The Resort Saloon Festa was a charter-only service run by a converted KiHa 58 series diesel multiple unit operated by the West Japan Railway Company from July 1988 to November 2001.
The Resort Saloon Festa was conceived in the 1980s as a Joyful Train which could be used in the Hiroshima Area. JR's Hatabu Works (now Shimonoseki Works) was thus assigned to convert surplus KiHa 58 series cars into a charter train. Hatabu Works decided to take KiHa 58 295, 28 2056 and 58 135 and convert them into a new train; the cars received the numbers KiRo 59 552, KiRo 29 553 and KiRo 59 553 respectively.
The resulting train was named the Resort Saloon Festa, colloquially known as the Festa, which entered service on 26 July 1988 on the temporary Blue Liner service. It would then be used for special services in the Hiroshima area, particularly on charter-only and temporary services. As the train saw use, its age began to show, and after thirteen years was withdrawn from service with a special Goodbye Festa service.
After the set's withdrawal, the Festa was intended to have been sold to the State Railways of Thailand for no charge. However, due to the intense aging of the train wearing away at parts, the deal ultimately fell through and the train never left Japan. The Festa was then struck from the roster on 25 July 2003 and scrapped in February 2004. The cab of KiRo 59 553 (ex-KiHa 58 135) is privately preserved in a house in Nagato, Yamaguchi.
Design[]
The Festa featured a streamlined design with a smooth raked front end and large windshields. The set's cabs were notably different from most, featuring a carp like design with two gray banana-shaped implements resembling that of pursed lips and four headlights; two top mounted headlights for better visibility and two smaller headlights resembling the carp's eyes. The cars are painted white with green and blue accents. The windshield portion of the cab cars is actually reused from the mold used for the windshield of the observation car of the Super Express Rainbow loco-hauled Joyful Train to reduce costs.
Construction is of steel. Performance statistics are largely identical to that of the KiHa 58 series cars these were converted from; this article will still detail some additional statistics about the cars.
As mentioned earlier, the ends of the cars feature a unique shape resembling that of a carp, with two banana-shaped implements resembling a carp's mouth and two headlights resembling its eyes. The bottom part of the mouth was attached onto two metal arms attached to the side of the car, with the arms moving the mouth, allowing it to open and close. With the mouth opened, two speakers and an LED screen were exposed; this LED screen flashed various service names and other things. The speakers worked in tandem with the mouth; the train could play a pre-recorded voice track when the mouth opened, with the driver moving the mouth in sync with the pre-recorded voice track.
The cab cars featured two sections: a "high decker"-style observation section holding some 8 people, and a general guest section just behind it holding 36. The seats are reclining seats arranged in four rows and can be rotated at 45 degree intervals. AV equipment like a karaoke set, video equipment and TV monitors are installed at both ends of the general guest sections. The intermediate car acts as a common room, with a café lounge and a mini-theater. In the lounge, three U-shaped mini sofas are installed, with a drinks counter located at one corner; the mini-theater is carpeted and features different AV equipment from those in the general guest cabins in the cab cars.
