Shimabara Railway Line, Isahaya to Shimabara-gaikō

[Sacto1985]

YouTube member ato5kgyasetaito just posted an interesting video of the Shimabara Railway Line from JR Kyushu Isahara Station to Shimabara-gaikō Station, taken a Shimabara Railway 2500 Series DMU:

 

 

Note that this line originally went all the way to Kazusa, but the line beyond Shimabara-gaikō was abandoned after 2008. Interestingly, Shimabara Railway was never under JGR or JNR control, and is one of the very few railway lines on Kyushu that has stayed under private control through its entire history.

[Mudkip Orange]

Reasonably fast running for a small private line.

[Mudkip Orange]

Minami-Shimabara would convincingly fit in a 2x4 module.

[katoftw]

Damn that 2008 typhoon.  Also killed the Takachiho Railway.

[Sacto1985]

Damn that 2008 typhoon.  Also killed the Takachiho Railway.

 

Well, ridership was already rapidly falling, and even without that typhoon, the line was going to be truncated anyway.