The balcony of the apartment I am currently renting was a place where I could watch trains coming and going

Introduction

This content might not resonate at all with those who have no interest in it. I like both watching and riding trains. When I see one, my gaze tends to become fixed on it. That said, I am not so enthusiastic that I go around riding and watching them with other hobbyists. I feel a bit embarrassed, so I keep my interest at a moderate level when viewed by others.

Today is a story about that.

I like railways

My real name contains the sound "tetsu" (iron). There is a reason for that. I was born and raised in Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu City. I spent 18 years there. My maternal and child health handbook lists the city as Yawata, before the merger.

Those who have read this far may have already guessed. Yes, Yawata is a city of iron. That is why the sound "tetsu" is in my name. My father, who worked for a listed company affiliated with this major steel manufacturer, named me after the symbol of this city.

My birthplace was featured on the program "Buratamori" the other day.

While watching the program, I remembered the annual "Kigyo-sai" (Entrepreneur Festival). It was during this time of year when it starts to get cold. It is different now, but at the time, it was a festival hosted by a single company.

When I looked it up, it seems it was held about 10 days ago this year as well. It is hard to believe, but there was a time when school was closed or had half-days on the day of this festival. You could say the city was that dependent on this company. One of the unique events of this festival back then was the factory tour. We would go around the vast steelworks factory by bus. Railway sidings stretched in all directions, transporting materials and other things in and out of the premises.

I was surprised to learn at school that if you extended the tracks, they would reach a considerable number of kilometers. Inside the rolling mill, where the roar echoed. The sight of bright red chunks of pig iron, whose radiant heat I could feel on my skin even from a distance, being stretched thin in a flow process is something I cannot get out of my head. They become steel plates for cars and the like, or railway rails. The explanation was that iron products containing the world's most advanced technology were made at this Yawata factory.

From the fourth floor of the school building

The elementary school I attended was in the middle of that company town. There were many children from the housing complexes of major companies, including this one. The school was near the old road where the pine trees of the Chikuzen Kaido road barely remained. As I advanced in grade, I moved up to the higher floors of the newly built reinforced concrete school building.

The cityscape of the factory zone, which I could not see because it was blocked by trees planted on school grounds that had grown large, could finally be seen far into the distance from the corridor windows once I reached the fourth floor, with nothing to obstruct the view. During breaks, I often looked at the state of the city from there.

Less than a kilometer away, the Kagoshima Main Line, which had quadruple tracks, and the freight lines entering and leaving the factory ran parallel to each other. Trains of various colors were coming and going busily.

During the 10-minute break, I would never tire of watching the movement of the trains and the state of the city, which looked like a miniature garden. At the time, Doraemon was being serialized in a magazine. Nobita would have Doraemon take a "gadget" out of his pocket that would turn the city into a miniature garden, and he would play happily. I fantasized about it with envy.

A world where I could actually experience that was right in front of me. And to think I could watch it every day just by stepping out of the classroom into the hallway. I would forget other troublesome things and watch, or sketch from there, thinking that I was attending school in a truly wonderful place.

Moving away

After that, I left my hometown and moved from place to place. Very recently, I moved to a rental apartment right near a terminal station. When I take a walk, I see trains running on elevated tracks. The sight of them passing through between buildings at low speed is powerful. Due to construction a while ago, the area around here went from ground level to elevated, making it very clean.

Because it is an area that continues to develop, I cannot say that traffic congestion has been resolved depending on the time of day. In such a situation, the sight of railways and cars intersecting seems to tell the story of the city's prosperity, and it gives me a sense of energy.

Even though I should be able to enjoy the convenience, I rarely have the opportunity to use the railway, as I only watch it. I just walk around this area and watch the trains coming and going.

Conclusion

Railways connect distant towns with two rails. It is a setting more than sufficient to let one's imagination run wild. The appeal of railways does not end there. The system itself, such as train operations, is even more interesting, and timetables are also great. Trains of various colors and shapes are the primary object of interest.

Actually, I recently learned that I can catch a glimpse of trains passing on the elevated tracks from the balcony of my room. I never realized I was living in a place where I could see the railway.

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