It’s the Journey, Not the Destination: SL Yamaguchi

SL Yamaguchi on its return leg to Shin-Yamaguchi Station as shot from Tsuwano Bridge, late afternoon.

When riding an old steam engine I want to feel like I’m riding in a relic of the past, not just being pulled by it and to get that experience my wife and I boarded SL Yamaguchi.

Operating since 1979, this is one of Japan’s best known steam engines and what sets it apart from almost all others are the passenger cars. While about a dozen steam engines are operating in Japan today, this is one of the only ones with reproduction early 20^th century passenger cars. That pairing of train and cars pretty much renders the destination irrelevant; it’s about riding a classic in style.

Our journey began at Shin-Yamaguchi Station Platform 1 where an unseen engine pushed a set of five Japan Government Railways-maroon cars to the platform before wheezing to a stop. At their head was a black D51-class freight engine, known as a degoichi (literally, D-5-1 in Japanese) which as the most produced Japanese train of all time is synonymous with steam engines in Japan.

Most of the crowd headed straight for the engine to start taking selfies, duckface selfies, family photos and black steel glamour shots but I’d learned with my previous experience with SL Hitoyoshi this is wrong. Head for the engine and fight the crowd, so instead I bolted for our seats in Car No. 5.

Car No. 5 is based on a 1927 Oha 31, Japan’s first mass-produced steel frame passenger car. I loved the look of it, the outside with its raised roof and inside with its rows of high-backed straight wooden seats, green upholstery and double-arch iron feet. I packed my canvas travel bag into the overhead mesh and brass luggage rack. Except for the little charging port by the table and the slightly off look of the wood (the car has faux-wood paneling and I don’t think the floor is real hardwood either) it was as old-fashioned as I could hope for.

When buying our tickets I’d asked for this car in particular because it’s the same model Suzu and her family rode to Kure in “In This Corner of the World.” (That train was pulled by an 8620-class engine like SL Hitoyoshi, maybe someday they can mate that engine to this train to recreate the movie’s ride.)

Once I’d settled our bags and taken pictures of the empty car we headed to the engine, with its now thinning crowd for our own pictures. One of the things I noticed immediately was that because of the time of day and direction of the train I’d be shooting into the sun for the entire trip.

Riding into the sunset on the return leg to Shin-Yamaguchi.

Though it was less important than the journey, our destination was Tsuwano, a rural former castle town hidden away in Shimane Prefecture. To get there SL Yamaguchi traverses two hours of fields and forest. It’s picturesque though lacking the drama of SL Hitoyoshi’s fast-moving river and mountains. The observation cars have open ends so I could peek around the corner a little and see the engine when we rounded curves and otherwise enjoy the wind and soot at my back.

Speaking of soot, whether a window is open or not, it permeates the interior when passing through tunnels and lingers afterwards. This is the part of the old steam engine experience I don’t think most SLs try to replicate but its true to what travel was like.

Walking the train I visited three kinds of car, our 1927, a few Oha 35 1939 and an art deco 1938 “first class” car. Each has a unique style, so for our return leg we booked a 1939 car. In the middle of the train is also a small train museum and interactive game center where lucky passengers win a chance to play the coal-shoveling game or the train driving simulator via seat-based lottery. I won the coal-shoveling simulator where I used a plastic shovel to “toss coal” at a video screen to keep all the fires going. A sensor detects movement and decides where my “coal” landed. The more fires kept going the further the train goes. It was a fun little distraction.

When I wasn’t wandering the train or watching the scenery from the observation car I sat with my wife and conversed with fellow passengers at our seats. On the way to Tsuwano we sat with a pair of ladies, one of which was a big train otaku and had ridden SL Yamaguchi three times before. One of them told us about how she rode steam locomotives to school until partway through junior high so these old things were a good memory for her. And yes, it always got this smoky passing through tunnels. On the way back we had a mother and her young boys who were excited because the degoichi is their favorite steam engine.

A little extra touch of tradition at SL Yamaguchi’s stops are the white wooden train station signs with Hiragana that’s read right to left, the way it was done before the mid-twentieth century. Our starting point, Shin-Yamaguchi Station, even maintains its original name, Ogori Station at the platform SL Yamaguchi pulls into.

After arriving in Tsuwano there’s one last train event to enjoy and that’s watching the engine go to the turntable and receiving maintenance. The turntable is close to Tsuwano Station and staff gave us a little card that showed how to get to the viewing area. I also stopped to take pictures of the static D51 outside the station on the way.

If staying in Tsuwano overnight, to get great shots of the train in action I recommend going to the Tsuwano Bridge, just past the end of the Tonomachi historic street with the samurai houses and setting up a few minutes before the train is scheduled to depart the station in the afternoon or arrive at mid-day.

SL Yamaguchi shortly before arriving at Tsuwano Station as shot from Tsuwano Bridge, just before 1 p.m.

SL Yamaguchi is one of the two steam locomotives operating on or near Kyushu, along with Kumamoto’s SL Hitoyoshi. When deciding which to ride each has their good and bad points. Yamaguchi has the better train with its replica historic cars and iconic engines to choose from. Hitoyoshi though has the dramatic Appalachian-esque river valley scenery and century old train stations for brief sightseeing stops and train photo opportunities. Yamaguchi’s fields and forests pale in comparison and there are only two stops long enough to disembark and take environmental train photos on the way to Tsuwano and there are none on the way back. Both take travelers to old-fashioned mountain towns with lots of history and comfortable personality. The best thing to do would be to ride both.

Beside s D51200, SL Yamaguchi also runs with C571 ‘Lady,’ which unlike the degoichi was a passenger engine. The website schedules notes which engine is running which day so passengers can book the one they want.

Booking was easy but has to be done in person at our local JR station. If you’re a train aficionado it pays to check ahead on SL Yamaguchi’s website (www.c571.jp) which provides notice of what days the train will be running and cancellations. All seats are the same price, even the “first class” car but you can request seats in certain cars. The first class car tickets run out very quickly. Seats go on sale one month prior to the departure date (so if you’re doing an overnight that means two trips to the station to buy tickets if you’re doing at at the 30-day mark) and the first class seats were all booked by 10 a.m. Such is the appeal of classic rail travel.

(Keep scrolling below for more beautiful train imagery!)

http://www.c571.jp/

SL Yamaguchi at Tsuwano Station before its afternoon departure.

SL Yamaguchi at Tsuwano Station before its afternoon departure. Note the unusual ‘no’ character at the left, its not the usual hiragana ‘no.’

SL Yamaguchi at Jihiku Station, one of the two long stops on the Shin-Yamaguchi-Tsuwano route.

A conductor uses his whistle to urge passengers back aboard at Jihiku Station.

SL Yamaguchi at Jihiku Station, one of the two long stops on the Shin-Yamaguchi-Tsuwano route.

SL Yamaguchi at Jihiku Station, one of the two long stops on the Shin-Yamaguchi-Tsuwano route. D51200 is one of the two SL Yamaguchi engines along with C571.