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[Iwate Prefecture] Go around Iwate Prefecture! ? Express trains “Sotoyama” and “Goyo” departing from Morioka and going to Morioka

Yuto Ono
2024.12.06
Last updated: 2024.11.11

table of contents

1 What are the circular trains “Sotoyama” and “Goyo”?
2 What kind of people used it?
3 Is this train useful for people who want to take a long detour?
4 Abolished with the full-scale opening of the Tohoku Shinkansen
5 The Reiwa circulation train that has become a phantom

Many trains operate in loops on routes such as the Yamanote Line in Tokyo, the Osaka Loop Line in Osaka Prefecture, and the Nagoya Municipal Subway Meijo Line in Aichi Prefecture.
Therefore, when you board a train at a certain station, the train goes around the line once, and you can return to the station where you boarded the train
. (How the fare is calculated is another matter.)
Apart from trains running on these circular routes, during the era of Japan National Railways, the predecessor of JR, trains departed from the starting station, ran across several routes, and eventually ended up at the starting station. There were multiple
circular trains that returned to the city Iwate Prefecture in the Tohoku region also operates such circular trains, and these are the Sotoyama and Goyo .

What are the circular trains “Sotoyama” and “Goyo”?

"Sotoyama" and "Goyo" first appeared in 1965, and were originally classified as "semi-express" trains.
The following year, in 1966, it was upgraded to "express" status.

"Sotoyama" is the general name for the mountains in the northeastern part of Morioka.
The origin of the name "Goyo" is believed to be Mt. Goyo, which rises in the southeastern part of Iwate Prefecture.
Both are named after mountains in Iwate Prefecture.

I will explain the route of "Sotoyama".
First, depart from Morioka Station in Iwate Prefecture and proceed east on the Yamada Line until you arrive at Miyako Station.
After arriving at Miyako Station, the train continues south along the Pacific coast to Kamaishi Station.
The section from Miyako Station to Kamaishi Station has been on the Sanriku Railway's Rias Line since 2019, but at that time this section was also part of the JNR Yamada Line.

From Kamaishi Station, take the Kamaishi Line and head towards Hanamaki Station.

The Kamaishi Line (more precisely, its predecessor, the Iwate Light Railroad) is said to have been the model for ``Night on the Galaxy Railway,'' written by Kenji Miyazawa, a writer from Hanamaki.
SL Ginga '' was operated
on the Kamaishi Line, which was based on the night motif of the Galaxy Railway However, it will unfortunately end its operation in June 2023.

Tohoku Rokken trivia media: NEFT

[Iwate Prefecture] SL Ginga, which appeared to support reconstruction and revitalize railway lines, is in its last run...

https://jp.neft.asia/archives/30345

An SL train called ``SL Ginga'' ran on the Kamaishi Line connecting Hanamaki Station and Kamaishi Station in Iwate Prefecture. SL Ginga reached its last run in June 2023, about a year ago. In this article, we will once again introduce what kind of train the SL Ginga was. What kind of train was SL Ginga? The SL Galaxy Kamaishi Line, which runs near the former Kamaishi Mine, is a JR East line that connects Hanamaki Station and Kamaishi Station. The SL Ginga train operated in this section for nine years from 2014 to 2023, mainly on Saturdays and Sundays. As you can imagine from the name SL Ginga and the fact that it is a train that runs through Iwate Prefecture, it is full of flowers...

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From Hanamaki Station, head north on the Tohoku Main Line and return to Morioka Station, which is your final stop.
This train's starting and ending stations are exactly the same.
Such trains are called circular trains

The route of ``Goyo'' is the reverse of the route of ``Sotoyama'', that is, counterclockwise.
The time required from the first train to the last train for Sotoyama and Goyo was about 6 hours.

Operation route of “Sotoyama” and “Goyo”

What kind of people used it?

Riding a train that runs in a loop until it completes one lap does not have to be a goal in itself.
The same is true for ``Sotoyama'' and ``Goyo,'' and it seems that there were usually no people who got on the train from Morioka Station and got off at Morioka Station.
So, what kind of people use these circular trains? For example, people who want to go from Morioka to Miyako, people who want to go from Miyako to Kamaishi, and people who want to go from Kamaishi or Hanamaki to Morioka. I was doing it.
In other words, the passengers on the train changed many times during the journey.

It is also possible to say that ``Sotoyama'' was a train that operated as one train, an express train that ran from Morioka to Kamaishi via Miyako, and an express train that ran from Kamaishi to Morioka via Hanamaki. Sho.
It seems that it would have been more efficient for the Japanese National Railways, which operated the train, to create one train rather than create separate trains.
Additionally, for passengers who wish to travel across multiple lines (for example, passengers who wish to travel from Shigeichi Station on the Yamada Line to Tono Station on the Kamaishi Line), it is possible to remain on one train. Therefore, it can be said that the train was beneficial for passengers as well.

Is this train useful for people who want to take a long detour?

Apart from the practical advantages mentioned above, trains like Sotoyama were also useful for people who wanted to take long detours.

There is a book called
The Longest One-Way Ticket Journey written by the late travel writer Shunzo Miyawaki The longest one-way ticket is the one that covers the longest route among the one-way tickets that can be issued under JNR/JR rules.
On this trip, I will be taking many detours to board the National Railways lines throughout Japan, trying not to pass through the same station twice.
Miyawaki's longest one-way ticket route in the fall of 1978 was 13,319.4 kilometers.

In the process of carrying out this journey, Mr. Miyawaki had to travel from Morioka Station to Hanamaki Station via the Yamada Line and Kamaishi Line.
``Sotoyama'' was the perfect train to carry out this detour.
This is because you can travel from Morioka Station to Hanamaki Station without changing trains at all.
And Mr. Miyawaki is actually riding on this train.

It's a convenient train for people who are in a hurry to take the longest one-way ticket route, and of course I didn't get off at Miyako or Kamaishi, but instead rode in a U-shape to get to Hanamaki.
Shortly after the train departed, the conductor passed by, and I said, ``Please give me an express ticket to Hanamaki.''
``Eh, passenger, this is the Miyako circuit,''
the conductor says, sounding shocked. It takes less than 30 minutes to get to Hanamaki by express train on the Tohoku Main Line. However, since this express train via Miyako and Kamaishi takes five hours and 18 minutes, it is no wonder that the conductor was surprised.
(“The Longest One-Way Ticket Journey” Shincho Bunko, pages 131-132)

Looking at the timetable at the time, the Sotoyama departed from Morioka Station at 8:58, arrived at Miyako Station at 11:07, arrived at Kamaishi Station at 12:21, and arrived at Hanamaki Station at 2:00 p.m. It took 16 minutes to arrive.
We arrived at Morioka Station at 14:50.
On the other hand, the Tohoku Main Line express train ``Kurikoma 2'' from Morioka to Sendai leaves Morioka Station at 9:20 and arrives at Hanamaki Station at 9:47.
As the conductor's reaction shows, it was not common sense at all to travel from Morioka to Hanamaki, taking longer and paying higher fares and express fares than via the Tohoku Main Line.
However, for people like Mr. Miyawaki, Sotoyama was a useful train.
If trains like this still existed today, people like railway YouTubers might have found various ways to enjoy them.

Abolished with the full-scale opening of the Tohoku Shinkansen

With the opening of the Tohoku Shinkansen in 1982, the limited express and express trains on conventional lines running in the Tohoku region were drastically reduced in size.
As a result, "Goyo" was abolished in the timetable revision in November.
Although the train name "Sotoyama" remained, it was downgraded to a rapid train, and the service section was shortened between Morioka Station and Miyako Station
(just to be sure, it did not take a detour) This is a train that obediently only goes via the Yamada Line).
It can be said that the express ``Sotoyama'' before the revision is a different train, just because the name is the same.

With the timetable revision in March 1985, the special rapid train ``Rias'' began operating between Morioka Station and Miyako Station, with fewer stops than the ``Sotoyama.''
Eventually, the rapid trains between Morioka Station and Miyako Station were unified into Rias, and Sotoyama was abolished, ending its history.

The Reiwa circulation train that has become a phantom

The express trains ``Sotoyama'' and ``Goyo'' were abolished during the Showa era, but they will be revived as temporary rapid trains in 2024, the Reiwa era.

From October to December 2024, Iwate Prefecture will hold
Iwate Autumn Travel Campaign ~Autumn is short, so travel to Iwate~ The revival of Sotoyama and Goyo was planned in advance of that.

On September 28, 2024, " Goyo No. 1 Goyo No. 2 departing from Kamaishi, via Miyako, bound for Morioka will begin operating, and on the following day, on the 29th, departing from Morioka, JR East announced in May that
the Sotoyama No. 1 which will go to Kamaishi via Sotoyama No. 2 depart from Kamaishi and go to Morioka, via Hanamaki, The 2024 version of "Goyo" and "Sotoyama" were set up as separate trains with Kamaishi Station as the border, but the timetable was set so that trains 1 and 2 could be used by transferring (probably 1 It seems that the plan was to continue using the cars used in the second issue), which could effectively be said to be a revival of the circular express trains of the Japanese National Railways era.
The train attracted attention because it also ran between Kamaishi Station and Miyako Station, which is currently under the control of Sanriku Railway.

JR East's Kiha 110 series diesel train used in the special rapid train (the photo shows the rapid train "Rias")

However, this Reiwa circulation train will unfortunately become a phantom.
This is because the Yamada Line was damaged by heavy rains in August, which occurred after the announcement of the special rapid service, and it took time to resume operation.
The special rapid trains ``Goyo'' and ``Sotoyama'' were operated, but they could not pass through the Yamada Line and could not be operated in a circular manner, so the service section was shortened from Morioka Station to Miyako Station via Hanamaki Station and Kamaishi Station. It was operated.
I thought that although it was no longer a reproduction of the routes of Goyo and Sotoyama, it was a reproduction of Rikuchu.
In addition, another point of interest was successfully realized: JR's Kiha 110 series diesel cars will be running on the Sanriku Railway Line.

Tohoku Rokken trivia media: NEFT