Amemiya Seisakusho

Amemiya Seisakusho Co., Ltd. (Amemiya Manufacturing Co., Ltd.) was a Japanese rolling stock manufacturer that had its roots in the late Meiji period and continued operations until the early Showa period. The company was founded in 1907 by Keijiro Amemiya, a railway financier, under the name of Amemiya Tekkōjo (Amemiya Iron Works). 
== History ==
In November of 1907, Amemiya Tekkōjo was established in Wakura-cho, Fukagawa-ku, Tokyo. The company began with the goal of producing vehicles in-house and supplying them at low prices to Jōki Kidō Company and Dainippon Kidō Company, two railway companies that had branch offices throughout the country.
After Keijiro's death in January 1911, the company merged with Dainippon Kidō Company in July of the same year. Keijiro's son-in-law, Wataru, became the president, and his adopted son Toyojiro became the managing director. The new company was named Dainippon Kidō Tekkōbu (Dainippon Kidō Iron Works Department) and took advantage of the economic boom after World War I, which resulted in an increase in business performance.
In 1918, Wataru passed away, and Toyojiro became the president of Dainippon Kidō. In July of 1919, the department was separated from Dainippon Kidō and became Amemiya Seisakusho Co., Ltd. Nobuyuki Ozawa, the managing director of Dainippon Kidō, served as the representative director, and Toyojiro and other members of the Amemiya family were appointed as directors. However, by 1922, members of the Amemiya family had left the board.
The plant in Fukagawa was destroyed by the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923, but it was quickly rebuilt. In 1927, Amemiya Seisakusho collaborated with Niigata Tekkō to produce Japan's first diesel locomotive. The company was passionate about developing vehicles that introduced new technology, and in 1928, they produced Japan's first diesel railcar (Nagaoka Railway KiRo 1).
Amemiya Seisakusho produced a wide range of products, including small steam locomotives, passenger carriages, and railcars of both diesel and electric. They mainly delivered locomotives to private railways, industrial railways, forest railways, and the navy. They also supplied JGR with the Ke 100 class Nos. 100-105 (1919) and the Ke 160 class Nos. 160-169 (1922) for construction purposes.
During the Shōwa financial crisis in 1929, orders for Amemiya Seisakusho decreased significantly as local private railways in Japan stopped opening. The company began reducing its workforce in the second half of 1930, and business conditions continued to deteriorate. Wage payments were delayed, and on June 3, 1931, all employees (83 or 84 people, excluding 8 contract painters) were laid off, leading to a labor dispute. Management moved the head office attached to the Fukagawa plant to a rented office in Kanda by the day after the dispute arose.; the plant was closed and a negotiation process started with the dispute group. Some strikers were arrested by the police during this time, but eventually, the dispute was resolved by increasing redundancy pay and providing social assistance to cover the costs and bail.
The company later planned to rehire about 20 workers who had not taken part in the labor dispute and restart the business, but the company ended up going bankrupt within the same year. Immediately after bankruptcy, a joint stock company, Amamiya Kōjo (Amemiya Works), was established as the successor. It made small shipments of products, mainly work in progress before bankruptcy. However, after the simple steel body conversion work on the Jinchū Railway KiHa 1-6 in 1932, there were no records of any work. The company is thought to have been wound up around 1934.
==Products==
=== Steam locomotives ===
The company developed a small saddle tank locomotive type called "Hetstsui", based on the tram locomotives originally imported from the United States in order to replace manpower with steam traction. The design was improved in the 1910s by learning from the products of European manufacturers such as Koppel and Krauss. Eventually, it developed into a well-tank type with an extremely solid and practical design. This particular type became the company's main product and was supplied to small railways around the country until the company was closed down. From the 1920s onwards, this design heavily influenced some local rolling stock manufacturers that were established throughout the country, such as Tateyama Heavy Industries and Kyosan Kōgyō.
=== Electric railcars ===
The company delivered electric railcars to various local railways, such as Keisei Electric Tramway, Enoshima Electric Railway, Keio Electric Tramway, and Tamanan Electric Railway. They are also known for delivering to Hanamaki Electric Railway, which was nicknamed "Horse Faced Tram" by the locals. They often utilised a European-style bogie design with a plate underframe and a wing-spring type axle box support mechanism. Later on, Nippon Tetsudo Jidosha Co,.Ltd. (later TOYOKOUKI Co,.Ltd.) created similar designs based on this style.
=== Diesel railcars ===
Diesel railcars produced by the company incorporated several advanced concepts during their time. For instance, they employed a double-ended cab and a semi-steel body that was loaded on two axles. Only a handful of cars were manufactured with a single-ended cab.
*Light and heavy rail rolling stock
Category:Companies