Round objects attached to the windshield of snowplows look like eyeballs and faces

JNR Type Ki550 freight car on display at the Otaru Museum — JNR Type Ki550 freight car

Walking along the tracks where no trains run anymore, I arrived at the Otaru Museum. This museum was built on the site of the former Temiya Station of the former Japan National Railways (JNR) Temiya Line. Without doing any preliminary research, I entered the museum simply because it was located at the end of the abandoned railroad line that I was walking along, but it was surprisingly spacious, with several actual trains and carriages on display on the remaining railway tracks.

The first thing that caught my eye in the spacious museum was the old locomotive depot. The brick garage is lovely and looks like a model train set. But these are not just pretty. Locomotive Depot No. 3 on the right is the oldest existing locomotive depot in Japan. The turntable in front of the garage is also nice. It is a facility used to change the direction of steam locomotives, but it overflows with a base-like atmosphere that tickles the childish heart of a middle-aged man.

My forgotten childishness reached its climax when I stood in front of a JNR Ki550 freight car on display next to the garage. The round thing attached to the windshield of the cab of the double track snowplow looked like an eyeball, and once I thought so, it no longer looked like a face. The steel vehicle was transforming itself into a robot, making noises inside me.

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