In Kiryuu's Oka Park, there is a steam locomotive (SL). Built in 1934, it travelled the
tracks of the National Railroad's Ashio Line until October, 1968. In 1970 Kiryuu City
borrowed it from the Takazaki Railway Administrative Office for exhibit in Oka Park.
Since then, the eight members of the SL Fan Club, part of the JR Old Boy's Network -
Kiryuu Local (Branch leader Syuichi Ishihara) and headed by Yoshio Sugiyama, have held a
railway event called "Boiler Polishing" in the park twice yearly, once before
the cherry trees bloom and again on October 14, Railroad Day. |