Kanaya Station
The next day I headed over earlyish to Kanaya station, where I would take a little single car one-man train to Senzu. This is also where Nadeshiko begins her journey. But unfortunately that line had sustained some typhoon damage, and could only take me part of the way there. A bus service was in place to fill in the gaps though. The new timetables hadn’t been updated on google maps though, so if you’re travelling around in the countryside I highly recommend using a Japanese navigation service such as Navitime to avoid any mishaps with weird timetables.
Exiting the JR station, to the right is the entrance to the Oigawa Line since it’s ran by a Oigawa Railways, a private company. And that’s the first shot.
I entered the tiny station building and bought my ticket.
I was a little early so I had to wait a bit for my train, but eventually it arrived.
The train they were using was different to the one in the anime though.
I got off at Ieyama, where the train was terminating due to the aforementioned typhoon damage, and where I would take my bus to Senzu.
While I was there a retro looking train rolled past.
And, to my absolute shock, Thomas the Tank Engine himself.
I remembered in the anime that they mentioned that they run lots of retro and steam trains up and down this line, but seeing Thomas really caught me off guard.
Senzu
The bus took a little while but eventually reached Senzu.
Both Rin, Ayano and Nadeshiko have some screentime here.
I spotted the pork belly skewer place opposite the station immediately and since it was lunch time, I was super hungry.
There was lots of Yuru Camp promo around the stand too.
The guy behind the counter was a little old and I asked him before taking lots of photos. The skewers were BIG though.
After I finished my skewer, I headed over to the nearby museum to try the dam curry.
It was a very short walk from the station.
Unfortunately the restaurant was closed that day, but there was lots of Yuru Camp stuff up so I still took some photos.
I left and got me some kawane tea soft serve for dessert.
I took a few more shots out and around the station.
Until it was almost time for my next train. I entered the station and waited a little bit.
At the station there was a Love Live x Yuru Camp collab poster. Personally I’m not a fan of Love Live, but it’s cool to see the collab.
Inside the station there were lots more Thomas themed trains.
This is also the point where if you want to go further up the mountain by train, you have to switch to the cute and tiny ABT trains. One of them was also in a Thomas theme.
I got on the train and it slowly departed. When going over the level crossing there was a small crowd to take lots of photos, like it was some sort of event.
On the way out I tried to get this shot a suspension bridge.
At many of the stations there were also crowds of people with their cameras out.
The ride was slow and bumpy, but you can see why this special sort of train had to be in use for this sort of terrain.
It was mainly single track too, which meant every few stations there would be two tracks to allow a train to pass in the opposite direction.
Although it was mainly a tourist train line, I could see locals getting on and off for the surrounding residential areas.
When the train got to a nice view point, the driver would slow it down and give some commentary. Not that I could understand any of it lol.
Eventually we reached the ABT Ichishiro station. This is where the track gets so steep, a larger locomotive with cog and teeth traction connects to the smaller train, and pushes it up the hill.
You can see it from the drivers cab in the middle.
And like they say in the anime, it’s a bit of an event for the passengers, so they often climb out the train to watch it happen.
A close up of the track with the teeth.
In the anime, Nadeshiko gets off here and heads to the campsite, but because I had lots of time to spare, I decided to go all the way to Okuoi Kojo, a very picturesque station that is right in the middle of a sharp bend of the Okuoi river.
The train departed and the new locomotive pushed us up the steep hill.
After going through a tunnel, we exited onto a viaduct into the valley where the campsite and dam is located.
There were a few people waving at us on the train, which was cute, so I waved back.
Turning a corner, the train slowed and we got a brilliant view of the dam.
I’d explore this place later though, I stayed on the train until Okuoi Kojo.
Tom's Blog 
I’m loving your blog – and very much hoping to follow in (some) of your footsteps later this year when I’m back in Japan! I look forward to part two of this series. 😊
P.S. Some of your photos are incredibly similar to the anime!
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