Steam & Excursion > Japanese steam

Caught the tail-end of a piece on NHK News on PBS this evening about a group of Japanese railfans restoring and operating steam locos.

NHK is a Japanese news network like CNN.

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/24/16 22:17 by MojaveBill.

MojaveBill Wrote:
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> Caught the tail-end of a piece on NHK News on PBS
> this evening about a group of Japanese railfans
> restoring and operating steam locos.
>
> NHK is a Japanses news network like CNN.

Thanks for the heads up... However, NHK is more similar to BBC or PBS. They don't "omit" certain key information in their reporting like CNN does. :-)

I missed the CNN news but there are 16 steam engines in working order in Japan and the latest to be restored is C58 239 (restored in 2014 and a documentary NHK film was made).  They are all narrow guage.  An example is C57 -180 as she was on the bridge near Kitagata the ramen noodle place.

 

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I caught the story by surprise and it sounded like the steam is going to be used by the main line government railroad at one scenic part of the main line system.  They spoke about borrowing steam locomotives from the various tourist railroads and much of the later part of the story was telling about how they were training recent railroader how to fire the steam locomotives.  It even went into the details of shoveling the coal specifically to make a level fire. This story should be followed up by a American magazine.  One view was of a large all black locomotive being turned on a turntable. They said competing lines or companies were working together to make this happen.  I could be wrong but it sounded like a major acceptance of steam for an attraction to increase tourism.  .
 

Maybe Wick at Amtrak might consider a similar idea.  Can you see 765 hauling a segment of the Lake Shore, or a trip up the Hudson or the Pennsylvanian?  How about 3751 on a regular run LA - San Diego, or 611 Lynchburg to Manasas? 

Tominde Wrote:
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> Maybe Wick at Amtrak might consider a similar
> idea.  Can you see 765 hauling a segment of the
> Lake Shore, or a trip up the Hudson or the
> Pennsylvanian?  How about 3751 on a regular run
> LA - San Diego, or 611 Lynchburg to Manasas? 

Not a bad idea, especially after seeing the sold out runs in North Carolina behind the 611. I had conversations with some of the passengers, and it seems there were many non-railfans.

Japanese steam actually don't run on every main line - they are usually limited to run on certain segments, because some (not all) are equipped with ATS (Automatic Train Stop, using penalty/emergency air brake application) to protect against red signals, but none are equipped with ATC (Japansese implementation of "PTC" where speeds are controlled by signal indication).  I'd guess an implementation of electrical/electronic speed control device on a purely mechanical machine like steam would be complicated, even if possible.

So they try not to squeeze steam excursion in territories with 2-5 minute headways.

Keep in mind that with the very extensive passenger rail network in Japan where most consider it a primary mode of transportation, majority of folks ride regular revenue trains first before riding a steam excursion. JR Group of companies are aware of this, so when they promote steam excursions, they know they help their bottomline so they don't charge a "premium" for steam - they simply charge standard rail fare plus an occasional reservation fee (which is also standard). Most excursions, JR Raill Pass users don't pay anything extra.

FYI, it's no coincidence that JR Group's steam excursions make stops at Shinkansen stations: Takasaki (D51-498, C61-20), Maibara (C56-160), Shin-Yamaguchi (C57-1), Niigata (C57-180), Kumamoto (8620 class #58654), and Shin-Hamanaki (C58-239), and usually near or at the excursion's terminus, so the riders are not denied the full experience. If you're in a hurry or short on time, then by golly, you're going to pay the extra yen to ride the Shinkansen to catch and ride the steam excursion!

Smaller railroads who run steam tend to charge extra fare to cover the cost of operating steam, but not a huge premium. In my opinion, the affordability of steam excursions in Japan is another reason why it's popular.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/16 11:49 by cchan006.

Ardenwood Wrote:
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> I missed the CNN news but there are 16 steam
> engines in working order in Japan and the latest
> to be restored is C58 239 (restored in 2014 and a
> documentary NHK film was made).  They are all
> narrow guage.  An example is C57 -180 as she was
> on the bridge near Kitagata the ramen noodle
> place.

JR West (West Japan Railway Company) is certifying a Mikado (2-8-2 D51-200) for main line use, or said in another way, they are rebuilding it currently to meet safe operating standards. This "Degoichi" used to run the short excursion at the Umekoji Steam Locomotive museum in Kyoto, now "reborn" as the Kyoto Railway Museum.

The number of operating engines won't change, since JR West is planning to retire the 2-6-0 C56-160 when D51-200 is ready, and that's supposed to happen in 2017. 

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