1] Hokkaido: Since 1977, no fewer than twenty-one branches on Japan's most northerly main island have closed to all traffic, and one branch has been transferred to a private company. Long-distance services however have considerably improved. About 1980 a new line some 130km long opened from Minami Chitose via Owani to Shintoku, incorporating part of the Yubari branch and giving a direct route between Sapporo and the north-eastern part of the island. More recently the 53km Seikan tunnel under the Tsugaru Straits has linked Hokkaido with the rest of the Japanese railway system and now carries a frequent service of passenger and freight trains, including sleeping-car trains from Tokyo.

2] (Hakodate -) Kikomai - Esashi: Single-unit diesel cars work this 42km branch. Most of the six trains a day each way are through workings travelling over the main line between Hakodate and Kikomai.

3] Oshamambe - Otaru (- Sapporo): This 140km branch originally formed part of the main line from Hakodate to Sapporo, but since the late 1980s all through services have been diverted along the south coast via Higashi-Muroran, Tomakomai and Chitose. Double-track sections were subsequently singled and the line is now worked by single-unit diesel cars, sometimes coupled in pairs. Six trains run each way over the entire length of the line and most of these are extended to and from Sapporo.

In addition several short workings run Shikanbetsu - Otaru and Kutsuayan - Otaru. Most services are one-person-operated, with a fare-box for passengers joining at the many unstaffed stations. Steam puts in an appearance on five or six Sundays in the summer, when the preserved 4-6-4 #C62 3 works a four-coach train between Otaru and Nihiko. The first 3km out of Otaru have a 1-in-50 gradient and the engine makes an impressive sight working hard up the bank.

4] Minami Otaru - Temiya: This branch formed part of the first railway in Hokkaido, opened in the 1860s from the coal mines in the Yubari district to staithes at Temiya, using American equipment. The line once served the docks at Otaru, but is now completely disused and very rusty, although no track is lifted and the connection with the yard lines at Minami Otaru is still in place. A small museum located in the two half-roundhouses at Temiya was in August 1995 undergoing considerable extension and is to open in 1996 as the Hokkaido Railway Museum. The branch will presumably be retained for transfer of stock to and from the museum.

5] Sapporo - Shin-Totsugawa: The Sapporo end of the line has frequent diesel trains as far as Ishikakotobetsu and Ishikaniganasawa, but the service is sparse beyond. Only three trains run to Shin-Totsugawa and these start at Ishikakotobetsu, involving a change for passengers from Sapporo. Four short workings run between Ishikakotobetsu and Ujiusu and one as far as Ishikanitsuzukata. All seem to be worked by single-unit diesel cars, with fare-box.

6] Asahigawa - Nayoro - Wakkanai: Although 285km long, this line definitely comes into the category of a branch, single throughout with only very occasional crossing-loops. An approximately hourly service operates as far as Nayoro (83km), but the line beyond runs through unpopulated country, sometimes reminiscent of Scotland’s Far North line from Inverness to Wick and Thurso. The few towns of any size have manned stations, but most stopping-places have only a converted goods-van body as a waiting-room. Four expresses run, including an overnight working from Sapporo, and connect at the northern port of Wakkanai with boats to the islands of Rebun and Reshiri. The trains are made up of single-unit diesel cars coupled together, six vehicles on both day trains from Sapporo and three vehicles on the one from Asahigawa. Local trains are single cars, and the service is quite typical of the longer country branch lines in Japan, with no end-to-end local working, only a series of overlapping short workings, such as Nayoro - Otoineppu, Nayoro - Toyotomi and Otoineppu - Wakkanai. With the exception of Nayoro - Fukagawa, all the branches off the Asahigawa - Wakkanai line were closed and lifted in the late 1970s or late 1980s, though the formations of most of them can be seen at the junctions. No trace however is visible at Horonobe, where a line to Rumoi once diverged.

7] Nayoro - Fukagawa: This link back to the Sapporo - Asahigawa main line at Fukagawa still had a sparse passenger service in August 1995, but was said to be closing at the end of the summer timetable. Worked in two parts, it had four single-unit railcars a day between Nayoro and Shumarinai and five between Shumarinai and Fukagawa, not all of them making connections at Shumarinai.

8] Ikeda - Kitame: This 140km branch links the main line to Kushiro at Ikeda with the main line to Abashiri at Kitame. Originally a JNR line, it has been operated by a private company since about 1990. It is single throughout, controlled by electric tablet, a reminder that many original Japanese railway practices were based on those of Britain. The principal passing loops at Sushijoro, Takashima, Ikebetsu, Kunatsufu and Ohato are protected by semaphore signals, yellow for the distants and red for the homes and starters. One-person-operated single-unit railcars are used throughout, sometimes coupled in pairs at peak periods. The basic service is five through trains end-to-end, with several short workings Ikeda - Takashima, Ikeda - Ikebetsu, Kunatsufu - Kitame and Ohato - Kitame. The 10:05 from Kitame, again a single car, runs as an express, calling only at the principal stations, and is coupled to a JR train from Ikeda to provide a through service to Obihiro. It returns attached to the rear of the 09:35 Takikawa - Kushiro all-stations JR train and is dropped off at Ikeda to form the 14:33 express over the branch to Kitame. Somewhat confusingly for those not used to the system, tickets for the branch are not issued by the JR booking office at Ikeda, but have to be bought from a machine. On arrival at Kitame, the driver collects tickets from passengers who boarded at staffed stations and cash from those who joined at the halts. In return everyone is given a voucher, which has to be handed in at the JR ticket barrier. Presumably the same system operates at Ikeda in the opposite direction.

9] Hirosake - Kurioshi: In the northern part of the main island of Honshu, several short private railways around Hirosake and Aomori are worthy of note. One is the 17km Hirosake - Kurioshi line, operated by the Konan Railway Company, and running from the JR station at Hirosake through the outer suburbs of the city to Hiraka and Kurioshi. Twin-unit electric cars provide basically a half-hourly service, with two expresses at peak periods. Second-hand cars from other Japanese private lines have recently replaced trains dating from electrification of the line in 1948, but much of the old stock is still lying around at Hiraka depot, which also has at least one electric locomotive, formerly used for freight, but now confined to ballast train and snowplough work.

10] Kurioshi - Kawabe: Formerly a JR branch until privatisation in 1984, this 6km line, also operated by the Konan Railway Company, runs through sparsely populated country from the Konan station at Kurioshi to the JR station at Kawabe, on the Akita - Hirosake - Aomori main line. A single-unit railcar, based at the diesel depot at Kurioshi, provides a frequent shuttle service connecting with main-line trains.

11] Chuo-Hirosake - Owani Onsen: The third of the Konan Railway Company lines starts from a separate station on the west side of Hirosake city-centre and runs some 14km to the spa town of Owani Onsen, where it has an independent platform, connected to the JR station by a long footbridge. Relatively modern electric railcars run a half-hourly service, but some of the original electric stock purchased for the opening of the line in 1952 remains at the depot at Shin-Ishikawa, and one set is said to be available for private hire. An electric locomotive for ballast and snowplough duties is kept at Owani Onsen.

12] Goshogawara - Tsugaru-Nakasato: This private line, just over 20km long, connects with the JR at Goshogawara, where the Tsugaru Railway and JR platforms are some distance apart, connected by a footbridge. As with the Konan Railway at Hirosake and Owani Onsen, separate entrances to the JR platforms are provided for JR and private-railway passengers, each with its own booking-office and ticket-barrier, and passengers have to leave the station by the appropriate exit depending on which company they have travelled with! The Tsugaru Railway is another line with electric token instruments, and semaphore signalling protects entry to terminal stations and crossing-loops. Single-unit diesel cars based on the depot at Goshogawara run a roughly hourly service. Several locomotive-hauled coaches, apparently second-hand, were in the sidings at Goshogawara, and seem to be used on special trains, hauled by one of the two diesel locomotives which were inside the depot.

13] Noheji - Shichinohe: This 21km branch, which connects with the JR Morioka - Aomori main line at Noheji, was opened in 1962 by the Nambu Railway, part-financed by the prefecture and the local authorities. Serving only rural communities on the way to its terminus in the small town of Shichinohe, it is single track throughout, much of it grass-grown, and the passing loops which remain are out of use. Freight service ceased in 1984. Electric token instruments have been retained and semaphore signals protect the entry to Shichinohe station. Five return trips per day are operated by a four-wheeled vehicle, constructed specially for the line from two shortened bus-bodies mounted back to back on a railway chassis. A similar vehicle was spare in the depot at Shichinohe, along with another four-wheeled railbus with a more conventional coach body which was said to be useless. The depot also contained two diesel locomotives. The railway claims that it is the only one in Japan to use railbuses, possibly with justification, since other lines seem all to employ bogie vehicles. In view of the infrequent and apparently little-used service, it seems doubtful if the line can last much longer, and it should be visited before it is too late.

14] Odate - Kosaka: This 22km private line has closed since 1991. It was originally a 762mm-gauge mining line but was regauged to 1067mm in 1962, when diesel traction was introduced. Freight traffic ceased in 1982, leaving only a passenger service. The Kosaka station in Odate was unusual in that it was some distance across the town from the JR station. It was still standing in a derelict condition in August 1995, complete with very rusty trackwork which continued some distance southwards to the exchange sidings with the JR.

15] (Morioka -) Koma - Towada-Minami - Odate: This 118km JR branch provides a connection from the Tohoku Shinkansen at Morioka to the north-western part of Honshu. Eight trains, worked by single-unit railcars, begin on the main line at Morioka, turn on to the branch at Koma and run through to Odate. Total journey-time is around three hours. Short workings also run between Morioka and Towada-Minami and between Towada-Minami and Odate. Towada-Minami is a terminal station where trains reverse. In 1991, though the eastern end of the line had by then been re-equipped with electric signalling and electric single-line control, the western end still had crossing loops protected by semaphore signals, and employed miniature electric train-staffs rather than the more usual electric tablets. It is not known whether the train-staffs are still used on this line, but the exchange of staffs used to be quite a formal procedure. A white-gloved signalman handed the staff, in its pouch, to the white-gloved driver and received the previous staff in return. With this exchange completed both then gave a smart salute.

16] Higashi-Noshiro - Kawabe (- Hirosake): From Higashi-Noshiro, a junction on the Akita - Aomori main line, this JR line runs in a coastal loop of some 162km to rejoin the same line at Kawabe. For most of the distance it serves fishing villages and small seaside resorts. The single line has passing-places at the main stations and is equipped with colour-light signals. Only four trains a day each way run end-to-end, calling at all stations and taking around four and a half hours. During the summer season one of these is replaced by a ‘romantic express’ formed partly of open-sided vehicles and hauled by a D12-class diesel locomotive in a special yellow-and-brown livery. The ordinary trains are single-unit diesel cars, coupled together in twos and threes. At the southern end of the line, an intensive shuttle service connecting with main-line trains at Higashi-Noshiro serves Noshiro town station, the first along the branch. Short workings also run from Higashi-Noshiro to Iwadate and Fukaura. At the northern end additional trains run from Fukaura, Ajigasawa and Goshogawara towards Kawabe. Like the through trains from Higashi-Noshiro, they reverse at Kawabe and run over the main line to Hirosake. One, the 06:20 from Fukaura, splits at Kawabe, the front portion going on to Aomori and the rear portion to Hirosake. The corresponding up working in the evening, the 20:58 arrival at Fukaura, consists of an Aomori portion only.

17] (Tokyo Ueno -) Takasaki - Nagaoka: A stretch of the former Joetsu main line, from Tokyo to Niigata, has reverted to the status almost of a country branch. Through passengers from Tokyo now travel by the Joetsu Shinkansen. A relatively frequent local service runs approximately hourly between Takasaki and the resort town of Minakami, while several Limited Expresses run through from Tokyo’s Ueno station, and some detach a portion for Manza Kazawaguchi at Shibukawa. From Minakami over the summit to the skiing and summer resort town of Echigo-Yusawa there are now only five local trains a day. From Echigo-Yusawa the service on to Nagaoka is roughly hourly stopping at all stations, although outside the resort area itself the country is sparsely populated. A summer tourist train also makes a daily trip through the resort towns hauled by electric locomotive EF 64 1001 in the old brown livery. Between Minakami and Echigo-Yusawa the line is steeply graded and reminiscent of some Swiss railways. The original single line, now the up (to Tokyo) line, gains height between Yupino and Doai in a spiral tunnel. This is followed by a more-or-less level section, with a summit tunnel, to Tsuchitaru. From here a second spiral tunnel takes the line down to Echigo-Nakagata followed by a further steep descent along the valley to Echigo-Yusawa. The new down line, which seems to have constructed in the 1930s or 1940s, takes a more direct course, through a steeply-inclined straight tunnel from Yupino to Doai, then a more gently-graded tunnel to Tsuchitaru. Here the down line re-emerges to join the up line in the station and then descends through another steeply-graded straight tunnel to Echigo-Nakagata. The down platforms at both Yupino and Doai are underground, connected to the surface and to the up platforms by steeply sloping passageways. Tsuchitaru and Echigo-Nakagata are both in the open air. Some freight trains are still worked over the summit, limited to around twelve vehicles and hauled by pairs of EF 64 electric locomotives. Diverging westwards at the north end of Muikamachi station is a disused branch, with very rusty track in position and connected to the running lines. This branch, the Hokuetsu-Hoko line, to Tokamachi and Naoetsu, was shown as ‘under construction or proposed’ in the Quail Japan Railway Atlas of 1975. Was it ever completed and what is its status today?

18] Shimodate - Motegi: The Kanto region of Japan, centred on Tokyo, is more noted for its very intensive suburban services, on both JR and the numerous private railways, than for its rural branches. Outside the metropolitan area, however, there is much of branch-line interest. The former JR Motegi branch was taken over by the Moke Railway Company in recent years. Starting from Shimodate, a junction on the JR Oyama - Mito line, it runs 42km to Motegi, and was originally intended, in JNR days, to extend beyond there. Earthworks for the uncompleted line can be seen. The line is single with several crossing places and has electric signalling. Twenty return journeys operate end-to-end, plus a few morning and evening short workings between Shimodate and Moke, all trains being worked by single-unit diesel railcars based at the depot at Moke. This is a considerable improvement from JNR days, for the 1986 timetable shows only eight return workings between Shimodate and Motegi, some of which ran through from and to Oyama, and three between Shimodate and Moke. At some time in the 1990s the Moke Railway acquired a C12-class 2-6-2T steam locomotive, which is used on most days during the summer season to work a special three-coach train from Shimodate to Motegi and back.

19] (Tokyo -) Kozu - Gotemba - Numazu: What is now a JR rural backwater was originally part of the Tokaido main line linking Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. Gradients are in places as steep as 1 in 40 and 1 in 50 and it is not surprising that in the 1920s it was replaced by a more practical route along the coast. The double track sections were subsequently singled, although the line was later electrified. Three-car electric trains operate approximately hourly, some of them running through to and from Odawara, and additional short workings run at the eastern end between Kozu and Gotemba, the only town of any size on the line. An unusual feature of the line is the Limited Express service run by the Odakyu Railway between Shinjuku and Numazu four times a day. These trains leave the Odakyu Railway's Odawara line at Shin-Matsuda and travel over the connecting curve to the JR at Matsuda.

20] Okosaki - Kozaki (the Aichi Loop Line): The city of Nagoya, the capital of Aichi Prefecture, is like Tokyo the centre of intensive suburban traffic, both on the JR and the privately owned Meitetsu, but a few interesting branch lines run in the less populated parts of the prefecture. The Aichi Loop Line was projected by the JNR to serve the rapidly growing industrial area centred on Toyota City. It was opened by JNR from a junction with the Tokaido main line at Okosaki as far as Shin-Toyota in the 1970s and construction was undertaken from there to Kozaki on the Nagoya to Matsumoto main line. The line then passed to a consortium of local authorities which now operates it under the title of the Aichi Loop Line. The section from Shin-Toyota to Kozaki was opened in around 1980. The line is, like many modern Japanese railways, built largely on concrete viaduct, particularly in the urban areas. The formation was built for double track, and parts of the Okosaki - Shin-Toyota section may originally have had double track, later singled. Today the line is single throughout, with passing-places at most stations. It appears that some form of central traffic control is used and every station has colour-light signals. There is some evidence that a branch was intended to run towards the southern part of Toyota City from Kita-Nomazuga, where the car-sheds are located and which has the only four-platform station on the system. At each end of the line, flying junctions were provided, on concrete viaducts at Okosaki and Kozaki although these are now devoid of track. That at Kozaki was probably never laid and the Aichi trains now have sole use of the easternmost platform there. The platform road continues to join the JR tracks, although it is very rusty and obviously has not been used for some time. Similarly at Okosaki, Aichi trains have their own short bay-platform at the south-west end of the JR station. Here again the connection with the JR tracks does not appear to have been used recently. The line is operated by twin-unit electric railcars painted in a red, white and blue livery, sometimes coupled in pairs at rush hours. All trains carry a driver and conductor, the latter issuing and collecting tickets at the unstaffed stations. A half-hourly service is provided between 06:00 and 23:30, augmented to a twenty-minute service at peak periods.

21] Ena - Akechi: This line starts from an independent platform adjacent to the JR station at Ena, on the main line from Nagoya to Matsumoto, and its single track runs through rural countryside for 25km to the small town of Akechi. Originally part of JNR, the line was privatised about 1980 and is now operated by the Akechi Railway Company. The connection at Ena has been lifted, so it is now isolated from the JR system. Electric tablet instruments are in use for the two sections and semaphore signals protect the single crossing-loop at Iwamura and the terminal station at Akechi. Two single-unit railcars, which cross at Iwamura, maintain an approximately hourly service.

22] Toyohashi - Tatsuno (- Okaya): This very long JR branch, known as the Iida line, runs from Toyohashi on the Tokaido main line to Tatsuno on the Tokyo - Matsumoto main line. Most of the branch trains continue to Okaya. Between Toyohashi and a burrowing junction near Kosani the Iida line trains share the tracks with the trains of the Nagoya Railway Company. The line is worked by single-unit diesel cars, often running in multiple. The basic service is roughly two-hourly from Toyohashi to Iida or Komogane and similarly from Iida or Komogane to Okaya, with several short workings over the centre section of the line. A frequent shuttle service, worked by a single railcar, runs between Toyohashi and Toyokawa. Only one train in each direction makes the journey along the whole of the branch, stopping at all stations and taking seven and half hours for the 215 km run.

23] Taijimi - Minakoda: This rural JR branch, just over 20km long, connects the Nagoya - Matsumoto main line at Taijimi with the Gifu - Toyama secondary line. A roughly half-hourly service is provided by single-unit diesel cars, one-person-operated, with a fare-box system for passengers joining at the intermediate stations, all unstaffed except Kani. Here the Nagoya Railway has a station adjacent to the JR one, although no physical connection now remains between the two lines.

24] Shikoku: In 1988 Japan’s main island of Honshu was linked by a bridge near the city of Okayama across narrows in the Inland Sea to the smaller but still sizeable island of Shikoku lying to the south. The 13.1km Seto-Ohashi bridge, with main spans 65m above high water, carries beneath its road deck an electrified railway connecting the mainland system with the island lines of the ex-nationalised company, JR Shikoku, at a triangular flying junction to serve both Takamatsu to the east and Tadotsu to the west. JR Shikoku’s only double track is between these two points. Electrification extends beyond Tadotsu west along the northern coast to the city of Matsuyama, and for a short distance inland from Tadotsu to Kotohira. The island lines abound in tunnels and curves, so the Hitachi-built tilting electric units on the Okayama - Tadotsu - Matsuyama route have made big improvements on journey times over conventional trains. It can be somewhat alarming to sit in the front coach with a view ahead through the driver’s cab as the train takes curves at speed, though physical sensation of the curvature is lacking. Diesel tilting trains operate the Shimanto expresses on the Takamatsu - Tadotsu - Kotohira - Kubokawa - Nakamura route serving the south-west of the island. Both the electric and the diesel tilting expresses have a streamlined cab at the ‘country’ end only, and the diesels were seen working in two-, four- and five-car formations. Internally, all the tilting trains feature a laterally-scrolling three-colour light-emitting-diode display at each end of the coach, giving information in Japanese about the next stop and the current speed. The maximum seen displayed was 120km/h, but for most of the lengthy climbs through the mountains the speed rarely dropped below 80km/h. The last section of the Shimanto express route, from Wakai just beyond Kubokawa to Nakamura, uses the Tosa-Kurachio private railway, over which JR Shikoku has running powers. Nearby, the JR Shikoku Kubokawa - Wakai - Uwajima branch is a truly rural line, with eight railcars a day. As passengers alight, fares are dropped into a transparent plastic fare-box for the driver to check, and no tickets are issued. At one of the passing stations, someone who had got off the train to take photographs was left behind, until another passenger on the single unit alerted the driver to stop. Then another passenger realised he had boarded the train going the wrong way, and was let off to walk back along the track! Unusual among railways on Shikoku is the Kotoden-Chikko private railway running three lines based on the city of Takamatsu (Takamatsu-Chikko - Kawaramachi - Kotohira / Nagao / Shido) since it is standard 1435mm-gauge, and urban parts of it are double-track.