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My first Japanese purchase for a little while, the new Tomix Chiki5500 rail carrier set has landed! It is a very nice set, and the detailing around the rail loaders is extremely fine. I did not get the accompanying EF65 as I already have plenty of locos and I don't really want yet another 'off region' loco unless it is very special.

"Someone's sat on it!"

From what I can gather, correctly identifying one is easier said than done. It could simply be a case of an additional 'unauthorised' batch being run by the factory. If so, then to all intents and purposes they will be no different to a 'genuine' product...the only tell-tale may well be the shop you bought it from and if so, the first you will know about it is if the warranty is not honoured. It's not as if you are going to be readily altered to its fakeness by the lack of quality control, or incorrect livery (colour shade or application)...

Could be a disgruntled factory if Dapol decided to move manufacturing elsewhere As for spotting one, “If you model looks like a Dapol model but runs without issue out of the box, it’s most likely fake” 😂

I wonder if they are even knockoffs, or just rejected models from the production run.

Just search for "spudger" on Amazon and you'll get a ton of them at really inexpensive prices. $5-$10 for an entire set of all sizes and shapes. Plastic material so as to not damage or mar the item. Mostly used to disassemble cell phones and other electronic devices.

Interesting. I wonder why they don't tell you how to spot the fake ones (maybe requires disassembly that not everyone wants/can do?). As these knock offs get into the market, they will probably end up in the used market or at trains shows. How does one then determine whether they are genuine or not as you no longer are dealing with an authorized dealer?

Hi, how are you? Hope all is well. I am not a railway modeller, but I have a desire to build a diorama of the Sha Tau Kok Branch Line(Kowloon-Canton Railway). The gauge was 24 in(610 mm). It opened in 1911, and closed in 1928. The passenger service was hauled by two W. G. Bagnall 0-4-4T steam locomotives, and the passenger cars were the flatcars being used for the freight service. Passengers were constantly exposed to the elements. Unfortunately I could not find any details about the freight service. Legends said documents were either destroyed or lost during the Battle of Hong Kong. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sha_Tau_Kok_Branch I sincerely ask everyone for your generosity to help me putting this puzzle together with your years of expertise in model railroading!! Q1: What is the scale, or gauge, should I use to build this 24 in(610 mm) gauge branch line, so it will matches with the 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) gauge of the main line(N scale)? Q2: Is it really difficult to purchase, layout, and build the tracks, and parts of the above scale, or gauge in the U.S.? Q3: Is there any manufacturer sells W. G. Bagnall 0-4-4T steam locomotives in the above scale or gauge? Q4: If not, then is it possible to purchase 0-4-4 chassis in the above scale or gauge, and then 3D-print (Resin? Filament?) the shell? Q5: For the typical choice of 24 in(610 mm) gauge flatcars of that specific complex period (just 3 years before WWI), who do you think could be the builder(British? German? or American?), and what could be the possible length? Thank you so much for reading my post, and I am looking forward for your insightful answers and comments!!

Yeah they look great @tossedman, and thanks for the link. Might be a while before I can get a decent colour printer, but it's now on the list.

TCS recently announced DCC decoder installation services https://www.tcsdcc.com/so/6fOx91E-V?languageTag=en&cid=3e030a2c-4ad0-40bf-aef7-acb3a6ecaad0

We saw the 2816 many times around Calgary as they were doing their shakedown runs. It's pretty impressive. My kiddo was at the departure ceremony and recorded this short clip.

I drew road signs in Illustrator. You used to be able to get road signs from Kobaru but they've gone out of business. Fortunately Sakatsu has picked up a lot of the Kobaru products including the road surface signs. They are dry transfer and you rub them on á la Letraset. Here's a link to them.

I'm with Jeff on the printed roads. I've tried it and you can make them look pretty good of you know your way around graphics on a computer. Here's a module I did a few years ago. Cheers, Todd

Thanks everyone. I was just confused by the different terms being used by Plaza Japan, so this clears it up a bit.

As regard DCC Some of your sets can use Kato drop-in decoders which are relatively inexpensive. If you have a friend that could fit these for you it would reduce costings a little rather than paying someone at Kato to do it. -SL Yamaguchi coaches - 485 series. The SLs will be the trickiest so worth getting quotes for these. Not sure with the Kitaguni set as some coaches are tooled for drop in, some aren’t. I believe there is a replacement light board for the EF58 but may require some permanent body shell modification. Certainly in Japan, off the shelf DCC fitted products by Hobby Centre Kato are a significant increase in cost compared to their base counterparts. Although most have detail parts fitted in addition, it can be a big jump in price. Hardwired Example HO EF510 0 DCC sound fitted ¥61,050 HO EF510 0 base ¥15,070

It's fun to keep your brain busy, noodling away at different ways to set up home or display layouts and trying to break out of the standardized thinking that modules tend to create. That's one reason I continue to do non-permanent, tabletop layouts. To me, that's not something to outgrow -- it's something that can keep you going. By the way, I've been re-reading old posts from another discussion group, and 13 years ago Jeff expressed the thought that the small size of T-Trak really limited scenery options. Now he's fascinated by irregular layouts on strung-together, postage stamp-sized modules! An active mind keeps exploring and rethinking... Rich K.

It looks to me like your layout is actually well-suited for DC operation with two power packs, except for one thing. That is that one track of your pair almost acts like an oval, while the parallel track almost does an up-and-over figure-8. If you made all trains cross over at the double-crossover, you would have two separate loops operationally. But if you run the trains straight through the crossover, which you probably do, what you have operationally is a single big long loop. Then a train that starts running left-to-right at the top of your track plan later finds itself running back right-to-left there in the opposite direction on the parallel track. It's an interesting plan, but it creates logic issues like the ones you are running into. One solution would be to remove the crossover (not the double crossover, the crossover under the bridge) to create two separate loops (one all blue and one all orange). Then, when you want to switch a train from one of these loops to the other loop, set the power pack speeds and directions to match while you cross the train over on the double-crossover. If you prefer the complication of the present arrangement, then DCC might be the way to go. Rich K.

Probably out of stock and the their wholesalers don't have stock. Therefore the reservation process starts again. Warehouses on the North American scale are rare in Japan because of the high cost of land and (scarcity of land)

Basic things that you would not expect to ever go unavailable, like common track pieces, power supplies, wiring cables and controls, etc. actually do go unavailable in this market. Among vendors that we foreigners generally deal with, Hobby Search Japan seems to have very shallow inventories and often runs out earlier than other vendors. Generally, manufacturers like Kato and Tomix schedule new product runs on a recurring basis and most of these things come back into stock. HS just announced a re-stock of the right-hand Kato "No. 6" track switch, for example, and it looks like the left-hand version is coming next. This can tax your patience. Very rarely is the item updated. Sometimes items are and they get a new product number. Sometimes only the packaging/quantity changes and they get a new product number just for that. If the product number stays unchanged, the item is probably unchanged, too. The unexpected surprise comes occasionally when some item never gets announced for another production run, and suddenly you discover that you can't get that item any more. Then you are caught short... Rich K.

Thank you to everyone who's chimed in so far and given what has been very sound, sensible advice. I had thought to myself I might have been rather over-optimistic suggesting selling my set overseas, so it's good to have some confirmation on that. Special thanks to @mojo for putting in the time to ask HLP and confirm that too. In any case, I've had an offer on the 500 so it's going to head off to its new home in the next week or so. That should free some more space up, with what I'm thinking about buying I will probably need it! Alastair

Probably a new batch run by Kato since the bar says pre-order.

Kato USA offers this service. You would need to contact them for pricing.

Apologies in advance if this has already been covered in previous threads. I'm still a novice at n gage model railroading, having just started a few months ago, but I'm already running into limitations imposed by the DC system. I may have over complicated my two-power pack layout with a Double crossover and an X-cross over ... (see attached layout plan) Phase3 + Beer Brewery.pdfSo a conversion to a DCC system might be ideal. However, reading information on this forum as such for DCC conversions, I may not be up to the task myself, especially with limited n gage experience, limitations in dexterity and eyesight. Thus I would like to consider engaging DCC installation services. My questions include: (1) are there installers experienced in converting n gage Japanese locomotives, ideally in the Northern California area where I live, or are there viable services elsewhere via delivery, (2) what are controller options/considerations, e.g. sound, bluetooth, and (3) what would be a the range of costs and viable options (understanding that it likely would depend on examining the the specifics of my locomotives and decoder/sound options) and how may I get quotes for this service. My current n gage collection for conversion include: Kato 10-1500 Series 35-4000 'SL Yamaguchi-go' 5 Cars Set Kato 10-1527 485 Series Early Type, 6-Car Basic Set Kato 10-1670 Passenger Car Formation Set Sleeping Express 'Kitaguni' 8 Cars Set Kato 2016-8 2016-8 Steam Locomotive Type D51 200 (N scale) Kato 2017-8JNR Steam Locomotive Type C62-2 Tokaido Type (N scale) Kato2018-1 2018-1 Steam Locomotive Type D51 1st Ed. (Tohoku Type) Kato 3049-2Electric Locomotive Type EF58 150 Miyahara Engine Depot (N scale) Tomix 6425 Track Cleaning Car (Blue) (N scale) All passenger cars have been fitted with Kato lighting kits. (BTW, I'll be visiting Kato Hobby Center in Tokyo as well as the Akihabra district in a couple of weeks, so I may end up acquiring more Kato trans! 😁) Thanks for any advice! Phase3 + Beer Brewery.pdf

Falcon, nice little layout! Shows what you can pack into a small Ttrak loop and pack away easily if you don’t have the space to keep it set up! can you show us more if it? cheers, jeff

I got an email back from Hobbyland Pochi. They said that foreigners can sell stuff with their passports, but they need an address and can't accept hotels, so in reality it's impossible for visitors. Hard Off has the same issue. ID is not the issue, needing a non-hotel address in Japan is.