The is a rural railway line in

Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...

, Japan, operated by the

East Japan Railway Company The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

(JR East). It connects Hanamaki Station in the city of Hanamaki with Kamaishi Station in the city of Kamaishi.

History

The precursor to the line opened in 1915 as the , a

light railway A light railway is a Rail transport, railway built at lower costs and to lower standards than typical "heavy rail": it uses lighter-weight track, and may have more Grade (slope), steep gradients and Minimum railway curve radius, tight curves to ...

extending 65.4 km from to . 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 A material ropeway, ropeway conveyor (or aerial tramway in the US) is a subtype of gondola lift, from which containers for goods rather than passenger cars are suspended. Description Material ropeways are typically found around large mining co ...

was used to convey goods onward to Ōhashi, from where a 16 km 762mm (2'6") gauge mining railway (which operated between 1915 and 1965) provided the service to Kamaishi. 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 The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railway locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, Eddystone in the early 20th century. The com ...

in the USA, and numbered 231 to 236. Work started on upgrading and re-gauging the line, and the first section, the 31.2 km from Hanamaki to was regauged to the standard Japanese track gauge of and re-opened from September 1943. The mining railway between and Kamaishi was also upgraded to gauge by October 1944 to meet the urgent need for increased capacity to transport iron ore during the war period, and was named the . 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.

Stations

All stations are in

Closed stations

* , 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.

Rolling stock

Kamaishi Line services are operated using KiHa 110 series diesel trains. From 12 April 2014, a newly formed '' SL Ginga'' "

Joyful Train is the name given to railway rolling stock or train sets operated by the JR Group in Japan primarily for charters, special events, tourist excursions, and other similar purposes. Traditionally, this term is only used for chartered trains dedicate ...

" (

excursion train An excursion train is a chartered train run for a special event or purpose. Examples are trains to major sporting event, trains run for railfans or tourists, and special trains operated by the railway company for employees and prominent custo ...

) 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 The is one of the constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group), and is often referred to by its official abbreviation: . It operates intercity and local rail services in Hokkaido, Japan. The company introduced Kitaca, a smart c ...

(themselves rebuilt from earlier 50 series passenger coaches and made surplus to requirements following the electrification of the Sasshō Line). The diesel cars provide additional power to cope with the line's gradients. The coach design work was overseen by industrial designer Ken Okuyama.

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

‰ The phrase per mille () indicates parts per thousand. The associated symbol is , similar to a per cent sign but with an extra zero in the divisor. Major dictionaries do not agree on the spelling, giving other options of per mil, per mill, pe ...

. 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 The is a type of 2-8-2 steam locomotive operated by the Japanese Government Railways (JGR) and later by the Japanese National Railways (JNR). Designed by JGR's chief mechanical engineer Hideo Shima, they were built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries ...

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. File:JNR 8620 SteamLoco Triple header.jpg, Class 8620 steam locomotives File:Japanese-national-railways-C58-342-20121030.jpg, A preserved Class C58 steam locomotive File:JGR-D50SteamLocomotive.jpg, A Class D50 steam locomotive File:JNR-D51 745 in Jomo-kogen station.jpg, A preserved Class D51 steam locomotive

References

{{East Japan Railway Company Lines Lines of East Japan Railway Company 1067 mm gauge railways in Japan Rail transport in Iwate Prefecture Railway lines opened in 1915