Western Japan railway firm looking for new owners of nostalgic 1920s trains

TAKAMATSU -- Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric Railroad Co. (Kotoden) has announced that it will decommission four retro-looking trains manufactured in the early 20th century and that it is looking for new owners of three of the vehicles.

The four beloved trains, made between the Taisho era (1912-1926) and the early Showa era (1926-1989), will go out of service one by one from 2020, and will be missed by train buffs who have enjoyed riding the vehicles in charter services and other popular events.

The oldest of the four trains dates back to 1925 and originally belonged to Kintetsu Railway Co. Two other trains were made in 1926 and the remaining one in 1928.

In 2011, the trains ceased regular operations after other trains were equipped with air conditioners, and have since only been used on special occasions.

After the railway operator announced the decommissioning of the trains on May 5 and its mascot character "Koto-chan" later tweeted the news, a throng of fans posted comments such as, "I will miss them," and "Thank you for their services."

"There is still almost one year to go before the earliest retirement of a train (made in 1925). I hope people will enjoy riding those trains and taking their pictures," said Makoto Kurokawa, a Kotoden official.

The company decided to withdraw the four trains from service due to numerous factors, including the difficulty of storing the vehicles at its train depot due to rework on the area, high maintenance costs of several million yen per year, the difficulty in retaining wooden panes and other interior parts of those trains, and pending major refurbishments costing at least 100 million yen.

One of the two trains made in 1926 is set to be used as a maintenance vehicle after retirement. However, the other three trains will be scrapped if they fail to find new owners.

"Those trains hold a lot of memories not only among fans but also our employees. We would like to hand them over to whoever can keep them," said a company representative.

For more information, call Kotoden's engineering department at 087-863-7772 (in Japanese).

(Japanese original by Yudai Katami, Takamatsu Bureau)