Updated:June 5, 2023

Haiki Railway Station and Former Water Tower

 

 

After Sasebo port was designated as a naval port, the railway construction was accelerated to transport military materials and people to Sasebo.

Haiki railway station opened in 1897 and the Haiki Engine Depot was also established. Railway-related facilities were built one after another and one of them was this water tower. The tower with a steel water tank could supply water to locomotives smoothly using the difference in height. 

Trains bound for Sasebo on the Sasebo line from Hakata and Takeo have to go backward from Haiki station. This switchback was described in the lyrics of ‘Tetsudo Shoka or Railway Song’, which was made in 1900, as a feature of Haiki Station saying ‘here at Haiki the Sasebo line branches off’.