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Although the situation is improving there is still little variety in available Z gauge freight stock. I've amassed a decent collection of Tenshodo, Rokuhan and PRM Loco wagons but some obvious ones are still not available. The distinctive Taki 5450 tank cars in their yellow colour scheme are one such. So the thought was to try and scratchbuild some. However I recently picked up a load of MTL Z including a starter set. In amongst the box was a very sad looking MTL tank wagon with an end missing and damaged couplers which looked like it could be a suitable donor vehicle. First thing to do was to eliminate the moulded seam along the length of the barrel and make new recessed ends for the tank. . Then add hand rails at either end, these came off some Marklin 4 wheel tank wagons that had donated their chassis to British 20 Ton brake vans Painted in Ford Signal yellow with the chassis painted black it was now time for the homemade decals to finish it off. This was going to involve some work with Adobe Photoshop. I had found a good broadside photo of one on Wiki Commons which I cropped around the lettering. The image size was then shrunk to the length of the tank It need rotating about 1 degree clockwise to line it up I then converted it to grey scale and tuned the contrast right up

Continuing my personal reflections on the models currently available in Japanese Z I turn to the electric outline locos available. Now it was never my intention to buy any Electric locos and certainly I don't intend to put any catenary up (not after last time!) but Alison at Contikits had bought a collection of Japanese Z and was offering it at very reasonable prices. So I indulged in a Rokuhan EF 66 and a PRMloco EF 64 The EF66 in Early version livery is in the foreground with the 64 in JRF Blue and white behind. Compared to the rolling stock the PRMloco EF64 is very nicely painted and its performance was very good indeed with one small quibble which you will see on the video The pair together outside the loco maintenance shed on 'Shasta' In the video I test the locos on a variety of my layouts including young Brooklyn's Alpine layout with its evil curves and gradients and Republic Steel and most of my Japanese stock getting let off the leash on my big 'Shasta' layout. This had been out in full length form at the recent Derby model railway exhibition in Union Pacific/Southern guise This show was set in the spectacular surroundings of the original Midland Railway 'Derby' roundhouse with its unusual timber roof and crane gantries set over the turntable (Still in situ) which is now part of Derby College Link to video in a minute Kev

Hi to all of the forum Having some コキ104, 106 and 50000 here in different colors (modely by Endo and Tomix) I'm wondering about some different JR and JRF signs on them. I have コキ106 in gray and blue, コキ104 in lightblue and one コキ50000 in brown. Digging through lots of pictures in the net I am still not sure about colors and lettering. I understand that in 1987 JNR went into one fraight service company (JR Freight or JRF) and several passenger companies (e.g. JR East etc.) . The passenger companies received unique colors to differentiate. May I kindly ask for some help to understand more. Are the コキ colors connected with specific lines or services? Lot of pictures show most コキs of same color but mixed can also be found. Also I did not find any description when コキ lettering shows JR and when JRF. Some containers are also lettered with JR and other with JRF. The brown コキ50000 seems to have no diffference to JNR version except gray bogies and coupler and a small white icon printed on frame. Thanks in advance. Now going back to fight with the detail parts of several series 10 ナハネs and ナハネフ.

Hi all, Am lucky enough to be travelling to Tokyo later this month in pursuit of my two hobbies, airplanes and trains. I'm staying a few days near each of Narita and Haneda airports and wondered if anyone had any suggestions of good places within a reasonable distance (preferably by train), to shoot some video of freight trains. Many thanks. Ian

Perusing through old photographs, I found the attached taken from the Tokaido Shinkansen during a trip in April 2013. Unfortunately I did not record where this freight terminal was but it must have been close to the Shinkansen track to be photographed from a moving train which itself presumably must have been slowing down or not going at full speed given by the minimal blurring. I suspect it is between Nagoya and Tokyo so does anyone recognise which JRF Freight Terminal this is or could hazard a guess?

I have been cataloguing my collection of JRF freight locomotives photos taken over the past two decades and realised that I have never seen any Japanese websites that document what locos are currently in use and where by type and number. This would be extremely usefull especially regarding where locos have been renumbered. Has anyone come across a website that gives this info and can you direct me to it? Looking for something similar to http://www.abrail.co.uk/ which identifies UK locomotives numbers and location by type and class.