Train Fans Get to the Results of Their Crowd-funded Preservation Efforts

Video footage taken on Feb. 11 in Fukuchi, Fukuoka Prefecture, shows a train aficionado being taught how to operate a Kiha 2004 series diesel-engine train owned by Heisei Chikuho Railway Co. during a hands-on learning experience offered at Kanada Station after a crowd-funding project organized by railway fans saved the vehicle from being scrapped. Video footage taken on Feb. 10 at Kita-Kumamoto Station in the city of Kumamoto shows other railway fans who have joined a different crowd-funded restoration project inspecting a first-generation Tokyu 5000 series electric train that served on a Kumamoto Electric Railway route until two years ago. Due to their contributions, the train is being restored and repainted to its original color that earned it the nickname “green frog.” The video footage was taken by Shigeo Obata and Ayumi Sugiyama of The Asahi Shimbun.