Abandoned railway tracks at Ueda Castle Site

2024-07-23

Since I wrote about the Rindo Bridge and the Maruko Line in my previous article, this time I will write about the abandoned railway tracks at the Ueda Castle site.
I have some pictures taken during the cherry blossom season, so I will use them even though it is out of season.
Here is Ninomaru-bashi Bridge on the east side of the entrance to Ueda Castle.

Looking down from the bridge, we can see a straight walkway like this.
This is the view to the north.

This is the south side, also a straight line.

There is a raised area on the left side of the walkway. It is connected to the stairs coming down from the road above, and the flat area used to be the station platform.
　　
I marked the railway route on the map.
However this is only a part of the route. The actual distance between Ueda and Sanada was 12.8 km, but the length of the route in the map is about 4.5 km, so only about a third of the total is drawn.

This line was opened by the Ueda Onsen Electric Railway in 1927 (the entire line was completed in 1928).
When the company changed its name to Ueda Electric Railway in 1939, the line was renamed the Sugadaira-Kazawa Line.
Later, in 1943, Ueda Electric Railway and Maruko Railway merged to form Ueda Maruko Electric Railway.
In 1960, the name of the line was changed to the Sanada-Soehi Line. In 1969, the company name was changed to Ueda Kotsu.
(The annotations on the map above only mention the change in the name of the line and omit the change in the name of the company, so please see the map with that in mind.)

Now let’s go down.

This photo was taken from the south side of the bridge. The higher area on the right used to be the station platform.
When the station was opened, it was called “Kokaido-shita station” (meaning: below the public hall).
This is because the public hall of Ueda City was located at Ueda Castle site. Construction began in 1922 and was completed in 1923, and was a two-story wooden building in the Japanese style.
The name of the station was changed to “Koen-mae” (meaning: in front of the park) in 1948.

This concrete bridge was also built in conjunction with the construction of the Hokuto Line of Ueda Onsen Electric Railway. A plaque on the wall of the bridge shows the names of the designer, supervisor, and contractor.

On the other side of the platform, an explanatory plaque entitled “Changes in the moat of the castle” has been erected.
The station was established in 1927, but the explanation here gives the year as 1928, when the Hokuto Line was fully completed.

A photo of the railroad in operation was included in the explanation plate, so I post it here.

The Sanada-Soehi Line was abandoned in 1972.
Then the walkway was built in 1981.

The masonry of the platform.

I walked along the walkway toward the north. After a short walk, the walkway turns left. It seems that a building has been constructed on the part that used to be a railroad track.

Finally, I checked the south side. The walkway turned to the right here, but the railway used to go straight ahead here. It is now a parking lot.
After crossing the road ahead, the railway used to turn left and lead to Ueda Station.