Susono is the name of a beautiful small town at the base of Mt. Fuji. The name literally means "Field at the Foot of the Mountains". Susono is near an area called Hakkone about 90 minutes south of Tokyo, one of Japan's most beautiful and most visited lake regions.
In the shadows of Fuji and the surrounding Japan countryside, Mr. Katsumata has established the Nihon Teien Tetsudo (nee-hone tay-en teh tsu doh) railway. Translated as Japan Garden Railway, it has more in common with a park than it does a garden. Katsumata-san has established the railway for the benefit of live steamers everywhere, for the benefit of the people in the area, and certainly for his personal enjoyment. Katsumata-san is the President and owner of a dental care facility in the area.
Not surprisingly, Wada-san is one of the major forces behind the establishment of the facility and the associated club. Wada-san is the chairman of the club, and he and his sons built the entire railway. It took them only ten days to build the entire structure and lay rail, with a couple of additional weekends to lay additional track and make final tweaks. Close to 1200 meters (4000 feet) of track is in use. The structure is built of redwood from Canada, treated with additional preservatives against moisture and the weather.
The layout consists of two very large double track loops, surrounded by a loop-to-loop mainline. A large steel turntable makes for a high volume steamup area, and a large 12'-15' bridge detours the mainline next to a restaurant located next to the railroad. All tracks are connected through turnouts and yard ladders allowing for many trains to be operated at once.
This is the largest and main loop.
This secondary loop is just slightly shorter than the main loop, and
includes dual tracks surrounded by a mainline loop that heads back to
the main loop.
This photo shows the construction techniques used.
This liftout bridge provides access to a storage and utility
shed.
This pit provides flood control for the area, and has been spanned by
this bridge which allows restaurant patrons to enjoy the trains right
at their tables.
The For Rest (For rest) restaurant enjoys heavy patronage on schedule
steaming days.
Katsumata-san and Aster have placed this display case, magazines, and
Aster catalogs in the restaurant to provide information about the
hobby.
This is the utility and storage shed.
Katsumata-san stores many of his locomotives here.
Katsumata-san uses these transport cars to shuttle locomotives and
rolling stock back and forth between the storage shed and the steamup
area.
Wada-san enjoys the main line.
Several locomotives were actively being steamed most of the day.
Katsumata-san is on the right.
A common site at any good steamup!
An Aster mogul ready for the main line.
An idyllic setting for a public live steam facility.
On a clear day, Mt. Fuji towers over this already magnificent
scene.
As usual, Wada-san was full of surprises. Here, Wada-san works on a
very unique locomotive he restored, a DB 61001. He received it in a
state of disrepair and now has it back in shape.
DB 61001.
Wada's big surprise. This is a finescale Burlington Zephyr powered by
Wada-san's "diesel electric" technology identical to that used in the
GP9.
The Daylight paces the Zephyr. The Zephyr is very quiet, owing to
available space for a large muffler. As with the GP9, four axles are
powered.
More setting of land speed records! The Zephyr is capable of extreme
speeds.
Wada Works will produce 25 of these units and they will be available
in the US through Potomac Steam Industries. Contact
Scott McDonald at PSI for more information.
Here Wada-san takes advantage of the second loop for a few laps
before heading back to the main loop.
Where it all comes together...
Katsumata-san has the longest rake of scale Japanese freight cars
that I've ever seen.
Poetry.
An elegant locomotive, the Aster SNCF 232 U1.
Each of these locomotives put in a strong performance sometime during
the day.