Mooka Railway is one of railfan destinations around Tokyo with weekend steam operations. It uses 1933-built C1266, 2-6-2 tank, 50.1 tons, for its steam operations. C1266 operated on several of JNR’s rural lines all over Japan and was withdrawn in 1972 after having run close to 2 million kilometers. It was on display then at a town in Fukushima prefecture about 100 km north of Mooka, but in 1991, was acquired by the Mooka Railway who intended to start steam operations to enhance its business by attracting tourists and railfans. It was restored at JR Omiya workshop and was put into revenue service in January 1994.

The Mooka Railway is located about 60 km north of Tokyo. The railway originated in 1988 as a third sector railway, taking over the former nation-owned Mooka line that was discontinued as a result of privatization of the JNR. It runs along a 41.9 km route between Shimodate on the JR Mito line and Motegi. The area the line serves is a typical Japanese rural region stretching around the easternmost part of the Kanto Plain, Tochigi prefecture. The railway was named after Mooka city on the line, where its headquarters and depot are located. Another distinctive town along the line is Mashiko, which is well known for its intensive pottery industry.

People in the region tend to travel by automobile, or by buses, which frequently operate to Utsunomiya, prefectural capital about 30 km west of the line. Under these circumstances, steam operations are very important for the railway company and the region to gather tourists, and thus activating the region’s community activity.

The steam service is on every Saturday and Sunday throughout the year, and on particular days during busy tourist seasons, offering a 2 hours and 20 minutes steam ride in each direction. In the service, the C12-66 hauls 3 coaches, two Oha-50s plus one Ohafu-50 in their dark brown livery, purchased from JR East upon the commencement of steam service in 1994.

The Type C12 was developed in 1932 to be used for short work on newly built lightly-traveled lines in provincial areas. This is the second lightest steam engine ever built in Japan following C56, 2-6 type developed in 1935. 293 C12s were built in total in the 16 years between 1932 and 1947.

The photos contained in this page were taken when I went to Mooka, joining a JRS tour group from the UK in April this year.

C11325 has been working in Mooka Railway’s steam service since November 1998. It entered the Mooka’s steam fleet after having been restored at JR Omiya workshop, requiring about one year. The C11325, type C11 2-6-4 tank, was built in 1946 by Nippon Sharyo and had worked until 1973 mostly for the national railway’s passenger service on less-traveled branch lines.

The photos below were taken in September 1999, when I revisited the Railway.