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I know that both Kato & Tomix produce E5 and H5 Series models, but I am wandering about everyone's experience with them and what are the differences other than the obvious coupling and diaphragm systems? Most of my Shinkansen are currently by Kato: 100 Series Grand Hikari, E2 Asama, E2-1000 Hayate, E3-0 Komachi, E3-1000 Tsubabsa & E4 Max. As you can tell I have concentrated on JR East Shinkansen. I have one Tomix 200 Series H unit Super Yamabiko, I am a bit partial to the late 80's shark nose sets, which is why i also have the full 16 car set of the Kato 100 Series Grand Hikari! And When I get around to expanding my fleet with an E1, it's gonna have to be the Tomix model, since the Kato model has been out of production since before I moved to China.... But I am not sure what to do when/if I decide to get E5 and H5 sets. I feel that the diaphragm on the Tomix models looks much better and closer to the full width diaphragms on the real trains. And I know from my experience with my Super Yamabiko that the Tomix conductive coupling system is reliable. Would I be right in guessing that the Tomix TN couplers hidden in the noses are not compatible with Kato's Shibata couplers? And if I ever choose to DCC my Shinkansen, how easy is it to install chips on a Tomix Shinkansen? At least the conductive coupling system should mean that the whole train can be fitted with a single multi-function decoder, right? Looking forward to hearing people's experiences, and comments on performance and maintenance would be appreciated too! Ewan

Hey, can anyone here share some photos of their Tenshodo HO 1:87 JR500 shinkansen that'd be great! I don't own one my self and I can't find a whole lot on it. I would like to know if its possible to insert a DCC decoder or at least wire one in. Please post a photo of the motor compartment if their is one and I would like to see some more pictures of it in general, or just take a video of it running.

Bit of old news from two weeks back, but it was revealed that the number of services on the Hokkaido Shinkansen will be set at 13 r/t a day. 10 round trips will be Tokyo - Shin Hakodate-Hokuto services, the remaining 3 r/t will be SHH-Sendai, SHH-Morioka, and SHH-Shin-Aomori. All Tokyo-SHH services and the SHH-Sendai service will be limited stop Hayabusa, while the SHH-Morioka and SHH-Shin-Aomori will be the frequent stop Hayate services. During holiday/special event periods, up to 4 additional r/t will be added to meet passenger demand. Currently, there are 10 r/t Hakucho/Super Hakucho ltd. express services between Hakodate and Aomori. Including the remaining night trains, approx. 4000 passengers are carried through the Seikan Tunnel daily. It is projected that number will increase to 6000/day with the introduction of shinkansen services. It is still unknown if the Tokyo-Shin Hakodate-Hokuto travel time will be under 4 hours, considered an important target, which would allow passengers from Tokyo departing before 8am to arrive in Hakodate around noontime. A more official announcement is scheduled for mid-September. *summarized from Hokkaido Shimbun print edition article 8/27/2015

A simulator for an e5 shinkansen train is on display for visitor use at the California State Railroad Museum. It was provided by JR East, as part of a special exhibition on hsr. https://www.instagram.com/p/-SlpBDxoYc/ http://www.csrmf.org/component/content/article/55-events-exhibits-train-rides/477-fast-tracks-the-world-of-high-speed-rail

This news item I missed back in July, but it's interesting enough to post. JR East was already pegged to provide consultant services for the HS2 project in Great Britain, but on July 22 the firm revealed they had already started another service in addition to the previous announced items. This involved the use of their proprietary Hercules computer program to generate run curve diagrams. These run curve diagrams will be used to figure minimum running times between two designated points (stations) on the HS2 route. Presumably then hypothetical operating diagrams (schedules) can be generated using the data. One definition of a run curve: http://www.rtri.or.jp/eng/rd/seika/2003/02/lowcost_E08.html Details of the HS2 project: Top speed: 400km/h Top revenue service speed: 360km/h Train frequency- on completion of initial 1st segment (London-Birmingham): 14tph, on completion of second segment (Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds): 18tph Train length: 400m Details of the JR East project for HS2: Duration of simulation: June 10~Nov. 7, 2015 Test section to be used: Initial 1st segment (London Euston to Birmingham as well as connections to existing lines from Birmingham to Manchester/Leeds) Rolling stock to be used in simulation: JR East E5 and E6 Hypothetical HS2 trainset Stopping patterns: express type and stopping services Speed limits/standards to be utilized: JR East standard operating speed limits HS2 designated operating speed limits JR East press release: https://www.jreast.co.jp/press/2015/20150719.pdf Previous news from spring: http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/high-speed/hs2-appoints-jr-east-as-a-consultant.html

Just a bit of trivia. Today on a morning TV news program, the gran class seating on the Tohoku Shinkansen and Hokuriku Shinkansen trains were compared. I didn't know this, but the seating is slightly different. First of all, the E5 seats are produced by a collaboration of Hitachi and Recaro. The E7 seats are produced by the same company that supplies seats to Lexus. The E7 seats are slightly (5mm) wider that the E5. However, the E5 seats recline more, by about 1.4 degrees. I didn't catch the beginning of the segment, there may have been other points.

At the recent InnoTrans 2014, JR East had a driving simulator for the E5 at their booth, all of the cab displays were converted to English.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eEQ-wnjtTk JR East is aiming for 360km/h service in the future.