ＳＬ修理で基金設立　明治村、動態保存に寄付募る―愛知

　国の重要文化財に指定される明治時代の建築物などを展示する公益財団法人「博物館明治村」（愛知県犬山市）はこのほど、施設内を走る蒸気機関車（ＳＬ）２両を維持するための基金を設立した。明治期のＳＬが現役で走っているのは全国的にも珍しく、貴重な動態展示を今後も続けるため寄付を呼び掛ける。
　２両のＳＬは、１８７４（明治７）年に輸入されて鉄道開業当初の新橋―横浜間などを走った英国製の１２号と、大正から昭和にかけて富士身延鉄道（富士―富士宮）などで活躍した米国製の９号。施設内の約７００メートルを１日１２往復しており、片道大人５００円で約５分の乗車が体験できる。
　動態展示を続けるには数年に一度、解体を伴う大規模修理が必要で、従来は入館料収入などで費用を賄っていた。１２号は修理を終えたところで、９号は２０２２年から修理に入る予定。
　年５回は訪れるというＳＬ愛好家の名古屋市の山本高英さん（７０）は「動く状態で保存されているのは非常に貴重。（施設の）年間会員になるくらいしか支援できなかったので、ぜひ寄付したい」と話した。
　寄付は１口１万円からで、目標は１０００万円。寄付額に応じてポストカードやレールを使った文鎮、撮影会など特別イベントへの招待といった返礼品を用意する。（2020/10/18-07:24）

A Meiji era-themed open-air museum in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, has launched a fund to seek donations for the preservation of two old steam locomotives that run on its premises.
   One of the locomotives kept at the Meiji Mura museum in the city of Inuyama is among the very few Meiji-era locomotives still running. The museum is home to many buildings that were constructed during the era, which lasted from 1868 to 1912, and have been designated as important cultural assets by the Japanese government.
   Of the two, the "No. 12" steam locomotive, manufactured in Britain and imported to Japan in 1874, or the seventh year of the Meiji era, served on Japan's first rail line, between Shinbashi station in Tokyo and Yokohama station, south of Tokyo. The U.S.-made "No. 9" locomotive was used mainly between Fuji and Fujinomiya stations in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, on what is now the Minobu Line of Central Japan Railway Co. , or JR Tokai, during the Taisho era, which followed the Meiji era, and the subsequent Showa era.
   The locomotives make 12 round trips on an approximately 700-meter track in the museum a day, and a one-way ride on carriages pulled by the locomotives, taking roughly five minutes, costs 500 yen per adult.
   The locomotives must undergo major maintenance work requiring disassembling every few years in order for them to remain in operation. Such work had been paid for through the museum's admission fee revenue. The No. 12 locomotive has recently received maintenance work, while the No. 9 locomotive is set to undergo its next maintenance from 2022.