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railsquid's random Japanese train photos
railsquid replied to railsquid's topic in Japan Rail: Pictures & Videos
After more than a decade of development, the new east-west underground passage at Shinjuku is slowly taking shape (new stairway from the Yamanote Line platform): -
Ah OK, I just recall hearing complaints about the mechanical reliability of the Lima model. Exposing model trains to direct sunlight is not a good idea anyway.
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slow down....😉 Bachmann is "toy like", so out of games but Kato and Lima are both good choices for me, obviously Kato mechanically is the top, but the Lima nose form, the bogies details, the orange color is better (Kato is too flashy orange, simplified boogies and nose cone curve don't match the real, if you don't trust me you can try to find old numbers of french magazines like Loco Revue, RMF and Voies Ferrees with Kato Vs Lima comparison) Kato loco rooftop is better detailed, but pantograph is the first thing too simple to broken (and far to be like the real Faiveley AMDE-AM55U) instead Lima insulator between intermediate cars is better than Kato is hard to find, but the last Lima release (Minitrains) has been improved, better motor (but still far from Kato), improved painting and pantograph (Sommerfeldt), boogie with pneumatic suspension and R4-Bar with new windows layout. and don't forget that kato orange paint is "photosensitive", with the sunlight you obtain a dual face train, half orange and half "yellow" Lima is not so hard to improve, pizza cutter wheels can be changed with Benno axels and with milling machine is simple to adapt the Kato TMST chassis to Lima loco (in the past was available a perfect reproduction of real pantos by Carmina, but now are impossible to find, was a good spare parts for Kato and Lima) The Eurostar TMST have only one problem, the real composition is really long and Kato still continue to sell only one type of add-on set with buffet car so, if you want all the 18 intermedite cars you need to buy not 3 but 4 sets and use only the second class cars (2 buffet and 2 first class are for "spares".... or bin) p.s. @Martijn, I don't know if really Kato planned to re-release the PSE, the PBA/PBKA - Duplex - Reseau family can be expanded for years with only "license" and repaint, 10-12 livery for now... (PSE need too many moulds to rebuild to obtain the real train, one mould set is not enough to reproduce the various steps of PSE evolution, today a simple fake repaint like the PSE ligne du Coeur is unacceptable) ciao Massimo
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Being a lubricant really is a big plus on the trolly pole/pantograph to catenary connection! did you ever try a graphite block on your model trolly poles? They were o scale right? jeff
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I suppose the main factor for working out the return curve radius will be how many people you will need to operate the layout (fitting in the operating well), as well as size of fiddle yard. Apologies if I am stating the obvious here and my rambling below! Certainly the Shinkansen, and to an extent the Tokaido main line lend themselves to automatic operation (DC or DCC), with the suburban line automation also achievable with the station stop, so in theory your operator numbers at shows are governed by the logistics of erecting and dismantling. How many fiddle yard tracks on each circuit are you planning? I saw your comments about not being confident with making points for the 3'6" tracks, but suspect you would need at least one loop per track circuit, if for no other reason than to give a train a rest. Some of my stock I used on a previous 16' exhibition layout had to work hard at shows, especially if some of the operators weren't feeling adventurous and a train did multiple circuits. 40 circuits over a weekend (easily achievable) equates to quarter of a mile(!). Some of my Chuo line workhorses have literally done (real) miles in their careers. On your mock up, it looks like the Shinkansen is the inner circuit, so not only will that take the brunt of the wear on the tightest radius curves, but also they will require a wider radius curve than the more conventional units, such as the E231s, which will affect the width for your return boards. They will also be the inner lines of the fiddle yard from the operating well, so if you plan to swap the trains on the Tokaido and local lines, you'll be reaching over the Shinkansen. You may also need to look at track levels in the fiddle yard - the Shinkansen on the plan is slightly higher level, but for ease of access in the yard will probably need to be the lowest level. I was planning a similar type urban layout for a few years (although not the correct gauge, which will be very impressive), and came across all of these things when looking at the fiddle yard design. Still thinking about it, but limited space and lots of other ideas always seem to hamper my grand plans! As I said, you may know this already, but hopefully something in these musings may be beneficial.
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I found the information on the liquid graphite used by modelers on the trolley wire. The product is called Lock-Ease Graphited Lock Fluid (the word "fluid" is important). It turns out to have been on a Yahoo Group, and all Yahoo Groups are gone now, so that knowledge base has disappeared into the ether. But it is still referenced and summarized on an Australian discussion group here: http://www.railpage.com.au/f-p1330269.htm The trolley club used it very sparingly, applying it with a Q-tip on just a short section of overhead trolley wire here and there, and then letting the trolley poles spread the graphite around even more thinly. This agrees with the MRH article about too much graphite being a negative. I agree, Jeff, that on rails it might reduce traction a bit. How it might affect traction tires, friction-wise and chemically, is another consideration. By the way, real trolley pole shoes contain a replaceable, wearable graphite block that rubs along the trolley wire. Likewise, real pantographs have long, replaceable graphite strips on them to make contact. Rich K.
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Can one get the same with the 5722 sound box plus the 5518 controller?
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Kato - New Releases
cteno4 replied to Darren Jeffries's topic in New Releases & Product Announcements
Yeah chicken and the egg! After maybe a month when I got a portram whe it first came out I tired to get a spare motor bogie and they were already sold out! At the time I wanted one as when I got mine I realized they would be superb to power little mow equipment, but later realized trying to repair the innards one was not easy at all like a regular motor chassis! jeff -
Hi Drunkenclam, Thank you very much. It is so strange you should mention Harajuku, that is the station I was originally going to model. It is such a beautiful station and the Imperial Platform makes it truly unique. I decided to change when I started converting trains to 7.1mm, mainly because there is a set of points in front of the station (at the time I didn't feel confident enough to have hand built points on scene) and I felt having Shinkansen lines would help emphasis the different gauges. I would still love to attempt it one day however it would not be small! There will be curved boards at each end to bring the tracks around to the fiddle yard. At the moment I am still not 100% sure how I am going to do it. I might actually post a couple of options and ask the forum for advise. My current thinking is something like this: Joe
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Kato - New Releases
gavino200 replied to Darren Jeffries's topic in New Releases & Product Announcements
I just tried that. No joy. -
The Eurostar e320 are based on the Velaro, rather than the TGV platform. It made a little ruckus in France when Eurostar chose a Siemens product over an Alstom.
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Kato - New Releases
roadstar_na6 replied to Darren Jeffries's topic in New Releases & Product Announcements
HobbySearch usually has the Assy Parts under the same search term. -
Kato - New Releases
gavino200 replied to Darren Jeffries's topic in New Releases & Product Announcements
Dumb question. But how do you do that? I'd need the assy part number to order one. But if I wait until I get mine to read the part number off the sheet, they're already sold out. Any solution? -
Kato - New Releases
cteno4 replied to Darren Jeffries's topic in New Releases & Product Announcements
Sounds like Kato portram bogies again. Get a spare bogie right away, they sold out very fast last time. jeff -
What did you do on your layout today? (N scale)
cteno4 replied to bill937ca's topic in Layout Building
Yeah fun use of the platform Paul, never seen one used like that! Just make sure to put a back wall on it so your passengers don’t tumble off to a 20’ drop! looking nice, lots in a small space but not feeling uber crowded. cheers, jeff -
Yes, the journey back to Waterloo used to be horrible. Eurostar used to give you a free trip if you were delayed by over two hours, we worked out that the same train from Waterloo was always late on a Friday evening and managed six trips for the cost of our original booking. But it's so much nicer speeding from St Pancras and almost being in Paris in the time it used to trundle down to Folkestone from Waterloo... Anyway I digress...
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Its fantastic. I did think about doing the same sort of thing with Harujuku. But don't have the time and space. What will you do at each end?
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N700S Debuts, N700a retirement commences
chadbag replied to 200系's topic in Japan Rail: News & General Discussion
Well the 500 is run by JR West and the N700 being scrapped by JR Central (Tokai). So different companies, different needs (and usage -- JR West does not run as many Shinkansen runs daily, though I don't know how that translates to per-set usage). -
The original Kato Eurostar and TGV designs are excellent for their age and good value, provided the seller is asking reasonable prices. If going for the orange TGV, make sure it's Kato and not Lima or Bachmann.
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First time I travelled on the Eurostar was from Brussels and it was all very nice and impressive and high speed until it popped out of the tunnel and was basically sharing tracks with post-war slam door commuter stock. A bit like zipping along on a Shinkansen until suddenly! it slows down behind a 103 series which it needs to overtake at the next station.
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Haha beat me to it...
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If I remember correctly, and I probably don't, isn't the train branded as Eurostar based on the TGV design but made to fit our BR systems and called TGV TMST (Train Grand Vitesse Trans Manche Super Train). There are also the "new" Eurostar trains that go to other destinations which are different but I haven't been lucky enough to travel on them yet.
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It's essentially based on the TGV design but adapted for use in the Channel Tunnel and the archaic British railway network (smaller loading gauge and 3rd rail pickup) it initially needed to run on. See e.g.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_373
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I suppose it's the fact that it goes to UK? It's similar to the Thalys TGV where it goes to Belgium, Netherlands and Germany
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I agree. It doesn't look like a TGV either. But wikipedia lists it as one. What's the connection?
