Usui Pass

The modern National Route 18, which goes through the pass, serves as a major link between the popular tourist spot Karuizawa and the Kantō plain (including Tokyo).

The Usui Pass is the home course of drift racer Keiichi Tsuchiya[citation needed].

The 11.2 km pass segment, between Yokokawa Station on the Gunma side and Karuizawa Station on the Nagano side, had been operated with the rack-and-pinion railway system until 1963 when the line was rebuilt and new locomotives for non-rack operation were introduced.

The new locomotives were the JNR Class EF63 banking engines used for help in both ascending and descending the 6.7% (1 in 15) gradient line.

A link to archival footage of the rack railway operation is available here The prior-1963 line was featured in the Rail Wars!