Kamaishi Line

Kamaishi Line
A Kamaishi Line train running alongside Route 283
Overview
Type	Regional rail
Locale	Iwate Prefecture, Japan
Termini	Hanamaki Kamaishi
Stations	24
Operation
Operator(s)	JR East
Technical
Line length	90.2 km (56.0 mi)
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Electrification	None

The Kamaishi Line (釜石線, Kamaishi-sen) is a 90.2 km (56.0 mi) rural railway line in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Hanamaki Station in Hanamaki and Kamaishi Station in Kamaishi.

Stations

All stations are in Iwate Prefecture.

Closed stations

• Yasawa Station (矢沢駅), between Nitanai and Oyamada, 2.5 km east of Nitanai, opened 25 October 1913, closed 14 March 1985 when the nearby Shin-Hanamaki Station opened.^[1]

Rolling stock

KiHa 110 series DMU train at Morioka on a Hamayuri rapid service, March 2007

Kamaishi Line services are operated using KiHa 110 series diesel trains.

From 12 April 2014, a newly formed SL Ginga "Joyful Train" (excursion train) began operating on the line at weekends using the restored JNR Class C58 steam locomotive C58 239 together with a train of four modified former KiHa 141 series diesel cars purchased from JR Hokkaido (themselves rebuilt from earlier 50 series passenger coaches and made surplus to requirements following the electrification of the Sasshō Line).^[2][3][4] The diesel cars provide additional power to cope with the line's gradients.^[3] The coach design work was overseen by industrial designer Ken Okuyama.^[3]

Former rolling stock

Following the full opening of the line in 1950, passenger and freight services on the line were hauled by JNR Class D50 2-8-2 steam locomotives, necessary to negotiate the steep gradients on the line of up 25 ‰.^[5] A couple of JNR Class 8620 steam locomotives were also used for shunting at Kamaishi Station. JNR Class C58 2-6-2 steam locomotives were also used on both passenger and freight services running to and from the Yamada Line. Six JNR Class D51 2-8-2 steam locomotives were subsequently transferred to the line, displacing some of the earlier D50s, but steam haulage on the line was entirely replaced by diesel haulage from March 1967.^[5]

• 
  Class 8620 steam locomotives
• 
  A preserved Class C58 steam locomotive
• 
  A Class D50 steam locomotive
• 
  A preserved Class D51 steam locomotive

History

Preserved Class 231 locomotive number 233

The precursor to the line opened in 1915 as the Iwate Light Railway (岩手軽便鉄道), a 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) light railway extending 65.4 km from Hanamaki to Sennintōge Station (仙人峠).^[5] The original plan was to link with Kamaishi Mine and Kamaishi Port, but at an altitude of 887m, the mountain pass at Sennintōge prevented immediate expansion eastward to Kamaishi. A ropeway conveyor was used to convey goods onward to Ōhashi, from where a 16km 762mm (2'6") gauge mining railway (which operated between 1915 and 1965) provided the service to Kamaishi.^[5]

The railway was nationalized in August 1936, and the line became the "Kamaishi Line". Motive power for the line was provided by six JNR Class 231 steam locomotives, built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in the USA, and numbered 231 to 236.^[5] Work started on upgrading and re-gauging the line, and the first section, the 31.2 km from Hanamaki to Kashiwagidaira was regauged to the standard Japanese track gauge of 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) and re-opened from September 1943. The mining railway between Rikuchū-Ōhashi and Kamaishi was also upgraded to 1,067 mm gauge by October 1944 to meet the urgent need for increased capacity to transport iron ore during the war period, and was named the Kamaishi East Line (釜石東線, Kamaishi-Higashi-sen). The entire 90.2 km line was finally completed between Hanamaki and Kamaishi in June 1950, opening to traffic on 10 October of that year.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kamaishi Line.

JR East lines
Shinkansen	Hokuriku Jōetsu Tōhoku Akita Yamagata
Main	Chūō Ōu Shin'etsu Sōbu Tōhoku Tōkaidō Uetsu
Local	Agatsuma Aterazawa Ban'etsu East Ban'etsu West Echigo Gonō Hachikō Hachinohe Hakushin Hanawa Iiyama Ishinomaki Itō Itsukaichi Jōban Jōetsu Kamaishi Karasuyama Kashima Kawagoe Keiyō Kesennuma Kitakami Koumi Kururi Mito Musashino Nambu Narita Negishi Nikkō Ōfunato Oga Ōito Ōme Ōminato Rikuu East Rikuu West Ryōmō Sagami Senseki Senzan Shinonoi Sotobō Suigun Tadami Takasaki Tazawako Tōgane Tsugaru Tsurumi Uchibō Utsunomiya Yahiko Yamada Yamanote Yokohama Yokosuka Yonesaka
Others	Chūō Rapid Chūō-Sōbu Gala-Yuzawa Keihin-Tōhoku Saikyō (incl. Akabane) Senseki-Tōhoku Shōnan-Shinjuku Sōbu Rapid Ueno-Tōkyō
Past	Aizu Ashio Iwaizumi Kihara Marumori Mōka Nagai Shin'etsu Main (Shinano / Echigo Tokimeki) Tōhoku Main (Aoimori / Iwate Galaxy)