The is a steam-hauled "

Joyful Train is the name given to railway rolling stock or train sets operated by the JR Group in Japan primarily for charters, special events, tourist excursions, and other similar purposes. History The "Joyful Train" concept can be traced back to 1960, whe ...

" (

excursion train An excursion train is a chartered train run for a special event or purpose. Examples are trains to major sporting event, trains run for railfans or tourists, and special trains operated by the railway company for employees and prominent customer ...

) operated by

East Japan Railway Company The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...

(JR East) primarily on the

Kamaishi Line The is a rural railway line in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Hanamaki Station in the city of Hanamaki with Kamaishi Station in the city of Kamaishi. History The precursor to the li ...

in the north-east Tohoku Region of Japan since April 2014. The train consists of restored

JNR Class C58 The Class C58 is a 2-6-2 wheel arrangement steam locomotive type built by the Japanese Government Railways (JGR) and Japanese National Railways (JNR) from 1938 to 1947. A total of 427 Class C58 locomotives were built and designed by Hideo Shima ...

steam locomotive number C58 239 together with four rebuilt former

KiHa 141 series The is a diesel multiple unit (DMU) train type operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido) on the Sassho Line in Japan since 1990. The cars were rebuilt from former 50 series locomotive-hauled coaches. Variants A total of 44 cars were ...

diesel cars purchased from

JR Hokkaido The is one of the constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group), and is often referred to using its official abbreviation of . It operates intercity and local rail services in Hokkaido, Japan. The company introduced Kitaca, a sm ...

(themselves rebuilt from earlier 50 series passenger coaches and made surplus to requirements following the electrification of the

Sasshō Line The is a railway line in Japan operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido), which connects in Sapporo and in Tōbetu, Ishikari District. Its name is made up of two characters from and , the latter of which was the terminus of the l ...

in 2012). The diesel cars provide additional power to cope with the line's gradients.

Design

The exterior and interior design of the train was overseen by industrial designer

Ken Okuyama Ken Okuyama (born 1959) is a Japanese industrial designer. He is the owner of the Ken Okuyama Design company. Okuyama formerly worked for Pininfarina, designing and supervising projects such as the Enzo Ferrari and Ferrari P4/5. His given name is ...

. The overall concept was inspired by the classic novel ''

Night on the Galactic Railroad , sometimes translated as ''Milky Way Railroad'', ''Night Train to the Stars'' or ''Fantasy Railroad in the Stars'', is a classic Japanese fantasy novel by Kenji Miyazawa written around 1927. The nine-chapter novel was posthumously published in 1 ...

'' written by Japanese author

Kenji Miyazawa was a Japanese novelist and poet of children's literature from Hanamaki, Iwate, in the late Taishō and early Shōwa periods. He was also known as an agricultural science teacher, a vegetarian, cellist, devout Buddhist, and utopian social acti ...

, who lived in

Hanamaki, Iwate is a city in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 94,691, and a population density of 100 persons per km², in 37,773 households. The total area of the city is . Hanamaki is famous as the birthplace of Kenji Miyazaw ...

. Externally, the coaches are painted blue, evoking the night sky, with constellation and animal designs on the sides. Internally, the coaches will feature gaslight-style lighting and stained glass, evoking an early 20th-century atmosphere.

Train formation

The train consists of

steam locomotive number C58 239 and four coaches, formed as follows. The four coaches provide a total seating capacity of approximately 180.

C58 239

The dedicated ''SL Ginga'' train locomotive C58 239 was built in June 1940 by Kawasaki Sharyo, and was based at various depots around the country, including Nagoya, Nara, and Morioka, before being withdrawn on 22 May 1972. From 1 May 1973, it was preserved in a park in

Morioka, Iwate is the capital city of Iwate Prefecture located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. On 1 February 2021, the city had an estimated population of 290,700 in 132,719 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . G ...

. It was moved from the park by road to JR East's Omiya Works in Saitama Prefecture in December 2012.

History

The completed train was shown off to the public at

Morioka Station Morioka Station ( ja, 盛岡駅, ) is a railway station in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. It is operated by JR East. Lines Morioka Station is a major junction station, and is served by both the Tōhoku Shinkansen and the Akita Shinkansen. I ...

on 2 February 2014. It entered revenue service on 12 April 2014.

References

External links

* Named passenger trains of Japan East Japan Railway Company Railway services introduced in 2014 Railway coaches of Japan 2014 establishments in Japan {{JR East trains