The Tohoku Choo-choo!

Above, the reitred locomotive before restoration. Photo by LERK via Wikimedia.

Here's something I really wouldn't mind riding since I am a fan of steam locomotives (regarding the headline for this blog post, I couldn't resist).

The Asahi Shimbun reported:

HANAMAKI, Iwate Prefecture--A steam locomotive built in 1940 came out of retirement after 42 years on April 12, aiming to prop up local tourism and heighten interest in recovery efforts from the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011. 

Named “SL (steam locomotive) Ginga,” the locomotive-driven train runs on a 90.2-kilometer route on the JR Kamaishi Line, which connects Kamaishi, in coastal Iwate Prefecture, which was devastated by the disaster, and Hanakami in the inland. 

East Japan Railway Co. restored the C58-239 model steamer, which was retired in 1972 and preserved at a park in Morioka, at the company’s maintenance factory in Saitama.

To read more, go here.