Steam Trains in Japan

Hi there!

Those are two interesting questions. For steam trains it is pretty difficult to find any information about them in English. You can find a list of all Steam locomotives here but the website is in Japanese only and other very interesting website for these kinds of events is http://railf.jp/. Unfortunately I did not any Steam trains running at the moment. You can use google translate to explore to pages though!

A nice rail guide you can consider is ''Japan by Rail'' which you can purchase over at Amazon. If you are really interested in Japan Railways history also consider reading: Shinkansen: From Bullet Train to Symbol of Modern Japan by Christopher Hood.

Hope this helps!
Daniel

Hi there.

Sorry for responding such a late time. I have just signed up the forum and found that SL trains are still operated in Kushiro area in Hokkaido. It ends on March 9. The train departs Kushiro at 11:20 am to Shibecha. The return one departs Shibecha at 2:02 pm.

Hope it works and enjoy the SL train trip :)

Hi Kiwi!

Awesome - thank you for pasting this! I'd appreciate it if you have any links for more information about this.

All the best
Daniel

Hi Daniel,

You are welcome! Unfortunately the source is JR Hokkaido Kushiro Sub-headquarter's website and it's only in Japanese. However I would provide more information.

The SL train is named SL Fuyu no Shitsugen Go - SL Winter Wetlands. It still in operation every day but as I have said in the previous post, it ends on March 9 (Sunday next week).

To board on the SL Train, passengers are required to purchase reserved seat tickets with costs of 800 yen for adults and 400 yen for children (12 year-old or younger) as well as ordinary tickets. Reserved tickets are available at JR Stations' Ticket Offices (Green Counters) and JR Travel Agencies.

Enquiries can be made to:
JR Kushiro Station on 0154-24-3176 (5:30-22:30)
JR Shibecha Station on 015-485-2018 (6:50-17:00)
JR Twinkle Plaza (Travel Agency) Kushiro on 0154-25-4890 (10:00-18:00)

Please feel free to ask me more information.

Cheers :)

Yoshi

Hi Yoshi!

Awesome thank you! Its very helpful information and the translation is good too!
Reaching Kushiro is a bit of of a trip but visiting Nemuro is still something I wish to do as well.

Feel free the post the Japanese website as well, I should be able to understand it :)

Are you by any chance a Densha Otaku like me as well?

Again many thanks!
Daniel

Hi Daniel,

I like travelling on trains and may be an otaku. How often do you make train trips?

It's good that you will understand the SL train website in Japanese. You must have good Japanese skills and I appreciate you for it. Here is their website:

http://www.jrkushiro.jp/sl2014/

All the best.

Yoshi