Tomizawa Station and the Tram Museum (市電保存館）

Tomizawa, a suburban station and the start of the Namboku Line, was quiet. I had known of the Tram Museum also through my research, but I did not expect the walking from Tomizawa to be that long. Compared to what I was used to, it felt as if it took me double the time needed to cover the distance of 2km. And it did not help, that I did not know the way to the Museum in the first place - there were signs and a map at the station pointing the general direction to the Museum but outside the station there was no signage whatsoever.

"So this is a Japanese suburb... really quiet."

I was used to motorcycles buzzing through the small lanes where I am from, but here in a southern Sendai suburb, it was very quiet. Few cars were breezing down the streets. Some people were walking. There was a clinic or two, one of which had a pretty large parking lot. There was also a park halfway through. It must be really peaceful to live here.

I looked up at the subway at one point and saw a subway train continuing past Tomizawa onto a reversing track. It seems that sometimes the train would stand there whilst waiting for perhaps a departure order.

The Tram Museum was inside the main subway depot. At the gate of the depot I froze, not sure if the Museum was open or not, but I went in nonetheless.

"I want to enter the Tram Preservation Museum...", I said to the security guard, who motioned me to come in. I started around 1.30pm, when I arrived it had already been 2.45pm.

The sole staff at the museum, an old Bureau of Transportation worker, greeted me. It was truly a relief to be able to come inside. Before long I had sweated the most I ever had and looked truly miserable. The deodorant I had bought at NewDays (at Sendai Station) was not effective at all!

When I entered, a group of kindergarteners were about to exit.

Having received an explanation of the trams and the rules of operating the tram (I cannot touch the cab of the oldest tram in the city's existence, Car No.1 of Type MoHa 1, but it was okay for the other two trams on display, which were more modern), I sat down near the salvaged bogies of the trams first, then moved to the (also salvaged) subway destination display.

The operating instructions were simple: I flick the power switch on, wait for the system to start up, then press the mode select key, the selector switch to set the destination, then the mode key again to activate the display. There is a test mode, which flashes different colours on the display, and if I made a mistake it was easy to set it to display another correct destination as if nothing had happened.

Soon enough, Tomizawa, Dainohara, and other stations along the Namboku Line began to flash on the destination display, and I was giddy like a kid.

Later, the elder, who noticed I hadn't entered the cabs of the modern trams yet, came up to me when I was onboard one of them, presumably Car No.415 of Type MoHa 400 (my memory is not sharp, sorry), and reminded me: "It's okay to touch the cab". Later I did enter the cab of that tram, but I remember telling him back then "Thank you, I was trying to take pictures..." He later asked where I came from; upon hearing my answer he was lightly surprised.

Interior of presumably Car No.415 of Type MoHa 400

Brake handle receptacle of presumably Car No.415 of Type MoHa 400

Whilst some documents about the final days of the trams and the early days of the Sendai Subway were kept in a glass cabinet, I didn't ask to see them. The Museum, since the end of the Covid-19 days, has Subway driver uniforms for rent; I did ask to rent them and for him to take pictures for me. The pictures were not pretty, but since the elder took it, I will treasure it. I returned the uniform vest later.

It was very soothing to watch the tram diorama, which the elder came to reset every now and then. The VHS player was looping a tape about the last day of the tram's operation. I enjoyed my stay so much that when everyone else had gone home (around 3.30pm) I remained, until he said "Soon, the time to close this museum will come", at which point I finally made my way out. At the exit, he gave me leaflets of other railway events in the Koshin'etsu region. I thanked him profusely for helping me in my visit.

I hope to come back to the Museum and talk more with him about his career back in the tramway days.

Visiting information

The Tram Museum is 20 minutes (2km) away from Tomizawa Station, which is roughly 15 minutes from Sendai Station on the Subway Namboku Line. It is located inside a subway train depot and there is a moderate incline starting the depot entrance gate. The area around the Museum is largely residential. You will find a vending machine at the residential complex outside the depot gate. Until 31 December 2024, if you have a JR East Pass for the Tohoku area, you can go to the Tourist Information Centre at Sendai Station to pick up a free Subway and Loople Sendai Bus day pass.

It is recommended that you stay here for around 45 minutes (though it's alright if you stay here for a bit more, especially if you arrived walking in the summer heat). You can enter the cab of the two post-war trams, Car No.123 of Type MoHa 100 and Car No.415 of Type MoHa 400, but you cannot enter that of Car No.1 of Type MoHa 1. Museum entry and rental of subway driver uniforms is free of charge.

Museum website (Japanese)