International Railroad Discussion > Nikko Western Village Theme Park Waipahu

The  ex-Oahu  3 foot gauge 0-6-2 Waipahu moved from Roaring Camp in California, where I last saw her in 1988,  to the Western Village Theme Park near Nikko, Tochigi, Japan. I'd like to track down the current whereabouts as the theme park itself closed in 2007. Does anyone know the story or have pictures here in Japan?

I found some photos posted in a blog after a quick search. The blog entry is more than 3 years old (April 17, 2012):

http://haikyotokidokineko.blogspot.com/2012/04/sl.html

More photos and a page dedicated to the Waipahu:

http://c5557.kiteki.jp/html/western-mura4.htm

As of 2014 (based on Google Maps satellite view), all the buildings were still there. I found a stale link during my search, which said the land where Western Village used to sit might become a bio-mass power plant, but I found no other articles mentioning that yet.

Both the Waipahu (#4) and the Virginia (#6) were listed on Yahoo! Japan Auction in February of 2014. (That's their eBay). Supposedly, the winner moved them out of Western Village, current whereabouts unknown, pending further research. At least, they probably won't be scrapped.

I did a double take a couple years ago when I spotted a mini Mt Rushmore from the highway. Not able to check out anything else at the time. I hope we can find out more current info on the locomotives.