My wife knows that I like trains. So, for my birthday she made a reservation for us to ride the Tochigi Mooka Railway Steam Locomotive. The train only runs on weekends and holidays. It runs twice a day:
10:35 departing Shimodate station to bound for Mogi station
14:28 departing Mogi station bound for Shimodate station
Tickets must be reserved in advance.
This is Shimodate Train Station; will be riding on the 10:35 run.
This is the special platform at Shimodate Station for the Steam Locomotive. Before going out on the platform a Station Ticket Master verifies your reservation and gives you your Locomotive Pass.
Out on the platform people are lining up; everyone is excited about riding the train.
It's very exciting when the train starts to move forward.
The train moves forward on one track and then backs down on the track next to the platform.
This is the train backing into position so that passengers can board the train.
The train operators.
The platform attendant gives the word that it's okay to board the train.
We still have 10 minutes before the train departs so Emi and I take pictures of each other.
This father and son are all smiles as the train starts to move.
The conductor goes through the train verifying that everyone has a ticket.
We're good to go!
As we chug down the tracks we make occasional stops at the various stations along the way. Some stations are big, most of them are quite small.
As we roll down the rails it is common to see people take pictures of the train. It's also common to see people smile and wave at us. Of course we smile and wave back.
There's no air-conditioning in the train; there's only ceiling fans. Everyone opens the windows but when the windows are open the strong smell from the steam locomotive blows into the car.
Watching the world go by from my window on the train.
When we stopped at this station I thought this man was waiting for the train. Nope! He just sat there and watched us come and go.
Another person taking a picture of us as we pull away from the station.
We have arrived at Mashiko Station. This is the final station for us. We'll be spending the night in Mashiko (more on that in the next blog post). I quickly moved forward on the platform at Mashiko to take pictures of the majestic Steam Locomotive as it leaves the station.
I got a quick shot of the boiler operator shoveling coal into the burner.
They're departing the station.
The conductor waves to us as the train rolls by.
This is the front of Mashiko Train Station. This is where our special trip on the Steam Train ends but our Mashiko adventure begins!
See you next time! And, as always...
Thanks for stopping by!
Mike
Bonus shots!
Good stuff.
ReplyDeleteOTL! What a pleasant surprise! It's very kind of you to take the time to read and comment on my blog post. Thank you very much!
DeleteMike