was a freight terminal of the

Japanese National Railways The abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pref ...

(JNR) in

Minato, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is also called Minato City in English. It was formed in 1947 as a merger of Akasaka, Azabu and Shiba wards following Tokyo City's transformation into Tokyo Metropolis. The modern Minato ward exhibits th ...

, Japan. The freight terminal was built on the site of the original which served as the first railway terminal of Tokyo between 1872 and 1914.

History

Shimbashi Station was built as the Tokyo

terminus Terminus may refer to: * Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end destination * Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination Geography *Terminus, the unofficial original name of Atlanta, Georgia, United ...

of Japan's first railway, which ran between Tokyo and

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

. The station was inaugurated on October 14, 1872 (public service started on the following day). Freight service started on September 15, 1873. The station building was designed by American engineer Richard Perkins Bridgens (1819-1891) as a two-story wooden-framed white stone building with two wings flanking a

bay platform In the United Kingdom and in Australia, a bay platform is a dead-end railway platform at a railway station that has through lines. It is normal for bay platforms to be shorter than their associated through platforms. Overview Bay and islan ...

. The station remained the main terminal of Tokyo until December 20, 1914, when the new

Tokyo Station Tokyo Station ( ja, 東京駅, ) is a railway station in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The original station is located in Chiyoda's Marunouchi business district near the Tokyo Imperial Palace, Imperial Palace grounds. The newer Eastern extension is ...

began operations. Shimbashi Station was converted to a freight terminal and was renamed "Shiodome", with the name of Shimbashi Station was moved to the former Karasumori Station which is still now called

Shimbashi Station is a major interchange railway station in Tokyo's Minato Ward, located centrally and a 10-minute walk from the Ginza shopping district, directly south of Tokyo station. Station layout JR East The JR East station consists of three surface plat ...

. The original station building was destroyed in the

1923 Great Kantō earthquake The struck the Kantō Plain on the main Japanese island of Honshū at 11:58:44 JST (02:58:44 UTC) on Saturday, September 1, 1923. Varied accounts indicate the duration of the earthquake was between four and ten minutes. Extensive firestorms an ...

. The site of the original Shinbashi Station received protection as a National Historic Site in 1965 shortly after opening of the

Tōkaidō Shinkansen The is a Japanese high-speed rail line that is part of the nationwide Shinkansen network. Along with the Sanyo Shinkansen, it forms a continuous high-speed railway through the Taiheiyō Belt, also known as the Tokaido corridor. Opened in 1964, ...

as urban redevelopment threatened the site with destruction. Shiodome Freight Terminal ceased operations on November 1, 1986. After the closing of the freight station, the site was transferred to

JNR Settlement Corporation The , or JNRSC, was a temporary holding company created to distribute the assets of the former Japanese National Railways (JNR) after its privatization in the mid-1980s. On October 22, 1998, the JNRSC was disbanded and placed under the Japan Rail ...

, but the sale of the land was not allowed for years due to political considerations of the impact of such a large area of land to the real estate market in Tokyo. Redevelopment of the site was finally started in 1995. Per

archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

s accompanying the redevelopment of the Shiodome area carried out from 1991 to 2000, the foundations of platforms and station buildings, traces of hired foreigners' lodgings, and various railway-related artifacts, such as Western plates, liquor bottles, train tickets and other items were discovered. Currently, the foundations of the platform and station building are preserved, with a reconstruction of the exterior of the station building as it was at the time of its opening. The

Shiodome is an area in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, located adjacent to Shinbashi and Ginza, near Tokyo Bay and the Hamarikyu Gardens. Formerly a railway terminal, Shiodome has been transformed into one of Tokyo's most modern areas. It is a collection of 11 ti ...

area was opened for public as a business zone called Sio-site in 2002. Old Shimbashi Station Platform.jpg, Reproduction of the old Shimbashi Station in Shiodome, October 2007 『新橋停車場之図』.jpg, Interior of old Shinbashi Station 東京汐留鉄道蒸気車通行図-Illustration of a Steam Locomotive Passing Shiodome in Tokyo (Tōkyō Shiodome testudō jōkisha tsūkō zu) MET DP147709.jpg, Illustration of a Steam Locomotive Passing Shiodome in Tokyo

References

External links

Tokyo Cultural Properties Database
{{Tokyo-Yokohama Railway in 1872 Defunct railway stations in Japan Tōkaidō Main Line Railway stations in Tokyo Railway stations in Japan opened in 1872 Railway stations closed in 1986 Shiodome Historic Sites of Japan

History

See also

References

External links