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In December of 2022 I made first trip to Japan and fell in love with its rail network and history. I even went to the KATO stores in Tokyo and Kyoto and bought my first N scale and first Japanese model trains. Even made a stop at the Kyoto Railway museum. Fast forward to May of 2023 I had purchased more trains, track, and accessories to begin building a new layout. It took about two months to build and detail, but for my first layout since I was a kid, I’m happy with it. below, you see how it was built from ply board and foam. My initial track planning and laying, and later detailing.

Batuwatta station of Sri Lanka Railways is located on the busy railway line between Gampaha and Ragama stations. All trains from Colombo to Kandy, Badulla, Vavuniya, Jaffna, Trincomalee and Batticaloa have to pass here. The train density is correspondingly high. This film shows the passenger trains and the single freight train. Sri Lanka Railways still uses Hitachi locomotives and railcars, called there M5 and S8. The station building and especially the trains towards Colombo are illuminated the best in the afternoon sun.

Hello guys! As I am waiting for the tracks to start on my new layout, started this little project. This is the Micro Ace station kit http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10262648 , it's a fairly old and basic kit but interesting to model. I had to add a 2mm plastic strip to get the edge of the platform closer to the tracks, as it was too far away and in scale, people would have to take a little run and jump on/off the train :P I'm using pictures of the Sakuragi station for inspiration and weathering, wich someone mentioned this kit was based on, or at least is pretty close. Hope you like it! Martin

Hi all! I have a KATO Unitrack layout and I am looking into getting a station for my track. The station area (at ground level) has place for 3 platform islands and is around 4-8 x 248 mm in length. I have looked into the stations that KATO produces, but I was generally underwhelmed by what KATO has to offer. The rural trainstation set does not fit the layout, and the island platforms of the ‘old style’ and ‘new style’ I find a bit underwhelming in terms of looks and expandability (the old style bridge can only be connected to 1 platform, while the new style bridge can only accommodate 2 island platforms out of the box). I find ‘typical’ Japanese train stations that KATO uses for inspiration generally not that appealing, in terms of looks, even though some Japanese train stations (such as Hachinohe, Kanazawa, Asahikawa, Toyama, Osaka, Kyoto and others) are much prettier. My question to you all is: Are there some alternatives to the KATO stations (that fit for KATO Unitrack in terms of height and island platform width?) What stations do you use with KATO Unitrack? Do you build your own from scratch? Or do you maybe ‘enhance’ the KATO stations with other packages from other manufacturers/other countries/homebrew modifications and additions? Pictures of your own station for inspiration is highly appreciated! Thanks!

Someone else's idea gave me an idea to emulate it, as the small Tomytec station I bought a couple of years ago in Hiroshima was going unused and apparently unloved. My effort isn't as flash as the original, but I have added more buildings beside the station, used slightly different paving and walls and added advertising signs (mostly election posters). The scratchbuilt house has a rudimentary interior, with the floor plans taken from Kyoto real estate listings online. A second, much smaller house (smaller, in fact, than my own home's living room), is yet to be scratchbuilt with a visible interior.

If a station's extra space isn't rented out, what's up there other than quarters for the last train's crew? Some of these buildings appear to be fairly large. Oume, Tokyo-to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:JR-Ome_Sta_0803.jpg Miyoshi, Hiroshima https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Miyoshi_station20080211.jpg old Fukuchiyama Station https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AB:%E7%A6%8F%E7%9F%A5%E5%B1%B1%E9%A7%85%E9%A7%85%E8%88%8E.jpg more space right next door, the Fukuchiyama branch office https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%A5%BF%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E6%97%85%E5%AE%A2%E9%89%84%E9%81%93%E7%A6%8F%E7%9F%A5%E5%B1%B1%E6%94%AF%E7%A4%BE#/media/File:Hukutiyama-sisya,_West_Japan_Railway_Company,_2008-08-15.jpg I'm sure I could get a decent apartment setup in the Oume building

I subscribe to archdaily on FB and thought it was a good idea to share this with members of the forum. There is a lot of work to scratch build this structure. But, it will be really cool to model this. It has a open section that allows viewing from the top and will look good lighted up! I have added a pic with lights... More details can be found at http://www.archdaily.com/506815/denver-union-station-som/