Some of these photos first appeared on Tokyo Times just over half a decade ago, but after recently returning to them, doing some re-edits, and putting the full set together, it seemed like a good idea to once again go back to that sunny day in 2016. It also felt like a decent time to display the full colours of a Hokkaido summer before the winter snow soon sets in.
Completed in 1936, the Esashi train line ran for a scenic 42kms. Stretching from coast to coast, it served small, inland villages, offering a service that for many must have once been nothing short of essential. Times change, however, and the combination of motorisation, better roads and a decreasing population, gradually left the route with an ever-dwindling number of passengers — a situation that meant by 2011, there were only 6 daily services. While presumably still relied upon by some, in strictly financial terms, it simply wasn’t viable anymore, and so on May 11th 2014, the last ever trains trundled along the tracks.
Fast-forward a little over 2 years after closure, and that’s when the photographs below were taken — the order they are in being their order along the line. Most of the track was still in place, and more importantly, so were a few of the unique and wonderfully quaint little stations. Several of them had already been destroyed or repurposed, and down to nothing but sheer good fortune, a demolition crew arrived at the shed-like waiting room in shots 8 and 9 just as we had finished photographing it. A decidedly ominous sign that the rest of the structures would slowly but surely suffer the same fate, and having not been back since, I can only assume that they have. These images then are a personal reminder of a lovely day in the sun, and somewhat unexpectedly, a document of what very likely doesn’t exist anymore.
Denise says
I’m in love with the knitted sear covers!
Lee says
Yeah, they are very special. Definitely evocative of a different era.
Richard says
My grandmothers used to crochet things like those seat covers! Very 1970’s in style.
Thanks so much for sharing these
Lee says
My pleasure, and yeah, very 1970s. Glad to hear the photo brought back those memories.
Julien K says
The first and last ones have to be recycled wagons, right ? They look so much like so
Lee says
Yeah, it’s something quite common in Hokkaido. Well, on local lines anyway. Always a treat to see them re-used like this.
john says
No more trundling, potential haikyo or potential ‘Waldens’ then, but a timely November reminder of lovely days in the sun.
I like the orange rusty tracks; those flowers on the left really make it! I’m sure that’s a landscape (sans tripod).
Lee says
Nah, none of those anymore, but definitely a nice reminder for sure.
Yeah, the rust on the tracks was quite something, and like you said, made all the better by the flowers.
Haha, absolutely spot on. My kind of landscape — one shot handheld!
cdilla says
Lovely to see these re-edits, blazing in their summer glory. Grey and ner freezing outside here.
They recalled one of my favourite SF paintings from my teen years, and the internet being the wonderful thing it is means I don’t have to unbox my original and scan it to show you 🙂
http://www.philsp.com/data/images/s/science_fiction_monthly_197502.jpg
Even back then my affinity to scenes of natures inevitable retaking of a landscape was strong.
Lee says
Thanks a lot. It was nice to go back to them. Thankfully still pleasant here, but we are still well past the weather above.
Ah, very nice. Now finding something like that really would be something. But yeah, big or small, nature taking something back is always a treat to see.