# Kyushu Railway

Kyushu Railway (九州鉄道, Kyūshū Tetsudō) was a company that built and operated railways in Kyushu, one of four main islands of Japan. Most of its lines came under the control of Japanese Government Railways following nationalization in 1907, and many are now operated by Kyushu Railway Company.

## History

The company was incorporated on August 15, 1888 in Fukuoka, Fukuoka. The first 22 miles (35 km) of the railway, between Hakata Station in Fukuoka and Chitosegawa temporary station in Asahi, Saga (near Kurume, Fukuoka), opened on December 11, 1889 as the first railway in Kyushu.
The company expanded the railway by means of both construction and acquisition of other companies. As of 1907, it operated 442.8 miles (712.6 km) of railways in Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Ōita and Saga prefectures in northern Kyushu.
On July 1, 1907, the entire operation of the company was purchased by the government of Japan under the Railway Nationalization Act. Consequently, the company was dissolved.

## List of lines

Operation of Kyushu Railway as of June 30, 1907 :
| Endpoints (Present station names in parentheses) | Length (miles) | Line names (designated after nationalization) | Notes |
| Moji (Mojikō) – Yatsushiro | 143.4 | Kagoshima Main Line | via Ōkura |
| Kokura – Usa (Yanagigaura) | 42.6 | Nippō Main Line |
| Kokura – Kurosaki | 8.8 | Kagoshima Main Line | via Tobata |
| Wakamatsu – Kami-Yamada | 33.3 | Chikuhō Main Line, Kami-Yamada Line |
| Hakata – Sasaguri | 7.4 | Sasaguri Line |
| Tosu – Nagasaki | 98.6 | Nagasaki Main Line, Sasebo Line, Ōmura Line |
| Kubota – Nishi-Karatsu | 26.8 | Karatsu Line |
| Arita – Imari | 8.1 | Matsuura Line |
| Haiki – Sasebo | 5.5 | Sasebo Line |
| Uto – Misumi | 15.9 | Misumi Line |
| Yukuhashi – Soeda (Nishi-Soeda) | 23.1 | Tagawa Line, Hitahikosan Line |
| Nōgata – Ita (Tagawa-Ita) | 9.9 | Ita Line |
| Kotake – Kōbukuro | 3.0 | Kōbukuro Line |
| Iizuka – Nagao (Keisen) | 3.6 | Chikuhō Main Line |
| Gotōji (Tagawa-Gotōji) – Miyatoko (Itoda) | 1.9 | Itoda Line |
| Katsuno – Kirino (Chikuzen-Miyada) | 3.2 | Miyada Line |
| Katsuno – Sugamuta | 2.7 | Tagawa Line | Freight |
| Soeda (Nishi-Soeda) – Shō | 0.6 | Tagawa Line | Freight |
| Kawara (Magarikane) – Natsuyoshi | 1.5 | Tagawa Line | Freight |
| Gotōji (Tagawa Gotōji) – Kigyō | 0.6 | Gotōji Line | Freight |
| Kawasaki (Buzen-Kawasaki) – Daini-Ōtō | 1.2 | Hitahikosan Line | Freight |
| Azamibaru (Taku) – Yunokibaru | 0.8 | Karatsu Line | Freight |
| Ōchi junction – Ōchi | 0.5 | Karatsu Line | Freight |
| Ōshima – Nishi-Karatsu | 0.8 | Karatsu Line | Freight |
| (Overlap of Hakata – Yoshizuka) | (1.0) | | |
| Total | 442.8 |

## Rolling stock

A special coach made by German car manufacturer van der Zypen & Charlier was imported by Kyushu Railway for VIP use in 1891. The coach was improved and designated as the imperial coach in 1902 for use by Emperor Meiji when he visited an army drill in Kumamoto Prefecture. After the nationalization, the coach was called the imperial coach No. 2 but was not used again by the emperor. It was designated a railway heritage (鉄道記念物, tetsudō kinenbutsu) in 1963 and is now exhibited at the Railway Museum in Saitama.
Fleet of Kyushu Railway :
| Year | Steam locomotives | Passenger cars | Freight cars etc. | Freight cars etc. |
| Year | Steam locomotives | Passenger cars | Wagons | Trucks |
| 1890 | 3 | 38 | 107 | 107 |
| 1900 | 159 | 302 | 649 | 3,173 |
| 1906 | 244 | 392 | 1,048 | 5,300 |

## Kyushu Railway History Museum

The Kyushu Railway History Museum was established near Mojikō Station in Kitakyūshū in 2003. The red-brick main building of the museum is the former headquarters of Kyushu Railway.