I visited “Niji-no-Sato” which is in Izu Peninsula of Shizuoka Prefecture last Saturday.
Niji-no-Sato
Word to word translation is Village(s) (or Town(s)) of Rainbow, though I found some brochures in English say Park of Rainbow, which describe the reality..
http://nijinosato.com/english/index.html
This contains a photo of the steam locomotives in the shed and a shot from the lineside though with no train against the background of Mt.Fuji. These spots are not open to public and a friend of mine ran a photo tour including these spots. There were of course no run-bys.
The tour leader selected a day in January, because the weather on the Pacific Coast in winter is almost always fine with clear sky. However it was heavily overcast unfortunately and Mt. Fuji was not seen.
The park opened on 1st April 1990. The track is about 2.4km long and of dog-bone shape.
The steam locomotives are as follows,
Cumbria: Made by Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway in 1992
Northern Rock II: Made Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway in 1989
Ernest W. Twining : ?? I found two pieces of information
-Guest Engineering in 1950
-Niji-no-Sato says it was made by the Fairbourne Railway in 1949
C11328: Made by the Kanazawa Institute of Technology in 1995
The loco on duty was Northern Rock II.
Japan_1071 From left to right, Ernest W. Twining, Cumbria and Northern Rock II
Japan_5730. Ernest W. Twining
Japan_5770. Cumbria and Northern Rock II
Japan_1186 Passing by the shed
Japan_6063 Arriving at the British Village station wish unusual puffing
Japan_6077 An S-curve at mid-point of the two stations
Japan_6175 C11328 The prototype is made by Nippon Sharyo 1419 made in 1946. Unfortunately it was scrapped.
Japan_6219 The blow down before entering the shed
