For more than ninety years what in Japanese are called tetsudo renraku fune or in English, ‘Railway connecting ships’ or ‘Railway ferries’, have plied the waters around Japan. This title indicates the main duty of these vessels, which is to provide connections, along what are called ‘Navigation Routes’ (N.R.) between railways in the Japanese home islands, and also, in earlier times, connections to overseas parts of the Japanese empire.

However, not all of these routes did actually connect with railways at both ends, some short routes provided a connection from a railway to a place without trains. Of this type of N.R. probably the best known, and now (1999) the only surviving route is that down the bay from Hiroshima, which runs from a wharf adjacent to the railway station at Miyajima-guchi across to the sacred island of Miyajima, also known as Ikutsujima. Fig. 1 shows the navigation routes operating in 1976, and also those major routes which existed prior to the end of the Pacific War in August 1945.

But the first of Japan’s railway ships did not sail on salt water, but on the fresh water of Lake Biwa, the large lake to the north of Kyoto. In the early 1880s the Government Railway’s Tokaido line was being built from Tokyo to Osaka, by way of Kyoto, and by 1882 its head of construction was approaching the eastern side of Lake Biwa from the north. To connect onwards from the railhead towards Kyoto, in 1882 the Taiko Steamship Company was formed, whose purpose was to run a ferry service from the small lake port of Nagahama, adjacent to the Tokaido Line railhead, down to Otsu at the southernmost extremity of Lake Biwa, from whence connection could be made to Kyoto.

For this service, two single-screw 516 ton 14 knot steamers, No. 1 Taiko Maru (Fig. 2.) and No.2 Taiko Maru, each with a passenger capacity of 350 people, were launched on the lake in late 1883, and began operating the Otsu – Nagahama N.R. in 1884. These two ships were built by one Kirby, who is quoted as being ‘an English resident of Kobe’ and who probably was also involved with the Taiko Steamship Company as well.

As these little steamers plied their route, construction of the Tokaido Main Line towards Kyoto continued, and by 1889 this city had been reached, giving a continuous line of railway between Tokyo and Kyoto, and so the Otsu – Nagahama N.R. became redundant and was closed.

The fate of the two Taiko Marus is unknown, but it is probable that they continued in use as ferries on other routes on Lake Biwa.

By 1891, the privately owned Nippon Railway Company had completed its main line, now the Tohoku Main Line, north-eastwards from Tokyo to Aomori, a port town on the north-east coast of Honshu. However at this time passengers wishing to travel across the Tsugaru Strait to Hokkaido had to do so using the ships of the Japan Mail Ship Company, which ran between Aomori and Hakodate in Hokkaido.

At the other end of Honshu, the Sanyo Railway Company, another privately owned concern, was constructing its main line westwards from Kobe, its ultimate destination to be Shimonoseki on the Kammon Strait which runs between Honshu and Kyushu and by 1897 this line had reached the small coastal port of Tokuyama. From this port a steamer service was organised to run to Moji,in Kyushu, this route being named the Kammon N.R.The steamers operating on this route were the Bakan Maru and the Toyoura Maru, each of about 230 tons, carrying 116 second class passengers and 146 in third class, at speeds of about 10 1/2 knots.

The year 1901 saw the completion of the extension of the Sanyo Main Line from Tokuyama to Shimonoseki, the consequent closure of the Tokuyama – Moji navigation route, and the opening of a new route across the Kammon Strait between Shimonoseki and Moji, this route taking over the name Kammon N.R. The ships operating this N.R. were the Oseto Maru and the Shimonoseki Maru, both small twin-screw steamers of 188 tons, with a speed of 8 knots and the capacity to carry 29 first class, 48 second class and 258 third class passengers.

In 1902 a ferry connection across to Miyajima was begun by the Miyajima Voyage Company, and in March of 1903 the Sanyo Railway Co. opened two navigation routes across the Inland Sea to Shikoku. One of these routes ran from Okayama to Takamatsu, using the Tamamo Maru, and the other, with the Kojima Maru, ran between Onomichi on Honshu and Tadotsu on Shikoku. Both vessels were 224 ton twin-screw steamers, capable of over 10 knots and carrying 12 passengers in first class, 36 in second class and 98 in third class.

In May of 1903, the Miyajima N.R. was taken over by the Sanyo Railway Co.

The Hankaku Railway Company, a private company operating to the north of Osaka, in 1904/5 started up a couple of short navigation routes on Maizuru Bay on the Japan Sea coast of Honshu.

1905 also saw a much more important N.R., the first of the long-distance sea-going N.R.s, come into being. In this year, in Korea, which at that time was nominally part of the Japanese Empire, the Korean Government Railways line between the port of Pusan, at the southern extremity of the country, and the Korean capital Keijo (now Seoul), was opened for traffic.

This line was an important link in the communication chain between Tokyo and Keijo and to complete this chain, in September of 1905 the Sanyo Railway Co. set up the Kampu N.R. between Shimonoseki and Pusan. For this run the Sanyo Co. obtained two fast passenger ships, Iki Maru (Fig. 3) and Tsushima Maru. At 1,680 tons these two twin-screw steamers were by far the largest railway ships yet seen in Japan. Their 2,400 h.p. reciprocating engines drove them at 15 knots, and each could carry 18 first class, 64 second class and 235 third class passengers on the overnight journey.

Now, by using the Kampu N.R., the traveller leaving Tokyo could be in Keijo in sixty hours of which time the sea journey took eleven and a half hours, the total distance travelled being approximately 1,800 km.

Not to be outdone, the Nippon Railway Co. commissioned from the Scottish shipbuilders William Denny & Brothers Co. two triple-screw turbine engined steamers, Hirafu Maru and Tamura Maru. These 1,480 ton vessels could run at 18 knots and carry 22 first class passengers, 52 second class and 254 in third class. These ships began operating in October of 1906 across the Tsugaru Strait, their terminal ports being Aomori and Hakodate, and the navigation route so formed being called the Seikan N.R.

However, these four vessels only had a short period of operation under the colours of their respective private owners, for in November of 1906 the Japanese Government began the nationalization of the major private railways, purchasing the Nippon Co. in that same month, the Sanyo Co. in December, and the Hankaku and other companies in 1907, and so taking over the ships and navigation routes operated by these companies.

By mid 1908 the operation by the Japanese Government of the various N.R.s was well under way, the vessels on these routes now carrying the funnel colours and markings of the Railways Department of the Ministry of Engineering, as shown in Fig. 12(a).

In 1910 the railway from Okayama to Uno, on Honshu’s south coast, was opened and the Uno-Takamatsu (Uko) N.R. came into service, the Okayama – Takamatsu and Unomichi – Tadotsu N.R.s being closed, with the Kojima Maru and Tamama Maru being transferred to this new route.

Up to this time all the railway ships were largely passenger carriers, some also having the capacity to carry small amounts of cargo as well as passengers.

The first steps towards the carriage of railway vehicles on these routes came in 1911, when the Kanshin N.R., from Shimonoseki to Kumorie in Kyushu began operation. On this route was introduced the car barge or car float, an un-powered barge with a line of rail laid on its deck, onto which three railway waggons could be loaded from a suitable dock, the loaded barge then being towed by a steam tug to its destination, where after some complex manouvering it was docked and the waggons unloaded. From contemporary photographs, it seems that the railway track between the barge and the dock was only a pair of rails on sleepers, with a very spidery supporting structure beneath, and that the railway waggons, four-wheeled box vans, were pushed onto and off the barge by man-power! Twelve car barges, called kasha hashike, and at least three tugboats, Nos. 1, 2 and 3 Sangu Maru provided this service.

So now there were two railway ferry services between Honshu and Kyushu, the Kammon N.R. for passengers and the Kanshin N.R. for freight in railway waggons.

The years 1912 and 1913 saw some changes in the N.R.s on Maizuru Bay, with one route being closed and another sold to a private company.

Also in 1913 two sizeable ships, the Koma Maru and Shiragi Maru entered service on the Kampu N.R. These were both 3,000 ton twin-screw steamers, with speeds of 16 knots and passenger capacities of 43 in first class, 120 in second class and 440 in third class, with a crew of 109. The Koma Maru served until 1933, when it was taken out of service and scrapped, the Shiragi Maru became a war loss in 1945.

In 1914 a second car barge and tug operation began, on the Seikan N.R. Only a single barge was used there, the 40 m long Shaun Maru, which could carry a single locomotive or passenger coach or several goods waggons. Fig. 4 shows Shaun Maru under tow by by the tug Sakurajima Maru. Shaun Maru continued in service on the Seikan N.R. until 1927, by which year it had transported over 5,000 vehicles.

With the growth of rail traffic after the Great War, the need arose for a more efficent method of transporting railway vehicles across the Kammon Strait than that provided by the car barge and tugboat system then in use. This need was met by the introduction in 1919 on the Kanshin N.R. of Japan’s first self-propelled train ferries, No. 1 and No. 2 Kammon Maru. These two 463 ton vessels were double-ended, with side paddle wheels, two funnels, one on each side of the hull and a raised bridge over a single, central railway track, on which could be loaded seven 7 ton waggons. Ten third class passengers could also be carried, and a speed of 10 knots could be reached.

The double-ended, self-propelled design of these vessels meant that docking and undocking could be carried out more expeditously than could be done with the car barges and so turn-around times were significantly reduced, with a consequent increase in the number of waggons that could be transported each day. The car barge and tugboat operation on the Kanshin N.R. ceased in 1922.

In 1921 the Oshima Ferryboat Association was set up by the Yamaguchi Prefectural Government to operate a ferry service to the island of Yashiro Jima in the Inland Sea, after the Pacific War this route became a railway N.R.

On the northern island of Hokkaido, by November of 1922 the Soya Main Line had been opened for traffic, this line continued the Hakodate Main Line from Asahikawa right up to the port town of Wakkanai, about as far north as one could go by rail on the Japanese home islands. Further north again, across the La Perouse or Soya Strait, is the long, narrow island of Sakhalin. Possession of this island, or parts of it, varied over the years between Russia (Czarist and Soviet) and Japan, by 1920 the Japanese were in possession of all of the island, its Japanese name then being Karafuto.

Development of the resources of Karafuto by the Japanese saw the construction of a number of narrow-gauge industrial railways, and a 1067 mm gauge main line railway system, generally known as the Karafuto Government Railway. This railway development was largely in the southern part of the island, below 50° North latitude.

With the arrival of the Soya Main Line at Wakkanai, it became obvious that a Government N.R. to Karafuto could be worth while, so in August of 1923 the Chihaku N.R., running between Wakkanai and Otomari, a railway junction and port in the south of Karafuto came into service.

Whilst the Karafuto Government Railway was the same gauge as that of the Japanese Government system, no thought was given to the use of train ferries on this route, all of the ships that operated on the Chihaku N.R. were passenger or cargo-passenger vessels. The first ship on this route was the Tsushima Maru, transferred from the Kampu N.R in 1923, followed a year later by the Iki Maru also from the same N.R. Both of these ships had been rebuilt with re-inforced hulls and ice-breaker pattern bows for operation in the ice-bound waters north of Hokkaido.

The increase in railway traffic in the early 1920s saw the launching of a number of new railway ships. On the Seikan N.R. two small, wooden hulled cargo steamers, Shirakami Maru and Tappi Maru, each of 841 tons, with a cargo capacity of 985 tons and a speed of 10 knots entered service in 1920. In 1922-23 the Kampu N.R. received three new vessels, Keifuku Maru, Shokei Maru and Tokuju Maru. These were sister ships, of 3,600 tons, turbine powered with twin screws, capable of making about 20 1/2 knots and accomodating 45 passengers in first class, 210 in second class and 690 in third class.

On the Kanshin N.R. two more side-wheeler train ferries, No. 3 and No. 4 Kammon Maru, of similar design to their elder sisters, entered service in 1921-22. Fig. 5 shows No. 3 Kammon Maru.

Late in 1921, a car barge and tugboat service began on the Uko N.R., using barges Taka Nos. 1-14, each carrying three goods waggons. A contemporary photograph shows one of the Uko N.R. passenger ferries, probably Tamamo Maru, with a Taka barge lashed to each side and two more towing astern.

The short Miyajima N.R. saw the arrival in 1922 of the Misen Maru, which had originally been the Oseto Maru, and the Shimonoseki Maru, both of these vessels coming from the Kammon N.R., and both of which had long lives, surviving into the 1950s.

Further additions to the Uko N.R. fleet came in 1924 with the arrival of the Sanyo Maru and Nankai Maru, each of 561 tons, twin screw, turbine engined, 14 knot speed, with a passenger capacity of 158 in second class and 899 in third class, along with 14 hand carts!

The most significant addition to the fleet of railway ships came in 1924, when on the Seikan N.R. was introduced the first of the big sea-going train ferries, Shoho Maru. This vessel, one of four sister ships, had a covered vehicle deck with three lines of railway track, on which could be carried 25 wa mu class goods waggons. Accomodation for 39 first class passengers, 208 in second class and 648 in third class was also provided. Shoho Maru and her sisters, Hiran Maru, Matsumae Maru and Tsugaru Maru, were each of about 3,450 tons, with turbine engines driving twin screws and giving them speeds of approximately 17 knots.

The two funnels of these ships were arranged one on each side of the hull, thus giving a somewhat confusing appearance from certain viewpoints. This confusion became more so with later, four-funneled ships which had pairs of funnels on each side.

The introduction of these four train ferries on the Seikan N.R. brought about a considerable increase in the number of rail freight waggons moving between Honshu and Hokkaido compared with what had been handled by the original car barge and tugboat system, which ceased operations in 1927.

In 1926, No. 1 Seikan Maru (Fig.no.7) entered service on the Seikan N.R. This vessel was of a simpler design than the four ships of the Shoho Maru class in that it had an open vehicle deck. Its tonnage was only 2,400, but its four tracks could carry 43 waggons. Turbine engines drove twin screws which gave a speed of 13 1/2 knots. No passengers were carried.

On the Chihaku N.R., in 1927 the rebuilt Tsushima Maru was replaced by the purpose-built ice-breaker ferry, Aniwa Maru. This 16 knot twin screw reciprocating engined steamer of 3,300 tons could accomodate 18 first class, 102 second class and 754 third class passengers and had a cargo capacity of 470 tons.

At the beginning of 1930 there were 27 railway ships in service, running on seven navigation routes, the Kampu N.R. having the largest fleet of 6 vessels. In addition there were smaller vessels such as tugs, work boats, lighters etc. for harbour service.

The Uko N.R. was the next route to introduce train ferries, in November of 1929 the small train ferry, No. 1 Uko Maru of 300 tons, with a capacity of ten wa mu class waggons on two tracks but with no passenger accomodation entered service on this route. This vessel was fitted with two diesel engines, giving it a speed of 8 1/2 knots and was the first and for many years, the only, railway ship to be fitted with this new power source.

In 1932 No. 2 Seikan Maru, a sister ship to No. 1 Seikan Maru entered service on the Seikan N.R. Also in that year another ice-breaker ferry, the Soya Maru, came into use on the Chihaku N.R., replacing the rebuilt Iki Maru. The Soya Maru was similar in size, speed and capacity to the earlier Aniwa Maru, and like this vessel it had reciprocating engines, and indeed was the last Japanese railway ship to be built with this type of steam engine.

From the point of view of passenger traffic, the Kampu N.R. was always the prestige route, and in 1937 two large and fast passenger liners entered service on this run. These were the Koan Maru and the Kongo Maru, both of 7,000 tons, with passenger accomodation for 46 in first class, 316 in second class and 1,384 in third class, with 159 in the crew. Their turbines, which developed over 17,000 h.p., gave them speeds in excess of 23 knots, and no doubt these ships would have been the pride of the railway ship fleet on their introduction.

By 1939 the war in China (The China Incident), had been going for several years, and preparations for the forthcoming Pacific War against the U.S.A., the British and the Dutch were being undertaken. An increase in traffic on the Seikan N.R. was expected, and to handle this traffic more ferries for this route were required. A standard design of ferry, the `W’ class, was prepared, this design was based on the recently launched No. 3 Seikan Maru, which was a larger, 2,800 ton closed vehicle deck version of No. 2 Seikan Maru, having a waggon capacity of 44 on four tracks, and a speed of over 17 knots.

Of this `W’ class design, seven ships, No. 4 Seikan Maru to No. 10 Seikan Maru were built between 1943 and 1945, and others came into service after the end of the war.

Two straight-out cargo ships, Iki Maru (II) and Tsushima Maru (II) entered service on the Kampu N.R. in early 1941. These 3,500 tonners had a cargo capacity of 4,600 tons and a speed of 17 knots.

General Notes

• Ship Names.
  When an Arabic number is given at the beginning or the end of a ship’s name, that number is part of the name. Roman numbers in parenthesis indicate that the ship is the second (or third) of that name.
• Tonnages.
  Tonnages quoted are Gross Register Tonnages (GRT). In the mid 1970s the formula for calculating GRT changed, so some of the later ferries had their tonnages reduced. In this article, all GRT are to the earlier formula.
• Waggon capacities.
  The number of railway vehicles carried is given in wa mu class waggons. These are the standard 15 ton capacity four-wheeled steel box van. Other types of freight vehicles were carried, also locomotives and empty passenger cars as required.
• The ship sketches are not to scale.

On the 8 December 1941 the Japanese Empire went to war against the British, Americans and Dutch. The bigger railway ships took on a wartime grey livery and small A.A. guns were mounted on their decks. In 1942 and 1943 another two large passenger ships joined the Kampu N.R. fleet. These were the Konan Maru and Tenzan Maru (Fig. 8). At almost 8,000 tons they were the largest of the railway ships. Their passenger capacity was 60 in first class, 342 in second class and 1,646 in third class, a total of 2,048 people, plus 184 crew. No doubt the needs of wartime saw these figures often exceeded. Twin screws, powered by turbines, drove them at over 23 knots.

As well as the plan to increase the capacity of the Seikan N.R. by providing more train ferries for this route, at the other end of Honshu work was in progress on boring the Kammon Undersea Rail Tunnel, between Honshu and Kyushu. This tunnel was opened for use in late 1942, and in consequence the Kanshin N.R. ceased operation at the same time, three of the side-wheel train ferries from this route, Nos. 3, 4 and 5 Kammon Maru being transfered to the Uko N.R. Whilst the new tunnel took care of the through rail traffic between the two islands there was still a requirement for a local passenger service across the Kammon Strait, and the Kammon N.R. continued to operate throughout the war using the Choshui Maru, Hosan Maru and Shimonoseki Maru (II) (Fig. 6).

To take some of the load off Shimonoseki harbour, a second N.R. across to Pusan was opened up in July of 1943 from Hakata in Kyushu, this being called the Hakpu Navigation Route. Two ships of the Kampu N.R., Shokei Maru and Tokuju Maru were initially allocated to this service, the Tokuju Maru being replaced by the Keifuku Maru in October of 1944.

During the first years of the Pacific War the Japanese forces held the Allies off at great distances away from the Japanese home islands, and Japan’s coastal and short-sea shipping, which included the railway ships were able to go about their business without much fear of attack.

The U.S.N. submarine force, which at that time was the only Allied force capable of consistently reaching the waters around Japan itself was pursuing a policy of attacking Japanese warships and largely ignoring merchant shipping. But, in September of 1943, U.S.N. Lt. Commander D. Morton took his submarine, the U.S.S Wahoo, north around Hokkaido and into the Sea of Japan, with the intention of attacking the shipping traffic between Korea and Japan.

On 5 October 1943 the Wahoo intercepted the Konran Maru on its regular Kampu N.R. run and sank her by torpedo attack, the loss of life being 542 persons. The Konran Maru had begun operating in April of 1943, and so was lost after only six months in service, this was the first war loss of a railway ship. The Wahoo sank a number of other ships in the Sea of Japan during this cruise, but was itself lost while attempting to return to its base.
P> The year of 1944 saw no further railway ship losses, but 1945, with the U.S. forces now closing in on Japan itself was a year of disasters.

The newest train ferry, No. 9 Seikan Maru, launched from the Uraga Dockyard, south of Yokohama, had completed its fitting out by late February of 1945 and set sail on its voyage up the coast en-route to the Seikan N.R. On the 27 February this ship was off Katsura, on the coast of Chiba Prefecture where she was caught by U.S.N aircraft and there sunk, before even entering revenue service.

No. 5 Seikan Maru was lost on the 6 March, not by enemy action, but by colliding with a breakwater in Aomori harbour, where she sank.

Japan’s coastal shipping was by now not only facing attacks by U.S.N aircraft and submarines, but mines were also taking a toll. In 1945 the U.S. Navy had embarked on an extensive programme of mining from the air Japan’s coastal waters, particularly those waters around major harbours. The Kampu N.R. was particularly affected by this programme, between 1 April and on into June and July, five Japanese railway ships struck mines in the seas around Shimonoseki. One of these ships, Shiragi Maru, was a total loss, of the four others, Koan Maru, Iki Maru (II) and the veteran Shimonoseki Maru (II) were all damaged and towed back to harbour to undergo repair, while the Kongo Maru was sunk, but later refloated and brought back into service after the war’s end.

In the light of these losses, along with other sinkings from mines in the same area, on the 20 June 1945 the Ministry of Transport decided to suspend regular shipping operations to Korea, and from thence forward the ships from the Kampu and Hakpu N.R.s operated an irregular service from small harbours on the Japan Sea coast.

However, these losses, although serious, were minor compared with those inflicted on the Seikan N.R. on the 14 and 15 July 1945.

On the 14 July a large fleet of U.S.N carrier borne aircraft carried out a series of air strikes on the ships of the Seikan N.R. By the end of that day, nine train ferries had either been sunk or driven ashore in a badly damaged condition. The ships lost were Nos. 2, 3, 4, 6 and 10 Seikan Maru, Hiyan Maru, Matsumae Maru, Shoho Maru and Tsugaru Maru. Four of these ships were sunk in Aomori Harbour, two at Hakodate and three at sea, and to add insult to injury the U.S.N aircraft returned on the 15 July and found No. 1 Seikan Maru which had taken shelter in Mimaya Bay, to the west of Aomori, and sank her there. Only two train feries, Nos. 7 and 8 Seikan Maru survived these attacks.

So, by mid-July of 1945 the Kampu and Hakpu N.R.s had ceased regular operation because of the danger of mines along their routes and the Seikan N.R. fleet had been almost completely wiped out by air attack. It is possible that the losses on these two N.Rs., more particularly those on the Seikan N.R., would have had a considerable effect on the Japanese war effort, but with the actual end of the war only a month in the future, any such effect is difficult to evaluate.

Further losses of railway ships before the war’s end saw Tenzan Maru, the pride of the fleet, sunk in the Japan Sea by air attack on the 28 July, most of its complement being saved, and on the 10 August the Aniwa Maru, which had been transfered to the Seikan N.R. from the Chihaku N.R. to try to make up for the losses of 14 and 15 July, was sunk by aircraft near Aomori. Finally, on the 13 August, the day that the Pacific War ended, the Tsushima Maru was scuttled.

The last wartime action of a Japanese railway ship was that of the Soya Maru, on the Chihaku N.R. The atomic bombs were dropped on Japan on the 6 and 9 August. On the 8 August the U.S.S.R. declared war on Japan, and commenced the invasion of Manchukuo and Karafuto. On the 13 August the Soya Maru began evacuating Japanese troops and civilians from Karafuto across to Hokkaido, this evacuation ended on 24 August, by which date the Soviet forces had completely occupied South Karafuto, and on this day the Chihaku N.R. ceased to exist.

At the beginning of the Pacific War there were 36 major vessels in the Japanese railway ship fleet, by the end of the war only 24 remained.

With the coming of peace, the rebuilding of the Japanese transport system began. Some of the surviving railway ships whose routes no longer existed were then used on duties such as the repatriation of Japanese troops from overseas and for other tasks under the control of the U.S. military forces.

In late 1945 and early 1946 three new train ferries, No. 11 Seikan Maru, No. 12 Seikan Maru and Ishikari Maru (Fig. 9), this last vessel being an improved version of the Seikan Maru class with accomodation for 394 third class passengers, entered service on the Seikan N.R., bringing welcome relief to that hard-pressed route.

In May of 1946 a second N.R. between Honshu and Shikoku came into service, this was the Nihori N.R., running between Nigata in Honshu and Horie in Shikoku. The first vessel on this route was the passenger ferry Choshui Maru, 410 tons, 10 kts., with a passenger capacity of 749 people. This ship had previously been used on the Kammon N.R. In this year too, the Oshima N.R. which had been operated by the Yamaguchi Prefecture was taken over by the Government and run as a railway Navigation Route, the ships used here being the Yamaguchi Maru and No. 2 Yamaguchi Maru.

1946 also saw the commencement of a building programme to replace the railway ships lost during the war, and in the years 1947 to 1949 ten new vessels joined the railway fleet.

Three of these ships were for the Uko N.R., Bisan Maru, Shiun Maru and Washiu Maru. All were of 1,450 tons, turbine driven at a speed of about 14 1/2 knots, and all were of a design that could carry both passengers and railway vehicles. The closed vehicle deck had two lines of railway tracks, sufficent to accomodate 14 wa mu class waggons, and 20 first class, 167 second class and 1,313 third class passengers could be carried as well.

The other seven new vessels all came into service on the Seikan N.R. These ships were of two types, four being straight-out train ferries of about 3,000 tons and 17-18 knot speeds and carrying 44 or 42 wa mu waggons on four tracks, named Hidaka Maru, Kitami Maru, Oshima Maru and Tokachi Maru. The other three vessels were passenger and train ferries, similar to those built for the Uko N.R., but at 4,000 tons, considerably larger, although their wa mu waggon capacity of 18 was only slightly greater, and their passenger loading of 932, comprising 44 in first class, 255 in second class and 633 in third class was smaller. These ships were the Mashu Maru, Toya Maru and Yotei Maru, all 17-18 knotters.

On the Kammon N.R., whilst the opening of the Kammon Undersea Railway tunnel in 1942 had seen the finish of train ferries on this route, passenger ferries had continued to run, and in 1947 the carriage of motor vehicles on this N.R. began, using Shimonoseki Maru (II).

Mid 1949 saw the formation of Japanese National Railways, and the railway ships came under the control of this organisation, which, amongst many other changes, brought about an alteration in the funnel colours and markings, as shown in Fig. no. 12(b).

By 1950, the rejuvenation of the railway ship fleet was well under way, with 26 ships in service, including 14 on the Seikan route.

The year 1953 saw the beginning of a major change in propulsive power, from the steam turbine to the diesel engine. No. 3 Uko Maru, a 22 waggon capacity train ferry of 1,282 tons, entering service on the Uko N.R. in May of that year was powered by two diesel engines with a total horsepower of 2,204, and all railway ships built after this date had diesel engines.

Another technological innovation of that period was the use in 1954 on the newly launched Miyajima Maru of the unusual Voith-Schneider vertical propellor, which could be remotely controlled to vary the speed of the vessel and also to give forward or astern motion independent of the diesel engine speed.

But, 1954 was also another year of disaster for the Seikan N.R. On the 26th of September a very severe typhoon, numbered 15 by the Japanese authorities, and named ‘Marie’ by the West, struck northern Honshu and the southern part of Hokkaido. Hakodate suffered severely with much damage and many deaths occuring on land, and at sea five Seikan N.R. ferries were sunk, along with three other ships and about 200 small craft.

The five ferries lost were Hidaka Maru, Kitami Maru, No. 11 Seikan Maru, Tokachi Maru and Toya Maru. The most tragic of these losses was that of the Toya Maru which, with an almost full load of passengers and railway vehicles, had just left Hakodate harbour enroute for Aomori when the typhoon struck. The increasingly bad weather forced the Toya Maru to return to Hakodate harbour, where she anchored, but her anchors dragged and she was blown out of the harbour and onto rocks. There she took on a severe list, the railway vehicles broke away from their fastenings, and she capsized and sank.

More than 1,000 people, passengers and crew, died in this disaster, which in contemporary Japanese reports, was compared with that of the Titanic. None of the other ferries sunk were carrying passengers, but even so over 300 of their crews perished, altogether about 3,000 people died on land and at sea on this day.

As a stop-gap measure to make up for these losses, in early 1955 an ex-Kampu N.R. ship, the old Tokuju Maru, a 3,600 ton 20 knot passenger vessel dating from 1924 was put into service on the Seikan route, where it operated for another three years or so.

Of the ferries sunk in this disaster, Hidaka Maru and Tokachi Maru were both refloated in 1956 and returned to service on the Seikan N.R.

1955 was also a bad year for Japan’s railway ships, on the 11 May of that year, the 1,450 ton train ferry Shiun Maru, on the Uko N.R., collided in dense fog with No. 3 Uko Maru and sank in shallow water with the loss of 166 passengers and 2 crew members. Shiun Maru was refloated later in that year and re-named Seto Maru, and under that name continued in service on the Uko N.R. up till early 1966. This collision led to the fitting of radar to all major Japanese railway ships.

Mid 1961 saw the arrival on the Uko N.R. of the Sanuki Maru of 1,800 tons, fitted with two Voith-Schneider propellors which gave it a speed of 13 knots. Its three lines of rails could accomodate 24 wa mu waggons and 90 first class and 710 second class passengers could also be carried.

The Kammon Undersea Road Tunnel opened for traffic in 1958, this brought about the cessation of the operation of the passenger-vehicular ferries on the Kammon N.R. in 1961, but small passengers only ferries continued to run until 1964, when the Kammon route was finally closed.

In the early 1960s, controllable pitch propellors began to be fitted to the bigger railway ships. This device gave the same effects as the Voith-Schneider propellor, mentioned above, but with less complexity. Also, the bow-thruster propellor made its appearance at this time, this being a reversible propellor fitted at the bow of the vessel and facing sideways, and which when operated was capable of moving the vessel’s bow to one side or the other.

These two devices considerably improved the manouverability of the ferries and so reduced the time taken to dock the vessel and line it up with the railway tracks on the wharf, consequently reducing the overall journey times without any need for an increase in speed. Also, the fitting of closed circuit T.V. cameras at the stern facing aft simplified docking.

On the Nihori N.R., the transportation of motor cars began in 1965, using the little side-loading Aki Maru, ex Oshima Maru, this vessel could carry motor vehicles up to a total weight of 5 tons.

1964 to 1967 saw a great replacement of the ships of the Seikan N.R. fleet, with ten new vessels coming into services over this period, largely replacing the group of ships built in the early post-war years.

Seven of these new vessels were 8,300 tonners, carrying both passengers and railway vehicles. 48 wa mu class waggons were carried, along with 330 first class passengers and 870 second class passengers. Eight diesel engines drove them at over 21 knots. These ships were: Hakkoda Maru, Mashu Maru (II), Matsumae Maru (II), Taisetsu Maru, Towada Maru (II), Tsugaru Maru (II) (Fig. no. 10) and Yotei Maru (II).

The other three vessels, Hidaka Maru (II), Oshima Maru (II) and Tokachi Maru (II) were straight-out train ferries, with a tonnage of 4,100 and carrying 55 wa mu class waggons on four tracks, again at speeds of over 21 knots.

New passenger and vehicle ferries also appeared on the Uko N.R. in 1966-67, these were the Awa Maru, Iyo Maru (Fig. 11) and Tosa Maru, which at 3,000 tons were smaller than their Seikan contemporaries. They carried 27 wa mu waggons, but their shorter journeys allowed them to have a large passenger capacity, with 300 in first class and 1,500 in second class. They had a speed of 16 knots.

Also, the 1960s saw changes in the external appearance of JNR’s railway ships. From 1907 the railway ships had black hulls, white upper works and buff funnels with black tops and the red Kanji marking of the Ministry of Engineering. Now these ships became quite colourful, their hull colours including green, light green, grey blue, deep blue, yellow, orange, red, deep red, and even black. White was still the main colour for the upper works, and the funnel markings now were the new JNR logo and funnel bands in the hull colours (Fig. no. 12(b)).

For the passengers, air-conditioning, television, reclining seats, vending machines and other comforts made their appearance on these new vessels, and in 1967 the Seikan N.R. began to carry motor vehicles on their ferries as well as railway vehicles.

With the continuing growth of the Japanese economy it had become obvious that even with the fast speeds and quick turn-around capabilities of the modern ferries on the Seikan and Uko N.Rs, these routes were approaching their maximum capacities, so decisions were made to begin planning for a railway tunnel under the Tsugaru Strait between Honshu and Hokkaido, and a bridge, actually a series of bridges, from Honshu to Shikoku.

Whilst the planning and design of these huge projects went ahead, the mid 1970s saw the construction of the last group of major vessels for the JNR railway ship fleet. For the Seikan N.R. three ships were built, Hiyama Maru (II), Ishikari Maru (II) and Sorachi Maru (II), all 4,000 ton, 55 waggon capacity, 21 1/2 knotters, while the Uko N.R. received the 3,000 ton Sanuki Maru (II), 16 1/2 knots, with a capacity of 27 waggons and 2,350 passengers, of which 334 were in ‘Green’ class and 2,016 in ‘Ordinary’ class. The change of passenger accomodation classification from 1st., 2nd. and 3rd. to ‘Green’ and ‘Ordinary’ classes came about with the introduction of the Sanuki Maru (II) into service, the earlier vessels being altered suitably as they came in for overhaul.

An interesting experimental vessel appeared in 1971, this was the Kamome (note: not Kamome Maru), a small, high-speed air-cushion craft, capable of carrying 52 passengers and driven by two aircraft propellors at a speed of 55 knots. This vessel was used on the Uko N.R. and made the 20.7 km journey in a time of 23 minutes, as compared to the 1 hour taken by the conventional ferry, but this design was taken no further.

The construction in 1976 of the Grand Oshima Bridge between Honshu and Yashirojima saw the closure of the Oshima N.R., and changes in the traffic pattern between Honshu and Shikoku saw the finish of the Nihori N.R. in 1982.

A small, colourful, addition was made to the livery of the Seikan N.R. ships in the 1980s with the adoption by each ship of an individual badge, which was carried amidships on each side of the hull. These badges were circular, with a peripheral ring or garter on which the ship’s name appeared in Roman letters, on the lower part of this ring was superimposed a drawing of a dolphin, and within the ring there appeared a stylised representation of the locality after which the ship was named. Fig. no. 13 shows a sketch of Mashu Maru (II)’s badge.

On 1 April 1987, J.N.R. ceased to exist and was replaced by the Japan Railways (JR) group of companies, the remaining N.R.s still operating being split up amongst the groups, the Seikan N.R. going to JR Hokkaido, the Uko N.R. to JR Shikoku and the Miyajima N.R. to JR West Japan. Fig. 12(c) shows the change in ship’s funnel markings, with the JR logo being in the appropriate group colour.

However, the Seikan and Uko N.R.s only had about another year of operation ahead of them after this change, as in March of 1988 both the Seikan Undersea Tunnel, directly connecting the railways of Hokkaido and Honshu, and the Grand Seto Bridges, doing the same for Shikoku and Honshu were opened for traffic, thus ending 80 years of railway ship operation on the Seikan N.R., and 78 years on the Uko N.R.

With their services no longer needed most of the major ferries were disposed of, however the Sanuki Maru (II) of the Uko N.R. was retained by JR Shikoku and used for sight-seeing cruises on the Inland Sea for a number of years, but this operation ceased at the end of 1996.

Of the Seikan N.R. ships, Mashu Maru (II) and the Hakoda Maru both still exist as Museum Ships, the blue-hulled Mashu Maru (II) being berthed in Hakodate Harbour and the yellow-hulled Hakoda Maru at Aomori, both vessels providing excellent exhibits explaining the history of the railway ships. The Modern Transportation Museum at Bentencho in Osaka also has a good, but small, section devoted to railway ships.

Although now (1999), it is only possible to see examples of the large railway ships as moored Museum Ships, as mentioned above, it is still possible to travel on a railway ship, and indeed one can use one’s JR Rail Pass to do so. JR West’s Miyajima N.R. still exists, its small vehicular-passenger ferries shuttling frequently between Miyajima-guchi and Miyajima. This is a very popular run, carrying approximately 2.7 million persons and 60,000 vehicles per year, and in April of 1996 a new ferry, Misen Maru (III), with a capacity of 460 passengers and 15 cars came into service on this route, so with this new vessel the tradition of Japan’s railway ships will continue into the next century.

References:

• Tatsuo Furukawa. Nihon no Tetsudo Renraku Fune. [Japan’s Railway Connecting Ships] Tokyo 1976.
• Hirokazu Inoue. Yamakei Bukkusu – 3, JR no Moto. [Yamakei Books – 3, JR’s Roots] Tokyo 1989.
• Tetsudo Jaanaru No. 20. [Railway Journal No. 20] Tokyo 1988.

Acknowledgements:
My thanks go to Hiroshi Usui of Sapporo, tram and railway enthusiast, and also a member of the Japan Domestic Ship Society who obtained for me a copy of Furukawa-san’s book, and gave me great help with translation problems that were beyond my limited capabilities in that field.

Anthony Robins, JRS member in Nagoya, also assisted with translations. J. R.S. BULLET-IN 14 October 1999.