SL Ginga (SL Galaxy) to be shut down

[KateM]

Operation of JR East's "SL Ginga" to be ended in the near future due to ageing passenger cars. The SL train has been running on Kamaishi Line in Iwate prefecture since 2014 to support reconstruction after the 2011 earthquake via tourism, more than 50k people travelled by this Kenji Miyazawa's Night on the Galactic Railroad inspired train. The operation will end by the summer of 2023 at the latest.

 

 

[roadstar_na6]

Sad news, I hope they'll keep the SLs fire live

[katoftw]

Engine will probably be moved to Takasaki Rail Centre.

[ED75-775]

On 11/19/2021 at 4:45 AM, katem said:

Operation of JR East's "SL Ginga" to be ended in the near future due to ageing passenger cars. The SL train has been running on Kamaishi Line in Iwate prefecture since 2014 to support reconstruction after the 2011 earthquake via tourism, more than 50k people travelled by this Kenji Miyazawa's Night on the Galactic Railroad inspired train. The operation will end by the summer of 2023 at the latest.

 

 

I saw this and headed on over to JR East's official (Japanese-language) site for the SL Ginga almost straight away. The closure has been announced for Spring 2023, though exactly when it will take place hasn't been confirmed.

 

It's a shame that this train won't be running any more, it has to be one of the more unique steam tourist trains I've seen. I passed on it in 2019 as it was too far north for me to try in just two weeks, instead I went after the SL Yamaguchi and had a good time riding that. I'll be keeping an eye on the 2023 timetable with the hope that if travel restrictions from NZ to Japan are lifted in time, I'll be able to go and ride SL Ginga as part of a longer holiday.

 

And in response to @roadstar_na6, the locomotive was at Omiya Workshops for maintenance in June this year - there are photos of it running on the Workshops test line on the Railway Museum's Facebook page. Without knowing more at this stage, I'd say @katoftw's suggestion that the C58 will be relocated to Takasaki to join the D51 and C61 already based there would be very reasonable.