Miike Coal Railway

The Miike Coal Railway began in 1878 with horse-drawn cars running 2.7 kilometers between a mine pit and the Omuta River, switching to steam in 1891 and full electrification by 1923. Extended to Miike Port in 1905, the railway also carried workers and commuters from 1964 to 1984. Locomotives on display at the Mikawa Pit trace the line's evolution: an American 15-tonne electric engine from 1908, a German 20-tonne from 1911, a 1915 Mitsubishi model that is the oldest domestically built electric locomotive in Japan, and a 1936 Toshiba 45-tonne engine that ran until closure. Track beds, brick tunnels, and iron bridges from the original route are still visible around Omuta. The railway was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015.