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Kushiro Shitsugen NP, Hokkaido
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On Oct. 10, 2026, the Norokko made its final run after carrying about 2.35 million riders since 1989. At Tōro, locals sent it off with a choir, mascots, flags and cookies made with Shibecha milk.
The onboard counter sold Shibecha craft beer made with local skim-milk powder. Students at Shibecha High School chose its playful name, giving this train ride a distinctly local dairy-and-school connection.
The inaugural 3-car set was assembled from railway stock: a passenger coach, a converted open freight wagon and a guard’s van. The cars had previously served as the Yū-Yū Train event set.
JR staff coined “Norokko” by blending noronoro (“slowly”) with torokko (“trolley”). The train debuted on June 24, 1989, and JR later marked June 24 as its birthday.
In winter 1990, the original Kushiro Norokko cars got a second assignment: they ran as the Okhotsk Drift-Ice Norokko between Shari and Abashiri, trading wetland views for sea ice.
On the journey back to Kushiro, the locomotive stayed coupled at the rear and pushed. A driver’s cab in the leading observation car guided the train—a clever way to reverse direction without turning the locomotive around.
When the replacement coaches arrived in 1998, their windows were enlarged for nature viewing. Observation cars paired 6-seat box groups with 2-seat benches whose backs moved so riders could face either way.
The old Iwabokki sluice beside the route was built in 1927–31 after the New Kushiro River channel was made. It diverted ordinary flows into the old river for timber transport and navigation; today it is civil-engineering heritage.
Just after Kushiro-Shitsugen Station, the rails cross a small hill—the route’s brief chance to look down over the marsh and winding Kushiro River instead of viewing them at wetland level.
