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That sounds good! Some day, I'm dreaming to ride Amtrak especially Empire Builder or California Zephyr! And also want to go a dining car and eat American food!

That Tenshodo 185 looks very nice. Are you planning an Odoriko?

For JRF, I like the EH500s as I see them everyday hauling freight in Kyushu but enjoyed watching the EH200 pulling tankers through Tokyo. Also nice to see the odd ED76 or EF81-400 here too. So it's more a question of favourite than best. My picks purely on aesthetics rather than performance. SL - C59 Diesel -DD54 Electric - EF30, EF55 but way too many I like. (Just realised it said Freight so scrub EF55 and C59) Perhaps the C56

Gave the DF50 some exercise over the weekend as I took a drive up to Stage One in Kokura. The other usual suspects were out too as there’s plenty of space. Kiha 81 Tsubasa 7 car + banking loco Kiha 82 Matsukaze 12 car 24 series Fuji 13 car + loco Mixed freight. On the way up I saw my first N700s arriving at Kokura station from Hakata. Annoying i was driving at the time.

I must admit when I was on a dining car run on Amtrak I had excellent food. Best French toast I ever had was on an Amtrak while going thru western texas mountains, part may have been the scenery and just wonderfulness that is a train trip, but it’s one of those top 10 meals in memory as locked in so many ways. jeff

Tenshoto announced their HO EF15 and 185 series will be delayed. Thus is good news for me, gives me time to spread out some purchases! https://facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=373372367463981&id=102675651200322

Hi, My favourite, just because I love its look is the EH500.

I've not encountered Kiha 82-900. According to wiki, Kiha 82-902 was assigned at Kagoshima at first and finaly at Hakodate. Other 900s were at Mukoumachi, Oku, Hakodate. As you said, I think Exp.Ooyodo, Nichirin etc. includes 902 in composition.

Kiha, the kits are available painted or unpainted. I chose the painted versions - I'm lazy! 🙄 All the best, Mark.

D52, hands down. 😉

Sounds like the old Amtrak wave burgers! Everytime I ate one I would think why am I doing this? But then I realized the alternative was a packaged sandwich which I was not sure how many dc/ny runs it had taken… Jeff

Ooh that would be nice! Great additional reason for a trip out to Albuquerque. I really like the area. jeff

There are apparently negotiations for runs from Albuquerque to the Raton Pass. The line is not used a lot and apparently BNSF is warm to the idea.

Yes, I think the egg and cress sandwiches are now classified as biological weapons.

The good news is it’s really hard to go very wrong! jeff

What about ya boy D51? 🤔

If i had to define a "best" freight locomotive for evry category in my opinion, i'd do a list pretty much like this: Electric locomotives: -best "universal" locomotive: EF81 - quadri-voltage locomotive, yet as powerful as comparable DC and AC-only locomotives (such as EF65s and EF70s). -best fast freight locomotive: EF200 - 110Km/h max speed like the predecessor EF66 and the successor EF210, but more powerful than both. -best "heavy haul" locomotive: EH200 - at 6000hp is the most powerful electric locomotive in Japan. -best "compact" locomotive: ED79 - packs 250

Love the Kiha 82 photos, that's one of my favorite JNR series. It's neat they were widespread in Kyushu until electrification replaced them.

Personally my favorites are both the EF15 and ED75 but they are hardly the best in their categories: The EF15 is too slow at just 65km/h and the ED75 is too weak with its 1900kW and was often seen doubled up in front of heavier trains. But in general I think that there is no single metric to judge by as locomotives tend to be constructed with different tasks in mind even if it's all freight work. Sure, you can go by power: that would be the EH200 at 4,520 kW I think, but that locomotive is useless on AC tracks where an EH500 type would be more useful, so the EH200 isn't the best loco for

There are a number of factors that come into play and much of it is based on personal preference. When I first started I purchased both Tomix and Kato trains to evaluate them myself. After seeing them personally I went with Kato because the detail was a bit more refined than Tomix. For some the detail does not make a difference but I pay attention to detail. Kato has better reproduction detail as you can see below. It still depends on what your eye sees. When it comes to track Tomix has a better turn key solution for some track sets. T

One option is the kato and tomix starter sets. Like other's have said, hobby search is one of the best places to browse for trains, and then you can see who has the best price for them from other stores once you find ones you like https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/list/1646/0/1 https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/list/1647/0/1 While Tomix trains are very nice, their track system is not carried outside of japan so I'd recommend going with Kato track for the ease of expanding later on. Tomix trains will run fine on the kato system.

I know you are obsessed with niche gauges, but @The Birmingham train spotterclearly stated "what is the best starter locomotive in N gauge." I think he is beyond that kind of information.

Honestly, I'm not sure there is a "best", what would be the metric? It might be better to ask which freight locomotive(s) each users prefer, and why. We had a few interesting answers in the Shinkansen thread.

As noted by roadstar_na6 each locomotive is the best for it's particular field of operation, for DC power the EF65-2000, EF66's and EF210's are great on the Sanyō and Tōkaidō Honsen running relatively fast freight trains, the EH200 and EF64-1000's are great as hill climbers winding their way up along the mountainous Chūō Honsen, the later are being progressively replaced by EF210-300's along the Tokaidō Honsen and I dare say at some point on the Chūō,the AC/DC locomotives also have their own qualities as well.