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Hi everyone. can anyone give me details on these models please. It looks to be a Tomytec railway collection set with a modified open air coach and the seller says the coaches have no details underneath. thanks https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/toys-models/models/railway/locomotives/listing/2847787635?tm=email&et=41&mt=9022EEB4-2FA3-409C-B29C-352B7CC692CF&bof=Wa0f9eZO

Hello. I have acquired a fairly substantial lot of greenmax kits on ebay so I am creating a post dedicated to the kits from this lot. This is where I will blog/journal and talk about each kit in different stages of the build. There are 14 kits, 6 with power units and 8 economy kits. I am no stranger to greenmax kits and lately they have really been my thing. All of these kits are older releases and some are packaged far differently than what I am used to in the newer kits. I wish they still packaged the decal sheets for starters, the old economy kits have them. I occasionally see people ask questions about greenmax kits so I am hoping to share what I have learned to help others if they are contemplating on greenmax. ....so what's next? The keikyu 1500 series of course. I am a keikyu fan and their rolling stock dominates my collection. So I will get to that kit first and share the updates when they come. Until then, Cheers

Bought a Hanshin Commuter Train Economy Kit today at Crosspoint Shimokitazawa (GM Store). There are a few more of these rare kits around, so hurry if you can! Maybe I'll get another one :P I'm going to use this kit as a base for two projects, but I need rare Keikyū 1000 type Economy Kit for that. Eventually I'll find one, but it's going to be a difficult job... • Project 1 will be concerned with the Keisei 3200 or 3300 with a new front. The new front comes from the Keikyū kit and will be attached to the body of the Hanshin kit. The train will eventually look like this: Keisei 3200 (New Livery) • Project 2 will be concerned with the Keisei 3100 with an old front, since these never got the new front anyway. The front comes from the Hanshin kit and the body is from the Keikyū kit. I'm really looking forward to this project, since it's one of my all time favourite Keisei trains (old front, new livery, hell yeah!). The train will eventually look like this: Keisei 3100 (New Livery) The biggest issue will be the underbody stuff, but that'll come in time. ---- Another issue I have is the second MicroAce A-6090 Keisei 3298 I bought. Keisei 3298 (Fire Orange) MicroAce A-6090 This train used to be unique to Keisei so there is no point of repainting or renumbering this train... An idea I have is to rebuilt it to the Keisei 3294 that had been tested for VVVF purposes, a 3150 type, or use the underbody of one of my MicroAce trains for the Keisei 3200 project. • The Keisei 3294 type will involve cutting in the middle cars to move the pantographs to one car. The front cars will remain untouched, but the underbody of the two middle cars need to be changed. If I were to paint this train Fire Orange, the front would need to be changed to square headlight, so I don't want to do that. It's a pretty difficult one, since I wouldn't know what underbody stuff I should get. I presume this isn't the one I'd go for. Keisei 3294 (New Livery, standard front) • The option to rebuild it to a 3150 is a bit silly, since Greenmax makes these as models already in several variations (Fire Orange, new livery, Hokusō and Chiba Express). They are however ridiculously expensive (min, ¥13.000 for a 4-car set). The rebuilt will involve two cars being rebuilt: pantograph moved to the front car and underbody for the middle and front car swapped. It's a pretty straightforward option, but I don't like the idea of cutting into the MicroAce body. Keisei 3150 (New Livery) • The option to use only the underframe for the previously mentioned 3200 rebuild is the most tempting for me, since it doesn't involve cutting into the MicroAce shells. However, it leaves me with four unused MicroAce shells, which will probably not be used ever again. This reason makes the 3150 rebuilt option very tempting... Keisei 3200 (New Livery) --- I'm planning to use these trains in a setting of a fictive company (Sagamiko RR) in a slightly different livery than the original Keisei one, with some in original livery. The Sagamiko RR will be running along the Sagami-Yokohama water supply line all the way to Sagamiko station on the JR Chūō line. This is a pretty straight and narrow footpath with water pipes underneath, large enough for a single-track railway line: http://calmax.exblog.jp/16861118/ This railway line could be operated as a 3rd sector company under Keisei Group and Keikyū for the Yokohama Water Company (or something like that). Here's a rough map of the route: I'm not sure where it will connect with the Keikyū Main line, but I don't want it to pass through the centre of Yokohama, so maybe I'll let it run directly to Kanagawa-Shinmachi instead. Here the company can have a small depot, along with one or two en-route. A large part of line will be single-track, like the JR East Sagami line, since it will be running through rural/light residential areas of Sagamihara-shi (the town community where I live). Through services can go as far as Kojima-Shinden (max. 4-car length trains) and the line can allow the occasional 8-car length trains to Sagamiko for special express services from the Takasago/Shinagawa direction (non-Sagamiko RR trains). These will only be able to halt at few intersecting stations because of space restrictions. The reason being that no investments have been made on the line due to conflicting interests from operating companies and the line's owner. Hence the collection of old rolling stock. Since the line will be co-operated by Keisei and Keikyū, that allows for a mixture of rolling stock in company colours. Planned other trains will be 4-car Keikyū old 1000 type, 1500 type trains and possibly more old Keisei trains in new colours. Now, I'm planning to have some of my trains painted in Keisei livery (as a tribute/revival livery), but also one or two in a fictive/parody livery that is sort of related to Keisei Group liveries. The official liveries are as follows: - Keisei has Red with Dark Blue as a supporting colour; - Hokusō has Dark Blue with Light Blue as a supporting colour; - Chiba Express had Dark Blue with Red as a supporting colour; - Shibayama RR has Red with Dark Green as a supporting colour; - Chiba Newtown has Blue and Yellow as a supporting colour; - Shin-Keisei basically Wine Red with variable supporting colours. I'm not sure what colour combination I'd go for, but the body base will be light grey, like the New Livery from Keisei... Time to experiment! Graphics courtesy by: http://www.mercury.sannet.ne.jp/bal-jaz/index.html

For the 25th anniversary of the Sega video game series Sonic the Hedgehog, Keikyu will give a 2100 series train a wrapping advertising. This will basically be the BLUE SKY TRAIN with some additional stickers. In addition, Otorii station on the Keikyu Airport Line, next to the Sega headquarters, will receive a commemorative sticker on its station signs. Both the Keikyu Sega Train and the sticker at Otorii can be seen from 14 November to 17 December this year. Source: http://www.keikyu.co.jp/company/news/2016/20161107HP_16155YM.html

Observed on Keikyu rolling stock- speedometer dials (among others) with black faces, rather than the traditional white. 800 series: 2000 series:

Interesting poster spotted at Keikyu Tsurumi, which shows figures for crowding on weekday morning up trains departing Keikyu Kawasaki Station(6:48 to 8:55 timespan). According to the poster, the most congested train is the 7:59 limited express for Aoto. This poster is intended to encourage commuters to commute in off-peak hours, or at least to choose the less crowded trains.

Place I discovered this weekend. Located directly above the Keikyu Daishi Line terminus, it also offers views of the Keikyu main line, particularly the down local platform, and in the distance, the pocket track used by local trains terminating at Keikyu Kawasaki. location: Tullys, Keikyu Wing Bldg, 4F

TRA has a EMU 700 trainset in Keikyu colors, running from May 12, celebrating the sister railway ties it has with Keikyu. Keikyu has one of its 2100 series in TRA colors, running since February. The Keikyu-inspired color scheme is based on the 800 series "daruma" trains used for local services.

Once again, some Keikyu action, this time at crew change and depot point Kanagawa Shinmachi Station. Down trains during the later morning rush, in this case a twelve car ltd. express, with the last four cars unoccupied, arrives, uncouples, and departs. The rear four car consist then pulls up, and boards passengers, and proceeds as a local for Uraga. Total time from full stop to departure, including uncoupling: less than 1 minute. Apparently this operation occurs at this station around 10 times daily, in the down direction. In this case, the rear portion goes out of service, and reverses and crosses over to access the depot tracks.

Interesting video describing the procedure for departing trains at this station. First, the departure warning bell(for down trains) or the single tone "buzzer" (for up trains) is sounded. Once all passengers have boarded, the platform supervisor activates the ト indicator visible above the platform. The guard then closes the doors, and once the red indicator lights on the train car bodies extinguish, the platform supervisor activates the O indicator located in the same housing as the ト indication. The guard then signals all clear with the cab buzzer, and the train departs. The first train shown is a terminating service, so the above procedure is better represented by the second train and subsequent trains. *I didn't know the departure warnings were different for up and down trains. This procedure is also followed at Yokohama Station, which also has platform supervisors working from elevated podiums.

This is only of use to people around the Tokyo area after Christmas day, but there will be a sale of a limited run of 6000 2-car sets of the Keikyu 700 series. This represents the original configuration without air conditioning (think rush hour in a Tokyo August ) The 700 series (second generation) was in service from 1967 until 2005(!). Based on the wikipedia article linked below, I don't think these got aircons until a full refurb program was carried out between 1980 and 1988. Twenty-two cars were sold to Kotoden to become their 1200 series. These are operated in 2-car formations. These will be for sale from 10AM on December 26th on the 7th floor of the Keikyu department store at Kamiōoka Station, apparently there's also a Keikyu fair of some sort happening. http://railf.jp/news/2015/12/10/000000.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keikyu_700_series

I found this video of a direct limited express from Haneda to Narita through the Toei Asakusa line. It's from 2014 august, so realtively new. I wonder when did this service start. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXpCYgE3myE

A Kanagawa Shinbun clip from 2010: The first driver profiled, Mr. Shigematsu has some interesting comments: - due to the 1000 series being an all M (motor car) consist, it had high acceleration, being able to outrun rival JR types on a parallel line even after leaving the same start point later -on all service types- local, express, and kaitoku, the 1000 series could be relied on to get the job done. It was a very stable-handling design, inspiring confidence. -the cab design allowed all controls and switches to be within easy reach. When Mr, Shigematsu began his career as a driver, Keikyu still had pre-war stock in operation- the 1000 series was state of the art at the time. If he got the 1000 series on a run, he was relieved due to its ease of operation. Short clip of 1000 series operation on the Daishi Line: