C11 on Hokkaido - last excursion train of the winter

Check the train whistle at about 2:45 in.

I rode this train in February 2006. I made the return trip to Kushiro on the open platform of the four wheeled car behind the engine, it was freezing but a great ride.

That plate girder bridge over the Kushiro River is one of the most famous "otachidai" (railfan photographer hotspots) in Hokkaido.  Though it was perhaps a bit more appealing back when C58 types at the front were the norm on freight and passenger trains going to Abashiri or Nemuro, up until the early 70's.  Nowadays you'll get kiha 54 and 40, plus the occasional excusion trains (diesel or steam) like the one here.  No more freight, alas.

*when I lived in Nemuro, I would often take the train into Kushiro.  The rumbling sound crossing this bridge would revive me from my often somnolent state, induced by the long (2.5 hour) journey in a rocking and rolling single car 54 unit- back then the 54's had "lively" spring coil bogies, rather than the bolsterless air cushion ones today.

Here's the video of my trip from Kushiro to Shibecha and back behind C11 207 in February 2006. Part 1 is the trip from Kushiro to Shibeca, part 2 is shunting the train and servicing the engine at Shibeca, part 3 is the return trip to Kushiro. Once I found the little 4 wheel car at the end of the train I abandoned my reserved seat, apart from the end platforms being closed off at the sides to stop people falling out the car seemed to have had nothing done to it since it was in regular service, so it was easy to imagine being on a branchline local back in the 60's. The old guy in the car was giving commentary on local items of interest along the line. Your Japan Railpass won't get you on a Nozomi but it can get you onto some interesting rides.