Iconic Japanese steam locomotive finishes major repairs

On Saturday, a train hauled by the C57, nicknamed 'Kifujin' (noble lady) partly for its slender shape, was shown to the press and conducted a test run on the 62.9-kilometer section between Shin-Yamaguchi and Tsuwano stations on West Japan Railway Co.'s Yamaguchi Line, which links Yamaguchi and Shimane prefectures in western Japan.

The steam locomotive will return to commercial operations October 3 after a hiatus of about six years.

According to the railroad operator, better known as JR West, the C57 was made in 1937, and the now-defunct Japanese National Railways started to use it in 1979 for the "SL Yamaguchi-go" tourist train between former Ogori Station, now Shin-Yamaguchi Station, in the city of Yamaguchi, the capital of Yamaguchi Prefecture, and Tsuwano Station in the Shimane town of Tsuwano.

The C57 continued to be used after the 1987 privatization of the JNR, which created JR West and other Japan Railways Group companies.

Repair work for the locomotive was conducted at a train yard in the western Japan city of Kyoto after it stranded during a commercial operation in October 2020 due to a problem with the piston.

As steam locomotive parts maker had no longer existed, JR West made a parts order to a company that manufactures ship parts.

The repair work was finished in late July this year, and JR West began test runs for the C57 last month.

The restart of the C57 operations comes in line with the 'Destination Campaign' tourism promotion initiative designed jointly by the Yamaguchi prefectural government and JR Group companies.

"We have kept customers waiting for a long period of time," Shingo Harada, a JR West official who was in charge of the C57 repair work, said.

"We want people to come from all over the country during the campaign (to ride the steam locomotive train) so that we can liven up Yamaguchi."