This Line is
History: Niigata
had a quaint little Interurban
operation that closed in April of 1999. The line opened in the early
30's.
Luckily I did some railfanning of it in 1998! I just wish I knew at the
time that it was closing soon. I did not ride the cars, just did some chasing.
The
Niigata Line was originally much longer than its final length. Before its
demise, the line ended about a mile south of city center, which requires a bus transfer. Originally
the line did go to city center, but the big cars were loud and caused traffic
problems, so the line was cut back.
The line extended much further out
into the countryside, but better roads caused the travel time on the interurban
to be longer than driving a car. The line follows a dike along side a river for
most of its length. All the towns along right-of-way are very small sleepy
towns. The only real riders in the interurban were school kids.
Seeing this
line reminds of images along mid-west US Interurbans during the 1920's. Much of
the equipment running on the line dates to the opening of the line in the 1930's.
Niigata
Kotsu has pledged to preserve a few pieces of rolling stock at the Tsuki-gata
end of the line.
