Japan’s C57 steam locomotive to resume commercial service on October 3
JR West commissioned a ship-parts company to produce replacement components before testing the repaired 1937 locomotive on the Yamaguchi Line.
- Japan's C57 steam locomotive will resume commercial service on October 3 after a nearly six-year absence caused by a piston problem in October 2020.
- The operator, JR West, had to source replacement parts from a ship parts manufacturer because the original maker is no longer in business.
- The locomotive, nicknamed "Kifujin" (noble lady), recently completed a successful test run on the Yamaguchi Line between Shin-Yamaguchi and Tsuwano stations.
- Its return is timed to coincide with the "Destination Campaign," a tourism promotion aimed at revitalizing the Yamaguchi region.
A piston problem stranded Japan’s C57 steam locomotive during a commercial run in October 2020.
Following major repairs and an absence of about six years, the engine is scheduled to resume commercial service on October 3.
West Japan Railway Company (JR West) displayed the repaired locomotive to the media on Saturday (September 19) during a 62.9-kilometre test between Shin-Yamaguchi and Tsuwano stations.
This section of the Yamaguchi Line connects Yamaguchi and Shimane prefectures in western Japan.
The C57 is known as “Kifujin”, or “noble lady”, partly because of its slender form.
With the maker of its steam-locomotive parts no longer in business, JR West ordered replacements from a company that manufactures ship parts.
Repairs at a train yard in Kyoto, western Japan, were completed in late July 2026, and test runs began in August.
Built in 1937, the C57 joined the SL Yamaguchi-go tourist service operated by Japanese National Railways (JNR) in 1979.
The service ran between Ogori Station, now Shin-Yamaguchi Station, in the city of Yamaguchi, capital of Yamaguchi Prefecture, and Tsuwano Station in the town of Tsuwano, Shimane Prefecture.
The locomotive remained in operation after JNR’s 1987 privatisation created JR West and other Japan Railways Group companies.
The October return will coincide with the “Destination Campaign”, a tourism promotion jointly developed by the Yamaguchi prefectural government and JR Group companies.
“We have kept customers waiting for a long period of time,” said Shingo Harada, the JR West official in charge of the C57 repairs.
“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.”
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
