Fairy Tale Train

The Seibu Yamaguchi Line started life in 1950 as an amusement park ride called the Otogi Ressha, or Fairy Tale Train, and officially became a railway in 1952. These unusual class B11 battery-powered trains operated on the line alongside small steam engines until 1984 when the line was converted into the rubber-tyred people mover that still operates today. This particular unit, B15, was built in 1960 and now sits on display in Tokorozawa at a newly-developed shopping mall that sits on the site of the old Seibu Railway Tokorozawa Works rolling stock factory that closed in 2000.