Sakamachi Station 70th Anniversary & Arakawa Town 30th Anniversary Commemorative Admission Ticket 🚂
[Introduction to Niigata Paper Ephemera] 🧐
Sakamachi Station 70th Anniversary & Arakawa Town 30th Anniversary Commemorative Admission Ticket 🚂
Issued by Niigata Railway Operating Division / Circa Showa 59 (1984)
Sakamachi Station 140 yen ticket, 70 yen ticket x 2, total 3-piece set
A commemorative ticket celebrating both the 70th anniversary of Sakamachi Station, where the Uetsu Main Line and Yonesaka Line intersect, and the 30th anniversary of Arakawa Town's municipal status. It is like a small piece of local history, carefully documenting the history of the station and the progress of the town 🎫
[Commentary on Contents, etc.] 🧐
・Issued by the Niigata Railway Operating Division.
Sakamachi Station opened on November 1, 1914 (Taisho 3), and is a key junction on the Sea of Japan Longitudinal Line where the Uetsu Main Line and Yonesaka Line meet.
It seems that Sakamachi became the terminal station for the Yonesaka Line rather than Murakami, Shibata, or Nakajo due to topography and construction history.
Construction proceeded separately on the Yamagata and Niigata sides, and the point where the line, which had come through the mountainous area along the Arakawa River, intersected with the Uetsu Main Line was exactly Sakamachi. Rather than extending it to Shibata, the goal itself was to connect it to the existing Uetsu Main Line, and Sakamachi was completed as a junction 🛤️
◯ The station yard once housed an engine depot, where steam locomotives such as the D51 and 9600 types were stationed. It was an important hub for railway operations, also possessing a freight yard.
◯ The ticket faces feature the classic appearance of the 9600 and C571 types, the scenery of the Arakawa agricultural water intake weir and the Bandai-Asahi Bridge, the Arakawa Town Hall, and the Iwafune Regional General Gymnasium.
◯ The back side features a comprehensive composition, including chronologies of "The History of Sakamachi Station" and "The History of Arakawa Town," as well as explanations of the Iwafune Regional General Gymnasium and the town's flower and tree, the Sasanqua.
◯ Arakawa Town was born in December 1954 (Showa 29) through the merger of Honai Village and Kanaya Village.
In 2008 (Heisei 20), it merged with Murakami City, Kanbayashi Village, Asahi Village, and Sanpoku Town, and is now part of Murakami City.
◯ The Yonesaka Line was damaged by heavy rain in August 2022 (Reiwa 4), and the section between Sakamachi and Imaizumi is still currently suspended with substitute bus services, and the future of the line is drawing attention.
📖 A "Cross-section of History" told by paper
70 years of the station and 30 years of the town—though the inscribed years differ, the overlapping of time rooted in the same land, the scenery where steam locomotives ran through, and the appearance of the town where Sasanqua flowers bloom quietly are all sealed within this small set of tickets.
Now, three years after the disaster, the future of the Yonesaka Line's restoration remains uncertain.
Thinking of the bustle of those days, the weight of the tickets feels all the more significant 😌
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