Steam Locomotive Excursion

Maibara to Kinomoto - Shiga Prefecture

February 15, 2004

In February each year the Japan Railway (JR) offers special Steam Locomotive (SL) excursions near Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture. The special train takes a 50-55 minute trip from Maibara to Kinomoto on the JR Hokuriku Line. It was a 1:30 train ride from Kobe to get to Maibara on a Special Rapid (fastest) normal train. While the weather in Kobe was good, in the Maibara area it was terrible with heavy rain and snow fluries most of the day. Dozens of Japanese railfans and photographers were seen along the route. It was tough to get good pictures of the train because of the weather and large crowd on the platforms. On the return trip to Kobe I took the Shinkansen (bullet train) from Maibara to Osaka. In Osaka, I stopped at the Kato Exhibition Center and shop, and the Hankyu department store model train section, my first visit to each.

MOW Equipment - Ashiya
SL C56160 Special - Maibara
Railfans and Photographers along the Route
SL C56160 Special - Kinomoto
Return Trip to Kobe