Odawara tram

Odawara tram
Tram in Odawara (1935)
Route length:	6.8 km
Gauge :	1372 mm / 1435 mm
Power system :	600 V  =
Society:	Hakone Tozan Tetsudō
Legend ↑ Tōkaidō main line 0.0 * Kōzu ( 国 府 津 ) ← Gotemba Line 0.2 * Kōzu-tatemae ( 国 府 津 館 前 ) 0.5 * Kōyō ginkō ( 江 陽 銀行 ) 0.9 * Oyakibashi ( 親 木橋 ) 1.8 * Koyawata ( 小 八 幡 ) 2.4 * Sakōmatsubara ( 酒 匂 松原 ) 2.9 * Shōtō-en ( 松濤 園 ) 3.1 * Rengabashi ( 連 歌 橋 ) Sakawa 4.3 * Isshoku ( 一色 ) 4.7 * San'nōbara ( 山 王 原 ) 5.2 * San'nō-matsubara ( 山 王 松原 ) 5.5 * Isesakaya-mae ( 伊 勢 酒 屋 前 ) 5.8 * Fujidana-mae ( 藤 棚 前 ) 6.0 * Aomonochō yotsukado ( 青 物 町 四 ツ 角 ) 6.1 * Gunyakusho-mae ( 郡 役 所 前 ) ← Daiyūzan Line ← Odawara Line 0.0 Odawara ( 小田原 ) 0.3 Midorimachi ( 緑 町 ) 0.5 Yūbinkyoku-mae ( 郵 便 局 前 ) 0.7 Shiyakusho-mae ( 市 役 所 前 ) 0.9 6.3 * Saiwaichō ( 幸 町 ) 1.1 Miyukihama ( 御 幸 浜 ) 1.3 Sachi 3-chōme ( 幸 三 丁目 ) 1.4 Hakunekuchi ( 箱根 口 ) 1.5 Sujikaibashi ( 筋 違 橋 ) 1.6 Morohakukōji ( 諸 白 小路 ) 1.8 Hayakawakuchi ( 早 川口 ) → Atami Railway → Main Tōkaidō line 2.1 Itabashi-mitsuke ( 板橋 見 付 ) 2.2 Shimo-Itabashi ( 下 板橋 ) 2.4 Hakone-Itabashi ( 箱根 板橋 ) Masudabessō ( 益田 別 荘 ) Naka-Itabashi ( 中 板橋 ) Kami-Itabashi ( 上 板橋 ) Kazamatsuri ( 風 祭 ) Iriuda ( 入 生 田 ) Hayakawa Sanmaibashi ( 三枚 橋 ) Hakone-Yumoto ( 箱根 湯 本 ) 6.8 Yumoto ( 湯 本 ) ↓ Hakone Tozan Line

The Odawara tram was a streetcar line in the Japanese city ​​of Odawara and surrounding places in western Kanagawa Prefecture . It operated as a horse-drawn tram from 1888 and was the third operation of its kind in Japan. In 1900 it was the first tram in the country to be converted to electric drive. Responsible was the Hakone Tozan Tetsudō transport company , which also operated the Hakone Tozan line connected to it . Officially, the tram was called the "Odawara City Line " ( 小田原 市 内線 , Odawara shinai-sen ). In 1956 it was shut down.

history

Horse tram

Horse-drawn railway timetable (1898)

Since the early Edo period , Odawara was an important stop on the Tōkaidō , the most important post and trade route in Japan. When the Tōkaidō main line was built in the 1870s and 1880s , the city firmly counted on a rail connection. However, the state railway administration had other ideas and led the route east of the city, on the other side of the Sakawa River (this route corresponds to today's Gotemba line ). Influential people feared that their city could be left behind from modernization and therefore campaigned for the construction of a horse-drawn tram , which was to connect to the Tōkaidō main line at Kōzu station, six kilometers away . Shortly after the prefecture administration of Kanagawa had approved a corresponding planning application, the company Odawara Basha Tetsudō ( 小田原 馬車 鉄 道 , "Odawara horse-drawn tram") was founded on February 21, 1888 .

Construction began in March 1888 and was completed on September 3rd. On October 1, 1888, the opening of the 12.7 km long route from Kōzu via the city center to Yumoto . It was the third horse tram to open in Japan and had a gauge of 1372 mm. Rickshaw drivers and litter carriers fought against the unwanted competition. They blocked the rails with objects and threw stones at the horses. As a result, operations came to a temporary standstill after a month. Former Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi , who was staying in his villa in Odawara, disliked the uproar. He urged the prefecture administration to take action against the acts of vandalism and to protect the horse-drawn tram. As a result, a former police superintendent took over the position of director and hired several former police officers to ensure security. A little later the problem was resolved. From 1896 it was possible to change to the Atami train at the Hayakawakuchi ( 早 川口 ) stop .

The horse-drawn tram was expensive to run and capacity was limited, so management looked for alternatives. In 1893 the decision was made to electrify the tram, although the prerequisites were still lacking. In Odawara and the surrounding area there was still no power grid, which is why the construction of a power station was necessary first. In order to secure its financing, the Tokyo tram became the new main shareholder in 1895 through a share swap . The economic boom that began after the Sino-Japanese War also made the search for capital easier. On October 31, 1896, the company renamed itself to Odawara Denki Tetsudō ( 小田原 電 気 鉄 道 , "Odawara Electric Railway") and thus anticipated the imminent changeover. Construction of the power station at Yumoto began in 1898, and the overhead lines were laid from February 1899. All bridges and rails also had to be replaced. The power plant went into operation in February 1900, and a month later the conversion to an electric tram (600 V DC ) was completed.

Electric tram

Opening of the electric tram

Tram in 1952

The first day of operation of the electric tram was March 21, 1900. The Odawara operation was the fourth electric in Japan and the first to be converted. The no longer needed horses, wagons and rails went to the Tokyo tram, which was still to be converted. In November 1901 the employees went on strike for two days; it was the first ever strike by a Japanese tram company. The westernmost section between Kazamatsuri and Yumoto was often interrupted due to flooding of the Hayakawa River. A particularly severe flood on September 28, 1902 even washed away the tracks. In 1911, the Odawara Denki Tetsudō decided to move the route in this area to the less endangered northern side of the valley. This measure was completed in August 1913. From June 1, 1919, the tram in Yumoto made a connection to the Hakone-Tozan line to Gōra .

The Ministry of Railways opened a new railway line from Kōzu to Odawara on October 21, 1920, most of which ran parallel to the tram. The Odawara Denki Tetsudō took a 700 m long connection from the city center to Odawara station on the same day . Five weeks later, on December 1, 1920, it closed the section from the city center to Kōzu. This reduced the length of the tram line to 6.8 km, it only connected the Odawara and Yumoto stations with each other. The Great Kanto earthquake of September 1, 1923 caused great damage. The repair lasted until December 28th; the track width was increased from 1372 mm to 1435 mm ( standard gauge ). On January 20, 1928, the Odawara Denki Tetsudō merged with the electricity company Nippon Denryoku . This connection lasted only a little over half a year: on August 13, 1928, Nippon Denryoku transferred all business areas except electricity production to the railway company, which became independent on the same day and was now called Hakone Tozan Tetsudō .

The railway company sought a faster connection between Odawara and Yumoto, especially since the tram as a feeder to the popular mountain railway was not efficient enough and made detours. After almost four years of construction, the extension of the mountain railway was put into operation on October 1, 1935. On the same day, the Hakone Tozan Tetsudō limited the tram to the inner-city section between the Odawara and Itabashi stations, making the line only 2.4 km long. In 1944, several trams had to be handed over to the Kawasaki tram, which was damaged by air raids , and operations were suspended from January 10, 1945 due to war rationing.

On September 12, 1945, the Odawara tram resumed operation, but only three cars were left. The Odakyu Dentetsu railway company , the parent company of today's Odakyu Group , took over the Hakone Tozan Tetsudo on June 1, 1948. The new owner was willing to keep the tram, but the prefecture administration saw it as an obstacle to the expansion of National Road 1 and recommended its replacement with a bus route. After lengthy negotiations, the prefecture agreed to pay 90 million yen in compensation (to which the city contributed 3 million). Eventually the tram was shut down on May 31, 1956.

literature

• Takashi Aota: 箱根 の 山 に 挑 ん だ 鉄 路 「天下 の 険」 を を 越 え た 技 . Kōtsū Shimbun-sha, Chiyoda 2011, ISBN 978-4-330-23111-2 .
• Toshiyuki Katō: 箱根 山 の 近代 交通 . (Modern traffic on the Hakone). Kanagawa Shimbun, Yokohama 1995, ISBN 978-4-87645-189-0 .
• Hakone Tozan Tetsudō (Ed.): す ば ら し い 箱根 グ ラ フ 100 . Odawara 1988.
• Kenzo Ichikawa: 箱根 の 鉄 道 100 年 . (100 years of the Hakone Railway). Taishō Shuppan, Shibuya 1988, ISBN 4-8117-0618-8 .

Web links

Commons : Tram Odawara  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Aota: 箱根 の 山 に 挑 ん だ 鉄 路 「天下 の 険」 を 越 え た 技. P. 108.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Hakone Tozan Tetsudō: す ば ら し い 箱根 グ ラ フ 100. P. 31.
3. ↑ Katō: 箱根 山 の 近代 交通. P. 38.
4. ↑ Hakone Tozan Tetsudō: す ば ら し い 箱根 グ ラ フ 100. P. 32.
5. ↑ Aota: 箱根 の 山 に 挑 ん だ 鉄 路 「天下 の 険」 を 越 え た 技. Pp. 118-119.
6. ↑ Katō: 箱根 山 の 近代 交通. Pp. 54-55.
7. ↑ Hakone Tozan Tetsudō: す ば ら し い 箱根 グ ラ フ 100. P. 85.
8. ↑ Aota: 箱根 の 山 に 挑 ん だ 鉄 路 「天下 の 険」 を 越 え た 技. P. 128.
9. ↑ Katō: 箱根 山 の 近代 交通. P. 60.
10. ↑ Ichikawa: 箱根 の 鉄 道 100 年. P. 50.
11. ↑ Katō: 箱根 山 の 近代 交通. P. 89.
12. ↑ Hakone Tozan Tetsudō: す ば ら し い 箱根 グ ラ フ 100. P. 44.
13. ↑ Hakone Tozan Tetsudō: す ば ら し い 箱根 グ ラ フ 100. P. 86.
14. ↑ Aota: 箱根 の 山 に 挑 ん だ 鉄 路 「天下 の 険」 を 越 え た 技. P. 146.
15. ↑ Hakone Tozan Tetsudō: す ば ら し い 箱根 グ ラ フ 100. P. 48.
16. ↑ ^{a b} Aota: 箱根 の 山 に 挑 ん だ 鉄 路 「天下 の 険」 を 越 え た 技. P. 170.
17. ↑ Hakone Tozan Tetsudō: す ば ら し い 箱根 グ ラ フ 100. P. 88.
18. ↑ Hakone Tozan Tetsudō: す ば ら し い 箱根 グ ラ フ 100. P. 57.
19. ↑ Hakone Tozan Tetsudō: す ば ら し い 箱根 グ ラ フ 100. P. 60.
20. ↑ Katō: 箱根 山 の 近代 交通. P. 171.