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FWIW the purpose of the wings was to prevent the partially blind from falling into the gap between the train sets. Still able to see shadows and light, these individuals mistook the gap as an open door, and thus fell through or at least collided with the end. As a stopgap before fitting all trains with these wings, JR West left the headlights turned on driving trailers coupled face to face to warn these individuals. As for the inebriated (not just salarymen, as women and college students etc. also drink), JR West rotated platform benches to face away from the platform edge- i.e. now along the length of the platform, so the staggering occurs safely away from any arriving train and any possible collision or fall on the tracks.

It looks like domestic Japan only. Not even on eBay at a crazy price.

Question - has anyone bought the Tomix 8018 layout? if so, where? I can't find a source that will ship to the United States thanks in advance.

And they wonder where rumors start. 😁 😁

Phew! jeff

Whoops, whew. Went in today to pick up some Evergreen plastic, and chatting with folks discovered the sign on the door read much more ominously than it was intended. The retail store is only closed *this Friday* while they're travelling to a show, not a permanent closing.

I put the smal/short version on one end in case I want to couple them up to a other unit.

What "scale" are they? Those are pretty cool

Today the KATO/Woodland Scenics Just Play vehicle arrived from Hobby Search.

Lovely little walk! Always love the little details these walks bring out. thanks, jeff

I finally attached them regardless of purpose. Thank heavens for a nice magnifying lamp.

Short on Japanese-style signals? No problem, you can use US-style searchlights! (that is, provided that your route is a small rural line set no later than the 1980s!) http://senrohaisenzu.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/08/24/19800316kabuto03.jpg (Kabuto station on the Kansai Main Line) http://senrohaisenzu.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2008/04/1980316_a069.html http://senrohaisenzu.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2020/03/post-aa5f9d.html Apparently a few stations in Hokkaido were also fitted with searchlights as well... Checking some sources, seems that the first searchlight-type signals were installed in 1936 on the Ou Main Line, and the last ones were removed from Kamitokoro station on the now-closed Hokkaido Chikoku Kogen Railway in November 1995.

My Tram is now available from Kato USA and US dealers. One caveat: *This is a Japanese Specialty Item. Any repair requests will be fulfilled by KATO Japan.* https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=955469056579911&set=a.640282668098553

If i recall correctly they were introduced specifically after a string of incidents late at night where drunk salarymen would trip and fall neatly between two coupled sets...

Disappointed that I missed it - I had been thinking of going up there but ended up going to Paris instead. (Flight to CDG or drive up I-95 and decided the flight would be easier!) Glad you had a good show and still hoping to attend one of these days. Ciao, Tony

Green wing and 221s have then also.

Yeah I think I first saw them on the Red Wing but last time we were in Osaka most of the 225/223 multi set pairings had them and the singles often did too IIRC -- proabbly to facilitate pairing. They were new from when we had been there before.

Walking around Machida. I really need to get a better mic, but it's hard to find solid info on what type will work best for this.

EH200-24 is the newest addition to my roster.

Scratch built the second bridge for this layout. Styrene (my favorite material) was used for the bridge and the supports were made from XPS foam. I'm learning a lot more techniques with weathering and when to use powder vs. washes. I compared the bridge I made last year with the same base color and I much prefer how the weathering turned out this time, with weathering powders of black and rust. It also helped that I used an airbrush vs. hand brushing. With the supports, I painted a solid color then applied two colors of washes. Lastly, I dry brushed with Silver Grey to act as highlights. I still have two pieces to scratch build, a shed and turntable (inoperable, just for decor).

Oh wow thats pretty cool thanks for posting this.

I obtained a set of Micro-Train 1015-1 couplers (diagram below). A little bit of surgery would be required due to the (low) height of the Kato floor . . . they seem to be meant for a floor height of .279" / .293" we will see how the 2004-1s fare once they are delivered. Their shanks are below the coupler's horizontal center-line. Far enough to avoid cutting any underframes? We will see.

Going into service on tourist runs from Phnom Penh to the Thai border if anyone is looking for a fun scenic layout: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/ataglance/3094/

As of last night, our itinerary for the trip has been finalized! It definitely isn't what we originally had planned but we were able to fit in a lot of things we didn't think would be possible while still having a pretty leisurely schedule. We have a little over a week of days totals where we can just wander around and almost all the other days really only have one thing - such as a tourist train or activity - scheduled that we have to get to on time. So should be lots of time to explore at random, which was one of the things we wanted to make sure we could do. We also found a lot of pretty cheap accommodations so that helps a ton with the budget in terms of leaving room for lots of yummy food and any souvenirs we may (absolutely) pick up. Below is a map of the areas we will be visiting during our month-long trip to Japan. It's not quite everything, though, as it's mostly just the places that are specifically set in our travel schedule. We'll be starting in Tokyo and working our way down to Kyushu. Most of the trip has been planned so that we don't have to take the Shinkansen. It should only be about two or three times aside from one long trip back from Kyushu to Tokyo at the end of the trip. There's a couple of weird spots both location- and schedule-wise where the Shinkansen is probably the best option despite the short distance. Anyway, very excited and relieved to get the planning done. Now it's mostly a matter of waiting to leave and making sure we have everything we need for the trip. I tried a test pack and wasn't able to get everything down to just two backpacks, despite one being a rather large travel backpack. So we'll likely still have to bring one carry-on suitcase, but maybe we can whittle down what we bring over the next month. Thanks for everyone's comments and suggestions. If you have any more, feel free to throw them in still as we're still compiling things to potentially do during the free time we have. I'm, at the moment, trying to compile some cool trains I'd like to ride that we won't necessarily need to schedule a lot of time in advance. Any suggestions for those, in particular, would be much appreciated!

Hi, Actually you can get from volks (which own the zokei mura brand) online store, by checking the shopping guide they support international shipping and the 26 is still in stock. Enjoy! 26 item page https://hobby.ec.volks.co.jp/item/4518992503202.html shopping guide https://hobby.ec.volks.co.jp/ext/guide_shipment.html