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The very common SBB Re 420 electric locomotives were produced over a period of 21 years, from 1964 to 1985. It is the largest series of locomotives on the Swiss Federal Railways and they are the most common type of locomotive in Switzerland. They were used for passenger services alone or in pairs throughout Switzerland, but as of 2024 these workhorses are mainly in freight traffic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SBB_Re_420 First three photos were taken at Zurich HB and the final photo from the train enroute to Basel.

I can definitely see Minitown doing something like that. They're already working on models for some of the Beijing and Shanghai metro rolling stock.

When you cleaned all the gears did you re lube them? Also a tiny bit of very fine oil on the motor bearings? Amazing what clean and lubing can do to a very old engine. Sweet you rescued the old gal! I would not do well in Japan with the bargain bins of stuff like this as i would get too much enjoyment in resuscitating older stuff and Frankensteining things. cheers jeff

Yeah even with de minimis exemption in the past ups especially has been the one to sometimes pop on the full customs processing fee coming into the us, especially from canada. I use to order some equipment from canada for work projects and just bought it in my own name [im a freelancer] and like a couple of hundred bucks usually and every time it came across the boarder ups they added the fee. Was totally silly with NAFTA and de minimis exemption. None of the other carriers triggered this. Usually a customs review should only happen if over the de minimis limit or something funky in paperwork or contents and UPS would need to be the agent [none of my packages were like this and invoice or package op ended by customs]. I would call UPS to investigate and get the run around every time but from what they were saying it was sounding like they just did it to most all the packages. When I would ask for customs paperwork to show what they were upset about as no duty owed or any inspection done to invoice or package ups would just say it was all internal paperwork and the process UPS had to do to bring a package across the boarder. So i just tried to avoid ups but sadly then [this was the 90s and early 2000s] for some reason many of the vendors i used insisted on ups to the us, total PITA. Luckily never had a single customs charge with probably a couple of thousand packages of packages from japan and china over the last 30 years so fortunate. Life does not look so simple in the future here, but hopefully something reasonable will work out with all this stuff, but maybe thats being too optimistic. jeff

Kofu, Yamanashi. https://maps.app.goo.gl/8uwDaJ7nbGeTs6Uf9 Maybe a bit too yellow.

Interesting i never thought of the Ptouch labels. But smaller font for just doing numbering like that would be easy and could use a hole punch to make a dot easily. They do stick better and are thinner than the usual Avery dot stickers and dont have to try to write cleanly tiny. Going to have to experiment with that. could also do black with white letters to make the labels blend in a bit better on the usual black underbody stuff or black on gray. do you just use a tip of an xacto to peel off the backing? jeff

The number at the bottom of the chassis is unfortunately misleading... The actual item number is 302, the first EF65 Kato produced, being first released in 1969. The mismatching item number is due to the EF65 sharing a chassis with the Kato EF70 (numbered 301) which released in 1967. Afaik there's no publicily available catalogue of all Kato products, but searching for "manufacturer + loco type + item number" gets you there like 90% of the way. There are plenty of blogs detailing the early years of Japanese N gauge who like to document releases like yours.

Merci! There was no box, this was the only n gauge item sitting next to toy cars, a HO scale passenger car, and other non related things like old postcards, cutlery, clothes, etc. I saw 301 written on the underside, I'm assuming that's the Kato reference, but can't figure out when that would have been produced.

Bien joué ! It's always nice to be able to restore an old model. You know have a working piece of history. Do you have the box still, or you bought it loose? This locomotive is probably 40 years old or more. I definitely recommend acquiring a fiberglass pen. It's my go-to for cleaning wheels and contacts.

Not sure where to put this but apparently tinyhk trains were converted to be runnable trains. Another regional transit system that can be collected. So now motorized MTR train models exist to some extent. Interesting potential ahead

Thanks disturb for the tips! I don't have a fiberglass pen, but I've made good progress with a peco copper brush. Probably a bit more abrasive than the fiberglass but it's what I had on hand. I disassembled the loco, splitting the two chassis halves. Applying power to the motor directly revealed it is not burnt out! Filled with hope, I set about cleaning all the gears, electrical contacts (especially the metal parts where the bogies sit in the chassis, and wheels. And you know what? I now have a working, not-even-that-badly-damaged EF 65 for 500 yen! I scavenged a rapido coupler off a tomytec motor chassis for a future project, since it'll be used for an EMU, so no need for front coupling. One of the lights still works, so I made sure to orient that towards the front of the loco, opposite the one rapido coupler. Other than that, it looks like there's a tiny edge piece of one pantograph missing, and one "post" on top of the rear cab had snapped off. Of course, it runs a bit rough. I think one of the axles may be slightly bent because there's a kind of rhythmic "chugchugchug" when it moves (despite not being an SL ; ) ). But it can even do (sort of) low speed running. I should have asked the old man at the market for an e-mail ( or fax?!?) to tell him his old loco is back up and running in France alongside german, french, swiss and English locos x).

When you say 9mm or 3/8 what are you referring to? This makes want to invest in a P-Touch which one do you have? That's a great use for the P-Touch I could use it for identifying which locomotives had decoders or not. Theft deterrent is a good use for the machine also. Since you're the only guy running Japanese trains there's no mix up lol untill others start liking Japanese trains also lol. That's another great ideal for using the P-Touch, I never wanted to go back to work so quickly lol.

@Kingmeow - There were three charges on the bill but I cannot remember the details. One charge was the Customs Duty. Don't remember the others specifically - some sort of service fees. I had actually purchased the items using Mira's eBay account so the bill went to her - and she paid it as she knew I would be cranky about it! Tony

P-Touch 9mm or 3/8" works well with N-Scale. Often I make a TON of my three letter name initials and stick it on the fuel tanks (US locomotives) as I run them at train shows. Used more for identification mix-ups rather than theft deterrent as other modelers may have the same equipment. Now that I'm starting to gather more Japanese equipment there's not much need for that as I'm the only guy running Japanese trains at shows. 🤣🤣🤣 Recently I added a "F" (using P-Touch) underneath the front truck of a newly acquired EF510 as the "1" and "2" to indicate which is forward on the shell is impossible to see with my naked eyes. The "F" on US locomotives is easier to see and 98% of them have safety cabs so you know which is front.

@Tony Galiani was any of the listed charges for "Brokerage Fee"? USP and FedEx are known to charge brokerage fee for things coming from Canada into the US and people have learned to use Canada Post -> USPS. I'm stating this wondering if their Modus Operandi are the same for other, distant, countries like Japan. One of the reasons why I stuck with DHL when I order from Plaza (and it exceeds the economy of Japan Post) even though the two of them are a buck or two cheaper.

Those are exactly what I'm looking for thank you, I do have a P-Touch at work that I may run a test sample on and see how they come out. Using the P-Touch would never have crossed my mind to use for this application thanks again.

You can use wire number labels. Available from Amazon or at Home Depot for the same price. Wire number labels But if you have time to kill and have access to a Brother P-Touch machine you can make your own and cut them out into pieces. I find the (genuine) P-Touch labels stick very well and does not leave behind any adhesive residue when removed even a long time later. Another Japanese innovation. 😁

In one day I did five SBB train stations in Zurich. The main Zurich HB, Bahnhof Enge, Stadelhofen, Tiefenbrunnen and Wiedikon. Wiedikon is an impressive neighborhood station. It is west of the main core on tram lines 9 and 14. Outside the station is a bus terminal for VBZ and PostBus lines from outlying communities. In the age of ticket machines the ticket concourse remains viable with a Kkiosk convenience shop and a expresso shop. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zurich_Wiedikon_railway_station While I was there an intercity train arrived and I saw people arriving with suitcases. As far as I know this is only a S-Bahn station. Perhaps this was a private hire train. I can't imagine that type of train being accommodated at busy Zurich HB. It remained at the platform for quite a while I photographed trams and buses at street level. The glass walled building in the background of the train platform photos is a large tram depot. It covers several blocks and at the top end the city has built cooperative apartments over the tram depot. More later. SBB intercity train in the foreground and a S-Bahn train in the background. The beige building in the background is the section of the tram depot with coop apartments over that section of the tram depot. Before the intercity train arrived from the top end of the station. After this station, the trains go back into tunnels.

Zurich has 29 railway stations. I have never seen a place with so many impressive stations. This Stadelhofen one of the first stations outside of Zurich HB. Lines coming here are running on the east side of finger shaped Lake Zurich. The SBB station is served by 9 SBB S-Bahn lines and two additional peak hour lines. Outside on Stadelhofenplatz are the interurbans of the S18 Forchbahn line and VBZ tram lines 8, 11 and 15. At the far end of the square further VBZ tram lines 2 and 4 running down the east side of the lake to Tiefenbrunnen. The major Bellevue tram hub is only about 4 blocks away. Like many SBB stations and VBZ tram hubs, Stadelhofen Station has a modern and attractive travel centers where tickets and passes can be purchased. The overhead signs indicate what a busy place this is. Along with many stations another trait of Zurich train lines is lots of tunnels. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zurich_Stadelhofen_railway_station

There's the cafe right out on the concourse on the left of the photo and the end of one of tracks on the right. The stuff dreams are made of!!!!

A few more train shots at Zurich HB.

I came across SBB RABe 501 High Speed train at Zurich HB. The RABe 501 is another Stadler product with 117 first class seats and 286 second class seats for a total of 403 passengers in an eleven car train. As of December 2020, Giruno units operate services from Basel and Zürich to Chiasso and Lugano. Services between Zurich and Milan have also operated since 12 August 2020, and have later expanded to Venice, Genoa and Bologna.[24] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SBB_RABe_501 Both photos were taken at Zurich HB.

Does anyone have a source for stickers that I can use on my commuter cars?

This is mighty old 😮 But the usual practice should apply. First remove the shell (I expect it should be simply clipped to the chassis) and then figure out how to get to the motor, unclip the bogies and open them. Sorry if I can't get more helpful, I never had such an old Japanese model in my hands. If you don't have one, you should get a fiberglass pen to clean those wheels.

I think a lot of the people that would be interested in these wouldn't mind a little gluing / soldering to get custom length ones, so the option to have various length middle sections would be a nice addition. It would probably be worth giving the etched wires a try if they're not a lot of work. If they sell well, you can easily get more of them etched. And if not, it's not a lot of wasted time. Personally I'm more in the camp of wanting to have wires if I have the masts as well. Just the masts always looks a bit off to me, even if to-scale wire would be pretty much invisible. Having wires is of course also a terrible pain when you need to clean the track 🙂 I have built my own catenary from scratch before (fully functional actually, for Euro locos with working pantographs), and there I made a quick jig for the wire, and just soldered together some copper wire. It was rather fiddly, but very doable for the simple type of wire. The 2nd wire you posted would of course be quite a bit more work to scratch build.