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Oh ok, I see there's an 800 # 8 may give them a call.

Great photos and additional information. Love riding the Swiss Railway network (a bit closer to the UK than Japan is). Have done the 3 main tourist trains and quite a lot of the main network but barely any of the branch lines. Hoping for another visit sometime this year.

FedEx is of no help, just saying well it’s delayed in customs and may need paperwork from the sender, we will get back to you. Putting on patience hat. I can see if us customs has changed their paperwork its going to take time for other countries to update thier customs forms to supply the needed info to us customs. What a mess and still no information out there on all this to help clarify it all. well yes coming from Sakatsu its a very small package but about 40 or so tiny things in it so it adds up in price to a couple of hundred dollars [so easy to do when you shop at Sakatsu]! Im pretty sure they are all made in japan, but maybe seeing so many items they wondered if there was stuff from china being transshipped or resold thru japan. Maybe a small, expensive package gets notice as well… who know. jeff

They look a tad longer than btrains and maybe a tad less pudgy? But maybe thats just from being a tad longer if thats true. Out of the box they use a long snap in drawbar like btrains, but they show it using the standard tomytec rail collection wheel and coupler sets to upgrade them. Looks like the same system as the prototypical tomytec rail collection trains. So you should be able to connect them to btrains. I have such a ton of btrains i got on sale over a few years there I probably wont be buying 10 box sets for now. cheers jeff

I remembered reading about serialization in the instruction manual for my unit but I have never tried it. I think it depends on the firmware of your unit if it can do that or not. Check your instruction manual. I *believe* my unit can do it but I have no need as I don't need too many of these at a time. 🙂

I am not sure how effective my ordering "pause" is at the moment. Here are the items I picked up during Suruga-Ya's recent 20% discount and free shipping sale. I spotted two items I really wanted - the truck with the JR container and the JR Shikoku Series 1000 DMU, both of which bring back memories of my first trip to Shikoku. I then added some items to get above the ordering minimum for the sale. Still very economical. Some additional container trucks, a Bandai truck (to see what they were like) and some other scenic items. The film crew as 1) it was really cheap, especially considering the current prices for figure sets, and 2) because I always see people taking pictures of the trains when I travel in Japan. Packing was somewhat haphazard as is par for the course with Suruga-Ya (and I would not be likely to order anything delicate from them) and pretty quick - ordered on May 11, shipped on May 13 and arrived here on May 19th. As to the memories - I tend to get down to breakfast early but then hangout over coffee while waiting for Mira. I was at the JR Hotel in Takamatsu which has a wall of windows, relaxing with my coffee when I was surprised to see that truck zip by. And, when we went to Oboke Gorge, we were passed by a larger truck with three containers as we walked to the boat landing. After we were back at the station, waiting for our ride back to Takamatsu, a Series 1000 pulled in and sat waiting for the limited express Nampu to arrive for its connection. It was running late and I noted the driver of the DMU apparently nodding off for a nap while waiting! Ciao, Tony

Trams have the right of way in Switzerland primary because of their braking distance. There is direct democracy at all three levels in Switzerland and since 1971. Zurich trams have had priority at all times. Planners prefer to separate modes so trams and trolleybuses generally have their own lane. Switzerland is very much a rules based society. Over half the adult population are active in military reserves. Tram stops have crosswalks at both ends and all minor traffic charges are criminal. Speeding 5mph over the 50kpm limit results in a big fine and can result in two years jail time. For dodging a public transport fare a wide range of doors close: applying for a rental lease, citizenship applications, credit card, mobile phone and mortgage applications all typically grind to a halt. Seems to be very much like bankruptcy. I sense the impact of direct democracy here. Tram lines run every 7.5 minutes, every 10 minutes evenings until 11pm and every 10 minutes Sundays. In many places lines are double up and frequencies are much less. Zurich's tram system is a marvel of investment and engineering. There is one four track section, and three track sections at Bellevue, Stockerstrasse and Bahnhof Enge. Several tram hubs free of auto traffic including Bellevue with 7 tram lines, Paradeplatz with 7 or 8 tram lines depending on the time and Bahnhof Enge with 2 loops and three loading positions. All of these have pavilions for waiting passengers. Bahnhof Enge has a banana curve on the tram 7 platform (see photo). Bellevue used to have a two banana curves but these were straightened out when the junction was rebuilt in 2015 "for better mobility". Tram assignments have are determined by the length of some tram stops. The shortest can only accommodate trams up to 36 meters. The longest trams are 43 or 43.5 meters. Something else to research and photograph! The old Tram 2000s apart from one small group will be gone by December 2025 when there also will be a major routing change. Photos 1. Gauntlet track on Bahnhofstrasse leading to the four track section between Bahnhofplatz and Bahnhofquai. 2. Four track section between Bahnhofplatz and Bahnhofquai. 3. Entry to Bellevue tram hub. The pavilion has tracks on all three sides and there is a loop around the complex. Starting point for many special tram operations. 4. Paradeplatz in the heart of the city. 5. Bahnhof Enge

Start laying the buildings and thinking how it could work. Where and why go from one to another, etc. If you also have vehicles, put them also and play a little with the space. Martin

Those are good suggestions that I'll use for the next set of labels. Do you know if you can serialize 1-10 with the frame. Hopefully I won't need to shrink the font anymore than what they currently are. I'm 99% sure that they'll fit even with the limited space underneath the E321 hopefully lol.

Very promising!

@Kingmeow - Yes .... and no. I'm not sure our sesame grinding skills were up to the task! If you watch STJ's video, you will see an excellent sesame grinding job while ours was a bit rough. We got better on our second visit - hopefully we will improve our skills in the Fall! I did enjoy our sesame seed grinding lesson in Fukuoka however. Our server did not speak English but he pantomimed the proper steps. Including adding the sauce. That's when the pressure was on! Tony.

Have to remember this for the fall!!!! I would think grinding your own sesame seeds would be wonderful, the ultimate in freshness. Like grinding coffee beans just before brewing. No?

Oh dear! Please keep us posted. I'm assuming it's not a very big package to grab attention?

I was thinking the same. But hey, you do get some balsa too! 🤣

Next time, do all 10 at once, each separated by a few spaces. Then cut them apart after printing. You will save a lot of wasted leader tape. (Unless that's your desired intention above.) Also, another hint. You can pick smaller fonts or even narrow fonts to make them more narrow in case they are too big for N-scale.

Here are some labels that I made on the P-Touch for the passenger cars.

Yep, hope they do the right thing. Recall, that'll be a first for me if they do that. It was a suck a$$ effort in the first place. But for everyone who bought one, they should put some hours in and let the issues develop as soon as possible. Return period lapses and they are stuck. Jungle site was telling me I was beyond the return date, which was based on the order date and not delivery. I had to go on the chat and get some kind of representative to get the return going. It was a pain.

It was quite nice seeing the trains run on the overhead wire, knowing that it was fully functional. Another advantage is that you could run 2 trains on 2 separate controllers on the same track. 1 powered the overhead wires and the other the track itself. Anyway, looking forward to seeing pictures of the actual etches and some assembled masts. A layout always looks so much different with catenary, and it always draws a lot of attention, so having some good looking masts would be great. The plastic Kato / Tomix ones are okay, but nothing too special.

I would say the 2 week issue applies with regular models. For models riddled with numerous manufacturing issues, I hope they see fit to rectify the complaints. I was only just over the 2 weeks to contact them. 2 forum members had chamfered wheels so who knows how many others were affected. A machining issue is definitely an initial defect. They have the chassis sitting in their online store so things can be done. I still have the contact details for the CEO should the warranty department decide not to rectify the obvious manufacturing issues. We cant be the only ones to have issues. At this rate, they should probably issue a recall. Very worst case the loco is usable but I am now aware of the wheel issue. The retailer may decide to deal with it on my behalf but who knows. I will certainly do my upmost to get a resolution and should they try to fob me off, I will definitely make my disapproval felt, especially as I have purchased so much Kato product over the years.

Thanks, that's a really interesting blog. There is another post on there about the prices going up by 7.1% next year, and the end of return tickets. To be honest I never bothered with returns as the savings are small and I prefer not being locked in to a schedule. I managed to be doubly confused about the two tickets thing. I bought a ticket at Sakudaira but couldn't get through the barrier. Turns out I was putting both the ticket and the receipt, which looked like a ticket, into the machine. I can't remember if I had 3 ticket shaped bits of paper or not now. I should learn the kanji for "receipt". I do like both Wako and Saboten. Something about the tonkatsu in Japan that can't seem to be replicated elsewhere. The branch of Wako at Kumagaya is pretty good.

You are not the only one who finds ticket purchasing confusing. From the Red List of Trains in Japan blog: https://tokyomegaloops.blogspot.com/ - "Shinkansen, the confusing fare schemes". And for a complete changed of pace - when you need a nice meal to recover from your ticket purchasing experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAu-oTxsZZo We like Tonkatsu Wako but discovered Saboten in Fukuoka and really like it, even if we have to grind our own sesame seeds. When we got to Tokyo, we ate at the Saboten in Shinjuku, conveniently located in the same building as the Popondetta model shop. Cheers, Tony

Refers to (Project) The layout was brought to the Finnish Railway Museum and was a success. A lot of people love the modular style of the layout as well as the themes it introduces. Meanwhile, the current sakura shelf layout had an issue with the turntable and I fear it would not be a positive addition. Instead, I have decided to repurpose the cherry turntable into a spring module extension, but it presented another problem with balance. Sure, you can argue that Finnish summer and fall are barely what one would call long, but I have decided to create two extra 60cm modules to the layout, making the entire thing about 2,3 metres in length. Moreover, the industry and passing station will be merged into one for the winter layout and instead of being a dead end, would rather create half of a station/depot. The idea that trains will be switched based on how long it has been run by the visitors. Since the idea of the layout is to have both controllers runnable by visitors of the table. But I am wondering if this is too ambitious, that maybe there is another thing I could possibly do. What are your thoughts? These are the rough plans.

I went to Joshin, but before that I ordered on their website. The order arrived. I ordered some popondetta lights to remove the flicker I have and also the duck train! You can choose the eyes fyi

Don't wait too long. From Kato: This is the mail order department of Hobby Center KATO. Thank you for using our store. Regarding your inquiry, there is no warranty for railway models. We accept initial defects or repairs. Initial defects are products that are reported within two weeks of receiving the product. You will have to go through your retailer. I'd start running the model soonest to see if it develops any issues. Rapido has a funny way of saying things. From their J70 manual: However, we can only replace your model while we have additional ones in stock. We promise to help you if you contact us within two years of us making it. After two years, all bets are off. If models get sent to one of our old addresses, they might as well have been beamed into the mouth of a wormhole as we’ll never see them.

Took another picture of some test trains in a possible position they could be in during running. It's all a bit tight, but going from some pictures and videos I've since watched, the clearance between the trains isn't unrealistic. I still need to test with some additional coaches. Meanwhile, I've also temporarily put down the track for the shinkansen line, and started working on the express line. I've also measured everything up, and sketched out everything for the segment end, Haven't gotten around to actually cutting it yet, but that's basically the next step. I'll try to do that next weekend. The next segment will be the last one on this side of the layout, so the cross sections there will be a bit more complex with all the curved tracks. I have started looking into it, but I first need to finalise the track plan for that corner, which I can really only do once the segment I'm working on now is (mostly) done. I've noticed that the track plan isn't 100% the same as the actual track, the urban line for example gets a bit closer to the express track than I thought it would based on the Anyrail track plan. That's not really an issue, but definitely something to keep in mind. I also need to determine the depth of the next segment after the corner segment, since that partially also determines the track plan. I will probably try to set up some temporary things with some spare plywood / foam / timber to see what works and what doesn't.