Electric Railways of Japan, Volume 2

[scott]

Shiomibashi was destroyed during the March 1945 air raids

 

Sorry to go off-topic, but that picture is terrifying once you realize what it represents--masonry/concrete buildings still standing, and lots of empty areas that used to be densely-populated, wood-built residential areas.

 

A quote from Robert MacNamara, who was involved in planning the raids with Gen. Le May:

 

LeMay said, "If we'd lost the war, we'd all have been prosecuted as war criminals." And I think he's right. He, and I'd say I, were behaving as war criminals.

[disturbman]

Unfortunatelly, that's true, and this type of scenery was a quite common through out Europe and Japan after WWII. 

[Mudkip Orange]

Hmmm... so in that case, if Shiomibashi was a minor branch as early as 1922, why did they wait until 1985 to remove the crossing tracks at Kishinosato? Surely *something* must've operated from the east side to the west.

 

I think when you consider the devastation that was Japan at the end of 1945 it makes it that much more impressive how quickly the Japanese were able to rebuild. A lot of the "railfan favorites" - the Tokaido Shinkansen, the 103 series, the EF60/62/63/64 locomotives - were all rolled out within 20 years after Japan's entire industrial base was destroyed.

[bill937ca]

Hmmm... so in that case, if Shiomibashi was a minor branch as early as 1922, why did they wait until 1985 to remove the crossing tracks at Kishinosato? Surely *something* must've operated from the east side to the west.

 

The map in my book lists no through services and neither does the list of services.  But the Koya line and Shiomibashi line fleet is listed together.  Non-revenue access to maintenance facilities???

[Kitayama]

Hmmm... so in that case, if Shiomibashi was a minor branch as early as 1922, why did they wait until 1985 to remove the crossing tracks at Kishinosato? Surely *something* must've operated from the east side to the west.

 

 

I have some reprints of old Japanese timetables, so I did some research.

 

1925: Trains still running Shiomibashi - Hashimoto on Koya line.

1930: The main Koya line trains rerouted to Namba, but still frequent locals from Shiomibashi as far as Sakaihigashi (6.4 km south of present Kishinosato-Tamade)

1934: As above, but extended to Sayama [15.6 km]

1940 and 1945: As above, but only to Kitanoda [14.7 km]

 

After that, I have no timetables. But a qualified guess is that they operated locals for quite a long time over the Kishinosato crossing.

[Kitayama]

Hmmm... so in that case, if Shiomibashi was a minor branch as early as 1922, why did they wait until 1985 to remove the crossing tracks at Kishinosato? Surely *something* must've operated from the east side to the west.

 

 

I have some reprints of old Japanese timetables, so I did some research.

 

1925: Trains still running Shiomibashi - Hashimoto on Koya line.

1930: The main Koya line trains rerouted to Namba, but still frequent locals from Shiomibashi as far as Sakaihigashi (6.4 km south of present Kishinosato-Tamade)

1934: As above, but extended to Sayama [15.6 km]

1940 and 1945: As above, but only to Kitanoda [14.7 km]

 

After that, I have no timetables. But a qualified guess is that they operated locals for quite a long time over the Kishinosato crossing.

 

1 nov 1929 was the traffic rerouted to Namba according to Japanese Wikipedia.

[Mudkip Orange]

1925: Trains still running Shiomibashi - Hashimoto on Koya line.

1930: The main Koya line trains rerouted to Namba, but still frequent locals from Shiomibashi as far as Sakaihigashi (6.4 km south of present Kishinosato-Tamade)

1934: As above, but extended to Sayama [15.6 km]

1940 and 1945: As above, but only to Kitanoda [14.7 km]

 

After that, I have no timetables. But a qualified guess is that they operated locals for quite a long time over the Kishinosato crossing.

 

So there were through-locals operating both sides for some time after the present-day Nanba was constructed. That's pretty much what my question was. Thank you.

 

I suppose someday I'll have to pay to get into that "railfan museum" and see what the 60's and 70's timetables looked like.