Choshi Dentetsu – The Cabbage Patch Line
Choshi Dentetsu is a private railway in the easternmost point of Chiba. It runs from the end of the Sobu Main Line, 6.4kms to Tokawa. Our dearly missed late member Colin Brown wrote an article in Bullet-In #38 (issued Spring 2001), where he nicknamed the line as the ‘Cabbage Patch Line’. In recent years, the line has financially struggled to maintain the service, and during the COVID Pandemic passenger numbers collapsed as people avoided unnecessary travel. Billy Bunda has shared his photos from a recent visit to the line. The JRS hopes that the line can recover from its recent struggles, given its unique operation and its interesting fleet of rolling stock.
All photos: Billy Bunda, taken 8th April 2023.
New HC85 Hybrid DEMU at Takayama Station.
2502 at Choshi station, with a JR Narita line train in the background.
Train 3501 at Nakanocho Station arrived in 2016 with new livery.