Hokusei Miruto

[Nick_Burman]

 

 

B6 action on the Hokusei Miruto coal mine railway in Hokkaido. One of the locos (#2719) in the film is running as a 0-6-4T.

 

 

Cheers NB

[Sacto1985]

Thanks for the awesome videos! 

 

If I remember correctly, JNR didn't phase out steam locomotive operations until (I think) 1976! That's why we were able to save a fairly large number of JNR Class D51 locomotives--including two still functional units, 200 and 498.

[marknewton]

VERY interesting videos, Nick. I love the scenes of the volcano-like departure from Miruto in the second video, with the fireman putting on a big dirty fire, and the loco marshalled in the middle of the train. I always wondered why their brakevans had headlights! 

 

I don't think No.2719 is a one-off conversion. There were 24 engines in the (second) 2700 class, built 1911 by Shimbashi, Nagano and Hamamatsu works. It would be interesting to know whether they were actually new-build locos, or conversions from existing B6 0-6-2s. Given their origin, I suspect they were conversions, any thoughts?

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[DanMacK]

Just discovered these in searching for info on the Manji line.  Excellent vids, thanks!

[Davo Dentetsu]

That channel is an amazing thing in itself.  So many classic movies to see.

[westfalen]

Just found this myself, was on holidays when they were posted.

 

That while this was happening on Hokkaido you could ride a Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka highlights how much old and new railway technology can overlap.