East Manchuria Railway

The East Manchuria Railway (Japanese: 東満洲鉄道, Higashimanshū Tetsudō; Chinese: 東満洲鐵道, Dōngmǎnzhōu Tiědào; Korean: 동만주 철도; RR: Dongmanju Cheoldo) was a railway company in Manchukuo headquartered in Hunchun, Jilin Province.

In 1644 the Qing dynasty enacted an ordinance prohibiting settlement in the area around Hunchun, leaving the region an untouched wilderness for over 200 years until the ban was lifted in 1881.

This made it ideal for settling, and both Manchukuo and Japan had high expectations for the development of the region.

Later, the planned Korean terminus was moved to Hunyung, due to the bridge over the Tumen River located there that had been opened in 1926.

Meanwhile, the issues on the Korean side were solved, and the remaining section across the border from Yongwanzi to Hunyung was opened on 1 November of the same year,[1] but it wasn't until February 1936 that arrangements were made with Mantetsu to interchange passengers and cargo on the North Chosen East Line.

[1] The work was completed all at once in November 1939, including replacement of the Tumen River bridge, which was too narrow to allow for the widening of the track.

Due to the change in gauge, new motive power was needed, and locomotives were borrowed from the Manchukuo National Railway.

As China was in a state of civil war at the time, it is likely that the railway was simply forgotten and abandoned, and never rebuilt, after barely a decade of operation.

After becoming the East Manchuria Railway and converting to standard gauge, by August 1940, only locomotive-hauled trains of second- and third-class cars were operated, with five return trips daily.

These trains were much faster than those of the narrow-gauge period, needing only 30 minutes to make the trip between Hunyung and Hunchun.

In June 1942, two daily round trips were made between Hunyung and Gangouzi on the Panshi Branch Line via Hunchun, with locomotive-hauled trains consisting of second- and third-class cars.

At that time there were also two daily return trips between Hunchun and Dongmiaoling, also operated with locomotive-hauled trains consisting of second- and third-class cars.

There were two coal mines located in Ying'an and one in Hunchun; these were important sources of freight traffic for the East Manchuria Railway.

Although no documents have been found, photographs show an 0-6-0T steam locomotive of about 10 tons, which in appearance looks to be an Orenstein & Koppel design.