International Railroad Discussion > Visiting Tokyo in May - Steam nearby?

Going to Japan for the fourth time in late May, and looking to see some steam this time, within day trip distance from Tokyo. (a long day trip starting early and ending late is OK)

I found a couple of pages that discuss steam in Japan:
http://homepage.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/Oliver.L.Mayer/japan/verkehr/steam.htm (hasn't been updated in about 5 or 6 years)
http://www.japaneserailwaysociety.com/jrs/steam/steam.htm
http://rokko1go.jpn.org/main/photo/english/eng_SLdays01.htm (a nice map to correlate the information on the other pages)

It would be good to find out of these places are still in operation, and more importantly, if you only had to pick one, which one is most worth the visit.

There's the Paleo Express (fairly recent video here: )
http://www.japaneserailwaysociety.com/hiroshi/chichib/chichib1.htm
This ride looks very scenic and utilizes a 2-6-2 C58 (dare I call it a Prarie? heh.)

The Mo'oka Railway
http://www.japaneserailwaysociety.com/hiroshi/mok/mok.htm
The engine is a small but well preserved rear tanker with a set of more or less modern coaches.

JR East Banetsu Monogatari Go
No information on this railway except the description and photo on the Japan Railway Society's page. If anyone has more pictures or video, I'd appreciate it. The description of the scenery sounds inviting.
http://www.japaneserailwaysociety.com/jrs/steam/banet2.jpg

JR Joetsu - Nice preview video here with beautiful steam-in-snow scenes: not sure what the scenery is like during the spring / summer.

Oigawa railway: It's a little far out from Tokyo, but from Hiroshi's descriptions it sounds like one of the most authentic, with pre-WWII coaches and no modern marker plate on the front of the engine. They also have an Abt rack railway.
http://www.japaneserailwaysociety.com/hiroshi/oi/oi1.htm
Quicktime video: http://slpreview.web.fc2.com/movie/SL-K012.html
They also may potentially have weekday steam operations. This would make it extra-amenable to a visit, as the weekdays may be less crowded.

Biwa lake: This one looks interesting but I don't know if I'll make it to Kyoto this time.

Yamaguchi: This place looks amazing from the videos, but it's really far out from Tokyo, two full length Shinkansen rides or a short hop airplane ride to the western end of Honshu. So not this time. :)

Also...it looks like the big new railway museum is actually open in Saitama? http://www.railway-museum.jp/
Anyone been there?

Cheers,

--Mike

If anyone has more pictures or video, I'd appreciate it. The description of the scenery sounds inviting.

The following are shots of C57180 on the Ben-Etsy line taken in 2002.

1. Near Aizu-Wakamatsu, in rain.

2. The shot was in heavy rain. It is often rainy in late May to June.

3. At Yamato near Kitagata, It was a rare fine day.

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Thanks for the pictures. I did see a lot more Japanese steam on Youtube. Using their own name for it "SL" turned up more and different things.

Is 'Hiroshi2' on this forum the same Hiroshi that wrote some of the review links I posted?

Hi Mike

I waited for Hiroshi to respomd because he seems to be much better informed
than I am but so far he hasn't. So here are a couple of things I found.

1. Mooka Line
operates on 11 days in May 2008:3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25, 31
(They look random but Saturdays, Sundays and two national holidays)
Schedule: leaves Simotate or Shimodate at 10:37, arrives at Mshiko at 11:31
leaves Mashiko at 15:03, arrives Shimotate or Shimodate at 15:57

2. Ban-Etsu Line
operates on the same 11 days in May 2008
Schedule: leaves Niigata at 9:33 (9:43) arrives at Aizu-Wakamatsu at 13:31
leaves Aizu-Wakamatsu at 15:25 arrives at Niigata at 19:00

They say you can use Narita Express to get to the starting point of Mooka, and
Shinkansen to get to the starting point of the Ban-Etsu trains.

To Mike:

For Ohigawa Steam Operation:

JR Kanaya station on Tokaido line will be your starting point of this Steam excursion.

Departure from Kanaya at 10:02 SL Express train operates on April 26 to May 5th, 10th, 17th, 25th, 27th arriving Senzu at 11:26
Departure from Kanaya at 11:48 SL Express train operates Every day arriving Senzu at 13:12

From Senzu station to Kanaya
Departure to Kanaya at 14:50 SL Express train operates on April 19th to Dec. 8th
Departure to Kanaya at 15:25 SL Express train operates on April 26 to May 5th, 10th, 17th, 25th, 27th
Reservation ticket has to be purchased before riding the train.

From Tokyo station Take Hikari 363 at 8:03 bound for Okayama to Shizuoka at 09:06 then transfer to local to Hamamatsu at 9:22. You will be in Kanaya by 9:52.

Or you can take Hikari 361 at 703 from Tokyo.

For Mooka Steam operation:

Every Sat and Sunday.

Leaving from Shimodate at 10:37 to Motegi (arriving at 12:02)
Leaving from Ootegi at 14:48 to Shimodate (arriving at 15:57)
Leaving from Shimodate at16:06 to Mooka (arriving at 16:31)
Reservation ticket has to be purchased before riding the train.

Take Nasuno 251 from Tokyo at 8:36 to Oyama arriving at 9:18
Tansfer to Local bound for Tomobe from Oyama at 9:34. Arriving Shimodate at 9:55

For SL Banetsu Ride:

From Nitsu leaving 10:14 arriving Aizuwakamatsu at 13:31
Levding Aizuwakamatsu at 15:25 arriving Niisu at 18:35

From Tokyo take Toki 305 bound for Niigata arriving at 9:33
At Niigata transfer to local to Niitsu leaving at 9:39 arriving at 9:58

New Transportation Museum is at Tesudohakubutsuakn, one station away from JR Ohmiya station on ShintoshiKotsu.

Hope this helps,

Hiroshi

Thank you Hiroshi for the useful information. It is useful to have the schedule and travel times to these railways.

--Mike

Harlock Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you Hiroshi for the useful information. It
> is useful to have the schedule and travel times to
> these railways.
>
> --Mike

You are welcome.

Umekoji near Kyoto station has a collection of JNR steam engines. It is the place for steamers!

FYI: JNR has the following classification rules:
For steam engines:
X99 9999
where X will be B,C,D or E (Number of drivers)
99 will be 10-12,20(tank engines), 50-62(with tender)
then 9999 for serial number.

C57-180 used for Banetsu will be 6 driver with tender and 180th of Class C57
B20 0-4-0 tank engine
C10 and C11 2-6-4 tank engine
C12 2-6-2 tank engine
E10 2-10-4 Tank engine
C50 2-6-0
C51,C52(American built),C53,C54,C55,C57,c59 4-6-2
C56 2-6-0
C58 2-6-2
C60,C61,C62 4-6-4
D50,D51,D51 2-8-2
D61,D62 2-8-4

At Umekoji, you may have a chance to see 8620(2-6-0) and 9600(2-8-0). JNR kept old classification for these two classes.

And donot forget to visit Shimbashi station, two station away from Tokyo station to South since there is C11 displayed in front of the station.

Also...the big new railway museum is has D51 simulator! You can be an engineer or a firman to operate computerized steam eingine! Interesting enough for you to visit, isn't it?

Hope this helps.

Hiroshi

PS This year, April 29th, May 3rd, 5th and 6th will be our National holidays.

Hiroshi, I will miss Golden Week as I will be coming in from the 18th to the 30th of May, but I will catch steam runs on the weekend of the 25-25 hopefully.

Have you been to the the big Railway Museum in saitama http://www.railway-museum.jp/ ? it looks really nice.

Also, I have indeed seen that engine in front of Shimbashi Station many times. :)

There are three photographs of steam engines at Oigawa/Ohigawa Railway

C10 8, C11 227 and C56 44 at

http://rail.hobidas.com/blog/natori/archives/2008/04/post_765.html

So if anyone's still reading this thread, the current plan is to do the Paleo Express and the Oigawa Railway, on the weekend.

Harlock Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So if anyone's still reading this thread, the
> current plan is to do the Paleo Express and the
> Oigawa Railway, on the weekend.

Paleo Express leaves from Kumagaya station at 10:10 for Mitsumeneguchi.And returning from Mitsumeneguchi at 14:03 and arriving at Kumagaya at 16:18 on weekend.

At Kumagaya, Yorii, Nagatoro, Chichibu, Metsumeguchi station, Train will stop 8 to 12 minutes so that you may have chance to photo the train.

Class C58 No 363, 2-6-2 tender engine will pull four-car consist passenger cars(Class 12).
This engine was built in 1944 by Kawasaki Car Mfg. In 1972 it was removed from the active roster. Till then it run total of 1,054,826 kilo-meters in Northern region including Yamada line, Senzan line, Rikuu-Tosen, Ishinomaki line, Banetsu-Saisen.

Tokyo staion 8:52 Max Toki 311 bound for Niigata to Kumagawa at 9:31.

Hope this helps.

Hiroshi