Watarase Keikoku Railway Teburiyama Flume

A Flume over the Line

The Watarase Keikoku Railway Teburiyama Flume (わたらせ渓谷鐵道手振山架樋) is a reinforced-concrete flume spanning the track built in 1930 at Omama-cho, Midori City, Gunma Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on November 2, 2009 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records reinforced concrete, 14 metres long, with supports and a catchment channel, registration number 10-0300.

The Ashio Copper Railway

According to Watarase Keikoku Railway, the Ashio copper mine, bought by Furukawa Ichibei in 1877, grew to produce half of Japan's copper, more than horses and a horse tramway could carry, so a railway was built from Kiryu to Ashio. The Ashio Railway opened to Omama in 1911, reached Ashio in December 1912 and was completed to Ashio Honzan in 1914. Nationalised in 1918 as the Ashio Line, it has been run by Watarase Keikoku Railway since 1989.

The Watarase Keikoku Railway Teburiyama Flume stands about 15 metres south-east of the First Kanbai Tunnel (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Value as a Registered Cultural Property

The Watarase Keikoku Railway Teburiyama Flume was registered as a structure contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it a structure of distinctive form.

What to Look For

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes a steel frame of supports and girders made from old rails, including Japanese rails of 1907, carrying a 14-metre reinforced-concrete trough, topped by a trumpet-shaped catchment channel.

Watarase Keikoku Railway's pamphlet explains that the Watarase Keikoku Railway Teburiyama Flume carries rainwater and debris from the steep slope over the line and down into the Watarase River.

Visiting

On a Mato-bound train the Watarase Keikoku Railway Teburiyama Flume comes into view about three and a half minutes after Omama Station; the run from the flume to the Third Kanbai Tunnel takes about a minute (Watarase Keikoku Railway). Watarase Keikoku Railway notes that all of its registered structures can be seen from the train.

Do not enter the tracks; view it from the train, the station or nearby roads. It is located at Kirihara, Omama-cho, Midori City, Gunma Prefecture. Of the line's 38 registered structures, the 26 in Gunma and 11 in Tochigi are gathered on the group pages Watarase Keikoku Railway (Gunma Section) and Watarase Keikoku Railway (Tochigi Section).