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Jeff Thank you so much, i will play a little and come back

@disturbman It looks like the HXD1C train is now only available through Changming Taobao. Hopefully it becomes available international again. Some of the model numbers are already sold out. They got pretty strong sales for this.

Thanks i appreciate the offer but have way more than enough japanese trains to keep me very happy! I have been very good at not getting tempted by other countries or scales as I have plenty to play with right now! I’ve tried to even cut my japanese train spending way back as again more than i can play with! jeff

@cteno4 If you want to try them out, just let me know. I will be able to spare some for periods of time as i still got lot of stuff coming (and on my watch list). With the rate new trains pop up in China, there are going to be lot of trains for me to collect.

Thanks @disturbman, i was mainly curious on the current prices for that level of quality and details. Im not going to let myself get into another country collecting trains! I have way more than I should have japanese trains and i enjoy sticking there as i enjoy the scenery/scenes that can be done and what I enjoy. It’s going to be interesting to watch the growth of the hobby in china both on the manufacturing side as well as the hobby side. Thanks jeff

Hey tony, sorry one thing i realized is maybe screwing you up is i screwed up above and said track in stead of rail in a couple of places. with standard block wiring you insulate both rails of a hunk of track on both ends and then supply the power to both of the rail from either of the power packs via the DPDT switch [or total off in the center with no power going to that block of track] Block control like this gives you a bit more control over any block of track as it can be powered from either throttle or off as opposite to the old point routing where you have one throttle wired to the outer loop of track and one throttle wired to the inner loop of track. here is how i should have said the previous wiring using the term rails in the right way. each block of track will have an outside rail that goes around the outside of you big loops and an inside rail that goes around the inside of your big loops. You can trace the rails on sidings back to the mainline loops to figure out what is an inside or outside rail on the siding blocks. Main thing to remember is just always keep like the outside rail on the left side of the center terminals and the inside rail on the right center termial [or vise versa if you prefer] for each block of track. Then the same polarity from the power packs on all the outside terminals ie top terminals to cab A and bottom thermals to cab B. You can always reverse the polarity of the throttles at the throttles to make the direction switches make sense on the throttles as you like it. here is a very fast and crude diagram of how the wiring goes from your two throttles to a block of track thru the DPDT switch. Sorry I did it with the pencil on the ipad really quick so not pretty but gets the idea across. jeff

I would say it is really good pricing and is instock. Though it’s on par with me buying kato/tomix eh and ef series freight locomotives. I still need to pickup a modern era red china rail freight locomotive but that will wait till they re-release ones. That and the Shen24 Train.

Thanks, Section, but I wasn't wondering 😅 But that's still interesting. I thought the upgrade would bring their price on par with the newer electrics, which hoover more around 550, but CM is still selling the HXD1C at its historical price.

SBB has an excellent app that will show up coming departures and their departure time, track and load factor in first class (1) or second class (2) along with the travel time and arrival time. The examples below are for Zurich HB to Basel. Red indicates a full carriage. There are no reservations in Switzerland apart from trains like TGV or ICE trains. IR is Inter Regio IC is Inter City EC is Euro City...international, cross-border day trains connecting major European cities run by SBB

THanks! I wonder where that was. Looks more like a stand than a museum. I'll ask my buddy who moved there in 1996 and never left. I helped drive down there with him from Yokosuka. I found it on google map. Pic states 2024/5, so fairly recent. Dang, wish I knew about it. Not far from the base. I guess I am overdue to go back.

@cteno4 pricing is between 478-488rmb if your wondering. I just picked up two of them.

I found the Sasebo D51 photos!

@disturbman Those look nice. Its literally an whole new rabbit hole in the hobby. The CR400-BFZ sold 3000plus units, the breakdown of what was bought will be interesting to know. I think Hong Kong post still is not delivering to USA so that means Tekkon/J-Scale are only options. Not easy to get into USA.

Jeff Cheers yes its making a little more sense, the center terminals make sense, i think whats confusing me is connecting to both controllers, when i thought i was using one controller for the outer track and the other for the inside track. I will have another look tomorrow as its getting late, but i think im in need of a diagram, i know this is probably very simple and im not panicking lol its just not sinking in, i will probably feel pretty dumb when i have this sorted. Do i need more controllers, two for each track ?? to control the block sections and sidings I can see that once ive put the insulators between the track i then need to get power across those breaks thats throwing me with the wiring, which is why i think i need a diagram. Sorry Jeff Cheers and thank you for persisting with me Tony

Sanying just released pictures of their TRA EMU800 in JR Shikoku 8000 series livery. The set is scheduled to be released around the end of this month. (As always, all pictures reposted with Sanying's authorization)

Main thing to remember is just always keep like the outside track on the left side of the center terminals and the inside track on the right center termial [or vise versa]. Then the same polarity from the power packs on all the outside terminals ie top terminal to cab A and bottom thermals to cab B. You can always reverse the polarity of the throttles at the throttles to make the direction switches make sense on the throttles as you like it. clear as mud? cheers jeff

Wow, just received the email notification for Kamome's reply on Tuesday starting with "Yes indeed". Did I just experience extra terrestrial worm hole time travel? haha

Hello All Added a Pic and a short video Showing the Redesigned City Station and by pass Still to tidy up some things,and unfortunately Platform One Rail is lower than the 2 outside due to trouble with baseboard,too hard to fix now. regards Brett

Tony, take a deep breath! It’s all pretty straight forward on the DPDT switches. You put the track leads to the center leads on the switch and the power pack leads to the outside of the switches. This way when the switch is thrown one direction it connects that side’s power pack’s leads to the center track leads. the only complicated thing is keeping your polarity of the the track and power pack leads consistent on al the DPDT switches. Easy to do for the power packs with like red and black wires. With your track power you need to keep the inside and outside rails on your loops consistent to red and black leads on the track and then on the center terminals on the DPDT switches. your block wiring is not common rail, you will be isolating each side of track blocks. This is a safer way to do things. This is why you use the DPDT switches to control the power feed to both rails at once and not a SPST you would use in common rail wiring. Make sense? jeff

Finally, I could get that Set...

Changming TaoBao price should be be around 70 to 75 USD. These are likely to stay available from there since this is their third production run and CM has been increasing their production volume. But being in the US, you will have to pay a proxy service to order one directly from CM. So add 10% fee, plus domestic shipping and international shipping. Models should be available from Hong Kong retailers at a very slightly higher price than TaoBao, or from Tekkon in Japan for an even higher price. So depending on actual import avenue, model should cost you around a 95 USD to 110 USD to import (before tariffs). Regarding the detailing, it's the level you expect from Changming and that they have been putting out. First generation models were already very well detailed, with crisp printing and fine details, but the quality (and price) has increased since. If you are interested in testing Chinese trains, I think you will be happy with a CRH model.

The JP post seems to be a reskin of the Konbini..... Same issue with the bank, I never saw banks or Jp post looking like this (at least around where i live) This feels very lazy from tomix https://x.com/re_color_3d/status/1922520959539425399/photo/3 https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10981038?srsltid=AfmBOoqk2ZBK91VKJsh3i8iDwAR8wRNWKEnljJ41Ji8JCaswtEG4sI31

I tried this method, but I had used iron foil https://a.co/d/fSrIETQ It didn't work quite well for me. It seemed the magnet in the switch was so attracted to the Iron that it would not throw or close just click. Should I be looking for a non-magnetic type metal or something else?

HELP !!!!! I have done a little, i have managed to get the lift out bridge section cut and track glued and wired ( photo's attached ) What i am having trouble getting my head around is the wiring for the DPDT switches for the block sections, no amount of googling or reading seems to come up with a simple drawing or explanation for how to wire these for DC analogue model railway, i have Evan purchased the Atlas wiring book but it is for common rail wiring, also everything i can find seems to wire both controllers together. I have one control for the outer track and the other for the inner. Any way could someone ( Jeff where are you lol ) point me in the right direction on which wire goes where on the DPDT, i have added a photo of what im looking at, i was hoping it would trigger something in my head but nothing happened lol. I am looking at this now while im drilling and placing wires, and yes i will glue only when everything is wired and running properly. But at the moment it is the Block section wiring i am concerned about and sidings

Time to start heading back to Nagoya again! To paraphrase from my 2023 travelogue, "While I enjoyed my time there, I got the feeling that this wasn't entirely 'my' kind of museum. It was still worth going though." So, to wrap up this diversion, have some random Meitetsu photos from Inuyama. Also from the bus trip back to Inuyama, ooh, big Greenmax building! Alastair