Japan's Oldest Steam Train Retires After 101 Years
When we get tired, lose our energy or enthusiasm and can't go on anymore, we can say we've "run out of steam," just like a steam train that hasn't got enough fuel to keep moving.
You could say that Japan's oldest working steam train has itself run out of steam.
However, it's not a shortage of fuel that has seen the country's 101-year-old train taken off the rails. It had become too difficult to repair.
Known as SL Hitoyoshi, it was completed in November 1922 and first traveled in Nagasaki prefecture.
When it took its last trip on March 23 this year, people came out to wave and take pictures. Some said they were sad to see the train make its final journey.
That last trip was from Hakata station in Fukuoka to Kumamoto, the steam still drifting into the sky above as it had done a century before.
Although Japan is known for its high-speed trains, steam trains are still popular, and there are some others still operating.
In its last year, almost 36,000 passengers rode on SL Hitoyoshi, on the line between Kumamoto and Hitoyoshi station.
Not since 2011 had this number of passengers traveled on the train.
It's actually not the first time that SL Hitoyoshi has retired, as it has twice come out of retirement before.
It was first taken off the tracks in 1975 but returned in 1988. It then ran until 2005 when it retired again but train fans wanted it back and it returned in 2009.
Those who would still like to travel by steam train will be happy to hear that another sightseeing steam train began operating again at the start of May in Yamaguchi.
