Center for Railroad Photography & Art
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • Threads
  • YouTube
  • About Us
  • Archival Collections
    • About the Archive
    • Browse Collections
    • Donate Materials
    • Image Use & Research
    • Out of the Archives Column
  • Events & Programs
    • Conferences
    • Awards
    • Webinars
  • Exhibitions
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Railroad Heritage
  • Join & Support
    • Membership
    • Ways of Giving
    • Legacy Society
    • Newsletter
View Cart
  • About Us
  • Archival Collections
    • About the Archive
    • Browse Collections
    • Donate Materials
    • Image Use & Research
    • Out of the Archives Column
  • Events & Programs
    • Conferences
    • Creative Photography Awards
    • Webinars
  • Exhibitions
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Railroad Heritage
  • Join & Support
    • Membership
    • Ways of Giving
    • Legacy Society
    • Newsletter
View Cart
    • Facebook
    • Flickr
    • Instagram
    • Threads
    • YouTube

The Iron Road to the Deep North: Japanese Railways of Hokkaido, Then and Now

Wednesday, January 6, 2021
7:00-8:00 P.M. (U.S. Central), on Cisco Webex

Now Available on YouTube
Victor Hand traveled to Hokkaido, Japan’s northern island, in 1966 and 1971 in search of steam locomotives.
 
Scott Lothes lived in Hokkaido from 2005 to 2007 where he taught English and rode trains all over the island. His presentation uses Hand’s photography, which is now part of the Center’s collection, as well as Lothes’s more recent views, to explore Hokkaido and its fascinating railways. The tracks cling to rugged coastlines, climb spectacular mountains, and have undergone many changes in the decades between Hand’s and Lothes’s visits.
 
Lothes, President and Executive Director of the Center for Railroad Photography & Art, joined the Center’s staff in 2008. He is a regular contributor to Trains, Railfan and Railroad, and other railroad publications, with more than fifty bylined articles and some 500 photographs in print.
 
This event is free.
A Japanese National Railways D52 locomotive steams south with a freight train at Onuma, Hokkaido, in January 1971 beneath snow-covered Komagatake. Photograph by Victor Hand, Hand-JNR-C18-01.
 
A JR Hokkaido “Super Hokuto” Limited Express train rolls along Uchiura (“Volcano”) Bay near Date, Hokkaido, in June 2007 with Komagatake in the background at left. Photograph by Scott Lothes.
←Keep in touch with CRP&A postcards
Winter 2021: Postcards, Hallock, Stanley→

RECENT posts

  • Introducing our new site

    Introducing our new site

  • PBS Wisconsin program: Railroads of Madison and South Central Wisconsin

    PBS Wisconsin program: Railroads of Madison and South Central Wisconsin

  • Spring 2026: Freedom Train, Hudson Highlands, Travels with Don, and more

    Spring 2026: Freedom Train, Hudson Highlands, Travels with Don, and more

Center for Railroad Photography & Art

Our mission: to preserve and present significant images of railroading.

(608) 251-5785
info [at] railphoto-art.org
1930 Monroe Street, Suite 301
Madison, WI 53711-2059

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • Threads
  • YouTube

Become a member

Browse collections

Make a gift

shop books

Subscribe to newsletter

Railfans ride a Mid-Continent Railway Museum caboose in North Freedom, Wisconsin, in May 1963. Photograph by John Gruber, Gruber-05-021-0003

©2026, Center for Railroad Photography & Art