The Largest Hall in the Works
At the heart of the southern grounds stands the largest building in the JR Tadotsu Works. Workshop No.17, completed in 1931, is a single-story hall of reinforced concrete that pairs a vast main shed with a smaller one along its northern side. Its ridge runs an extraordinary 114.4 meters and spans 45.8 meters, covering a footprint of more than 5,200 square meters.
Reinforced concrete on this scale was an ambitious choice for a railway works of the early Shōwa years, and the building set the architectural tone for the shops that gathered around it.
Why It Is Registered
The roof is a steel Pratt truss beneath a gabled cover, and along the main shed a row of butterfly roofs rises to draw daylight into the floor below. That combination of a wide clear interior and generous top lighting is what a locomotive and carriage shop required, space enough to hold whole vehicles under repair in good working light.
No.17 was placed on the national register in 2012 for its role in the historic industrial landscape, standing at the center of a works that has served Shikoku's railways for well over a century.
What to Notice, and How to See It
The scale is the spectacle. Inside runs a single volume long enough to take several vehicles at once, lit from above by the steady rhythm of the butterfly lights. Set beside Workshop No.34 to the west, No.17 forms the visual core of the grounds.
The works is active railway property and closed to casual visitors. It opens to the public once a year around Railway Day in October for the event known as Kisha Poppo Matsuri, when a shuttle train runs from Tadotsu Station into the grounds; group tours can sometimes be arranged in advance. Because dates shift from year to year, confirm the current schedule with JR Shikoku before setting out.
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- Find tours, activities & transport passes near JR Tadotsu Factory Workplace No. 17
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Q&A
- What is special about Workshop No.17?
- It is the largest building in the Tadotsu Works, a reinforced-concrete hall from 1931 with a ridge of 114.4 meters and a floor area above 5,200 square meters.
- How is the interior lit?
- A run of butterfly roofs along the main shed brings daylight down onto the working floor beneath the steel Pratt truss.
- When was it built and registered?
- It was completed in 1931 and registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in August 2012.
- Can it be visited?
- It lies within an active JR Shikoku works and is closed to casual visitors, though the grounds open once a year around October.
Basic Information
| Name | JR Tadotsu Works Shokuba No.17 (Workshop No.17) |
|---|---|
| Location | 122-3 and others, Ōdōri, Tadotsu, Nakatado District, Kagawa |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), registered 13 August 2012 |
| Registration No. | 37-0387 |
| Count | 1 building |
| Built | 1931 (Shōwa 6) |
| Structure | Single-story reinforced concrete building, floor area 5,217 sq m; steel Pratt truss, ridge 114.4 m, span 45.8 m, with butterfly clerestory roofs |
| Owner | Shikoku Railway Company (JR Shikoku) |
| Access | Active railway works, not open to casual visitors; annual public open day around October |
References
- 国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009391
- 文化遺産オンライン ＪＲ多度津工場職場一七号
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/206074
Last verified: 2026.07.03