Kushiro station - Nemuro-Shibetsu station steam train line

C11 171

Hokkaido Railway Company
1940 - 1975
Restored : Apr 1999
C11-171 was manufactured at the Kawasaki Sharyo Co. serial No. 2333, on the 19th of July 1940.
Her first deployment was to the Nagoya area and afterward she was moved to the Hokkaido Fukagawa depot during WW2. Later, C11-171 was active in the Hokkaido area.
During July 1974, she was moved to Kushiro depot, and was active on the Shibetsu line. However, Shibetsu line was dieselized on the 25th of April 1975. She was retired on the 25th of June 1975, and was preserved at the Sakura Kids Park in Shibecha town near Kushiro city.

During November 1998, JR-Hokkaido planned restortion of steam train service. Therefore, C11-171 was restored at the Naebo workshop. Her restoration was completed during April 1999, and she started steam train service as the "SL Suzuran (Lily of valley)."



Nemuro-Shibetsu station
Photo ;
The end of the Shibetsu line,Nemuro-Shibetsu station. This station building was also dismantled after the line closed.

The farthest East railway in Hokkaido, Shibetsu line, also saw the last C11 ran line in Japan. During it's last days, six (No. 171, 176, 209, 224, 227 and 274) of C11s survived at the Kushiro depot for Shibetsu line operations.
However, after dieselization, Shibetsu line was still in the red, so it was closed by the 30th of April 1989.


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