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Odd but short question, since I like anime and plan to operate my layout at my local convention, did KATO make some anime theme passenger cars? I know they did the EVA Shinkansen a while back, and I was wondering if they made any other anime theme products since it would be good for operating my layout at the convention. Thanks for reading. -Dillon Trinh, The Little Nevada

I've picked up volume 2 of The Nostalgic Railway Collection. Since I don't remember any discussions about the Nostalgic Railway Collection here on the forum, I thought I should share my first impressions. The 4th volume is currently in preorder phase. I went for the diesel only volume 2. All the volumes share the same concept, you get a box filled with 10 smaller boxes with rolling stock of a Tomytec fictional railway company. Instead of one of the 10 standard pieces of rolling stock, you might get a box with a "secret" suprise piece. I haven't researched what the secret rolling stock looks like and I just got the standard content. The price I paid was 12 350 yen. The models are static, but can be motorised with the driving unit TM-TR07. I paid 2 850 yen for that one. I also picked up a couple of TT-03R (price 950 yen) which is for trailing cars and contains metal wheels, proper couplers with springs and a metal weight (set for 2 cars in each package). This is what I got. 10 pieces of cute looking locomotives, DMU:s and passenger cars. Inserting the motor unit was a quick and easy process once I had figured it out. DMU:s on a 140mm radius curve (Finetrack mini curve). The TT-03R wasn't strictly necessary, the motorised locomotives had no problem pulling cars equiped with their out of the boxes plastic wheels and couplers. Coupling unupgraded rolling stock however was a bit fiddly and always requires the hand of god approach. Once the car had their couplings replaced by springloaded ones and the weight added (and I suppose less importantly, wheels changed) normal autocopling where you back the locomotive into the car became possible. The product listing for the collection states that super mini curves (103mm radius) is not supported, but during my testing the trains quite happily motored along super mini curves. This means it's possible to build very small layouts, and I quickly set something up on an IKEA Billy bookshelf (260mm deep). I even found a use for my old hat! Overall, I think I got quite a lot for my money spent.

Hey all - Michael here. Well, after successfully moving back to the UK and completing some work projects, I've finally got time to run some trains - and at present, I'm doing so on my Dad's huge US outline N scale layout, which he's been building since 1985. Needless to say, my 100 series looks a little strange flying around upstate Washington, but it's nice for them to stretch their legs. After having collected 8-car sets of most of the JR West Shinkansen (100, 300, 500, 700) and one of the JR East (E7), I've fallen in love with the various weird and wonderful Tohoku Shinkansen, and looking at getting some more - but I've come up against a problem with the lovely 200 series (H set) I've set a limit for my Shinkansen consists at 8 cars, because they are perfectly realistic looking in N scale and on most layouts. However, the Tomix 200 series H sets are available only in a basic set of 6 cars, with the two double deck cars split between a 3 car set and a further 7 car set. The total for all three is not much short of 400 pounds UK, and I don't really want to spend the money on an extra 8 cars I'll almost never be able to run. Does anyone know a way of getting the two double decker cars separately...? Then I'd just need a basic set of 6 to make a complete train, which would match my 8 car 100 series very nicely. Cheers! Michael

Alongside the new Shinkansen test train, JR East has announced the KiHa E130-500 for use on the Hachinohe Line. The first units of these will be delivered in August this year, out of a total 18 cars having been ordered. (Source: http://railf.jp/news/2017/07/04/165500.html) JR East has also announced a prototype of 3 vehicles of the GV-E400 series, a diesel-electric (?) multiple unit train. The mass-production units of this series will be introduced on the Uetsu Main Line, Shin'etsu Main Line, Yonesaka Line and Ban'etsu West Line in the Niigata region in 2019. In 2020 they will be introduced on the Tsugaru Line, Gono Line and Ou Main Line in the Akita region. (Source: http://railf.jp/news/2017/07/04/170000.html)

Interesting list from the JR East website, showing the average age of each type of rolling stock in the fleet: http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/data/procurement/rolling_stock.html

Hello, I'm just beginning on dual microlayout model of the Asakusa terminus of Tokyo's Ginza Line, with a "then and now" theme, using six Ikea APA boxes as baseboards/surrounds. One third of the model will show the current era, with the platforms underneath Edo-Dori and it's buildings. I have two Kato 01 trains for this scene. Fiddle yards will be in the middle. The other end will depict the same location 70 years ago, at the end of WW2. The Kato 01 trains will not be good for the 1945 scene, and so I'm in need of a couple of original 1000-series Ginza Line trains for it. Does anyone here know where such rare beasties can be obtained? Thanks, Roy Wilke

Rolling stock quantities for major Japanese private railways (as of April 2013) 1. Tokyo Metro 2719 (cars) 2. Kintetsu 1952 3. Tobu 1948 4. Hankyu 1319 5. Seibu 1286 6. Tokyu 1257 7. Meitetsu 1069 8. Odakyu 1062 9. Keio Rlwy 849 10. Keikyu 796 11. Keihan 718 12. Nankai 706 13. Keisei 598 14. Sotetsu 412 15. Hanshin 361 16. Nishitetsu 331 Source: Tetsudou Fan, August 2013