Time slip to Meiji Era

Good Evening, Kapinozuka here.

It was a public holiday on Thursday, so I'm blogging on a Saturday instead.
Today's topic is something non-model related.

Japan Railways Train Manual (Timetable) (1902)


On the cover of this manual, the kanji* used is the old character, with the characters horizontally written are read from right to left, giving it a very old feel. This here was published in the 35th year of the Meiji Era (1902), a reproduced copy of the Railway timetable by the name of [National Railroad Train Manual]. Its listed with the timetable of the railways of Japan at the time.
*note: Kanji is what is often referred to as the Chinese Characters

Let's take a look inside.



It's a handwritten timetable, and generally written vertically.
All the numbers are written in kanji.



I'll explain simply how to read this chart using this page as an example.
On the right hand side, there is a large writing [O Takasaki – Naoetsu Area], and that is the name of the rail's operating area, I.e. the route name. This is the line known now as the Shinetsu Main Line these days.

Around the top, there is, in order from the right, the Takasaki, Izuka, Annaka etc., the stations on the Shinetsu Main Line. As well as the name of the train, it also tells you which direction it is heading and the time period from right to left.

The kanji numbers represent the time as well.
Under the station name, if it says (- Departure), that's generally the departing time. If it says (- Arrival), it's generally the arriving time.

For example, the train circled in blue departs Karuizawa Station at 06:03, and arrives at Nagano Station at 09:05. After a while, the train parked on the Nagano station will depart at 09:24. From this, we can see that the train back then took 2 and a half hours to travel between Karuizawa and Nagano stations. These days, you could take the Nagano Shinkansen in the same area and it would only take about 32min to travel.

So just like this, you could compare the differences from the railways back then to that of present date, and imagine what it was like, I think that's another way to enjoy this timetable.

There were also things that caught my attention on other pages, so I think I might as well share them while I'm at it.


Interesting Place Part 1



On the page next to the previous page, there is [O Sanuki – Ryugasaki Area].
This is the Kanto Railway Ryugasaki Line of the Ryugasaki City of Ibaraki Pref.
Back then, it was a light railway called [Ryugasaki Railway], and was a brand new railway that had just started operation 2years before (Meiji 33, year 1900) this time table was produced.

At present, the area with diesel trains of Kanto Railways taking 7min one way to travel, apparently took 20mins back then, according to this time table.
And furthermore, it's surprising to see that there are 5 stations, where as at present date, we only have 3, the Sanuki, Ireji, and Ryugasaki stations, so that must mean the other two were scrapped later on.


Interesting Place Part 2

So I thought wanted to see if the station closest to Hobby Search, the Asakusabashi station, and the Station known for the Electrical District, Akihabara station were on the timetable too...
But unfortunately, it wasn't listed on this timetable. Orz

It seems that the rails of Ueno and Shimbashi stations weren't connected yet, so there were no rails that matches the JR Yamanote Line and the JR Keihin Tohoku Line.
The JR Sobu Line were the [Sobu Railway] that was centered around Honjo Station (Kinshincho Station at present).
The JR Chuo Line was the [Kobu Railway], centered in the Iidamachi Station (Later terminated and is the JR Freight Main Building at present date).

Its not that there were no rail around Akihabara area,
and the Akihabara Station was already built at that point,
however, it was a station for freight, so it was not listed.

"You can't take a train to go buy figurines!"
"Lol the Electric District isn't even built yet!"
"It must be hard to commute to Hobby Search like that"
"ahahaha I doubt anyone commuted with trains back then!"
...and this was a conversation that may/may not have taken place here within Hobby Search.


Interesting Place Part 3

While looking at the JR Chuo Line (Kobu Railways) timetable, I noticed that there was a line that goes from Kokubunji Station to Kawagoe Station (Hon-Kawagoe station at present).The rail that splits from Kokubunji is the [Kawagoe Railway], and presently known as the Seibu Railways Kokubunji Line.

"Ahh, back then, the Seibu Kokubunji Line and Chuo Line were running directly! That's a surprise"
"Yeah, its convenient that you don't have to change trains at Kokubunji"
"But, if you catch the wrong train, you might get taken to Kawagoe, which could be disastrous!"
"Yes yes, for those heading for Tachikawa/Hachiouji/Takao direction from Shinjuku, be careful!"


......you could have a conversation like that of above too.


So yeah, that's if for the intro of a book for relearning the past, [Japan Railways Train Manual] reproduced copy.
It's published by Creative More.

For those of you who have no plans in the holiday, why not grab a timetable and create a travel plan with it?

Right then, see you next time.

By Kapinozuka, who offers Melon Tea, while its still warm.