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Hi, I have a couple of Kato steam locomotives (Hitoyoshi, C62-Tokaido and D51-498). I noticed on the forum that some people seem to have issues with certain models derailing often. From my experience, I mostly have issues with the D51-498 with the last set of wheels (see picture below) that tends to "jump" left or right, particularly on turnouts. However, I do not see any way to fix this issue since there does not seem to be any screw to shift the position of these wheels or the stiffness of their connection to the locomotive... Did anyone encounter such issue and find a way to fix it ? Thank you ! Alain

My local Kumamoto hobby shop has disclosed to me that KATO intends to produce the SL Hitoyoshi (as well as SL Aso Boy while they're at it) in N gauge during 2022. I trust their word as since they're long-time KATO dealers for several decades now, and I'm a frequent customer of theirs. It makes sense considering the number of JR Kyushu trains and locomotives they've made so far, never mind the Tohoku-region (2028-1) 8620. I'm hopping we'll all see it as a Planned Product in the soon-to-be-released 2022 catalog. I really like their JR Kyushu DE10. This is the video from which I originally learned of the SL Hitoyoshi, way back before I came here. It immediately became my favorite train in Japan.

My Dad, who lives in the Kaliningrad oblast in Russia, sent this photo that he took this weekend of Er-791-94 at the Kaliningrad-Passazhirsky train station. This is apparently the first steam fan trip in the area in 20 years. He noted that the 0-10-0 pulled a singular coach that was sold out, even though tickets were expensive. Hopefully, this is a sign of future steam trips. Jeremy

Nice video of a fan-trip of C57 1 from a few days ago. The Google translation of the title is “Goodbye SL Kita-Biwako.” Is the locomotive going somewhere?

I was wondering if anyone could recommend good resources about the history of steam locomotives on Hokkaido.

So you would not imagine there was much chance of finding any working steam locomotives up North, the weekend before Christmas, in the shortest hours of daylight in the whole year and in the middle of a rapidly deteriorating Covid situation as the mutant virus spreads like wildfire But... The Lakeside & Haverthwaite railway, about 15 minutes from my house, had other ideas. They had cancelled the 'Santa' specials early on but decided to run some socially distanced 'Mincepie specials' To this end they had used their British Railways Mk I compartment coaches with a family 'bubble' each being allocated their own compartment. face masks were mandatoryand if you wanted afternoon tea in the tea room you had to book in advance. Motive power was Andrew Barclay 0-6-0T 1245 of 1911. Now finished in black and named as C arron no 14 seen at Haverthwaite station with the blower on and safety valves lifting The trip was a gentle meander from Haverthwaite to Lakeside station on Windermere. At the lake the loco runs around and returns to Haverthwaite Bunker first At Lakeside the Windermere steamers were laid up for the Winter. 'Tern' was on the slip behind the Signalbox for its annual inspection. I always think this boat looks as elegant out of the water as it does in it You can see how close it is to the signalbox more in a mo Kev

Hi all, new member here. Heeeelp!! Been wanting an N gauge JNR fleet for a while, but just ordered a D51 (#498) (Kato brand). I have a couple questions, because the seller (on eBay) didn’t specify these: 1) does it have an operating headlight? 2) is it DC from the factory? 3) will it work in the US? I saw something on the eBay page about being sure the plug was type A and 95-100v. Now, all the other stuff I have from Kato works fine (I have unitrack and a Kato power-pack) but I really don’t want to have to buy a transformer or whatever just to be able to run my train. It’s the 2016-7 model, of that helps at all. Sorry if this is the wrong place to put this, like I said I’m new.

Here are two good videos of an open day sort of event at Umekoji. Ayokoi's video features a still image of an informational panel with some English before showing the engine itself. Karibajct's video has some scenes inside the roundhouse, filmed from on top of something about as tall as a locomotive or tender, it's an interesting view of the interior. by ayokoi by karibajct

Related to the recent announcement by Tramway of an HO scale 8600, a bit of vintage prototype footage. Other than a few scenes in Wakamatsu in Kyushu in the beginning, the scenes are on the Gonou Line in Aomori, where these types were used on mixed trains.

JR Hokkaido announced this week that three steam locomotive excursion services will cease at the end of this fiscal year. The services are the "SL Hakodate-Onuma", the "SL Niseko", and the "SL Hakodate Christmas Fantasy". Reasons given for the cessation of these services are increased workloads for staff in improving systemwide safety, preparations for the opening of the Hokkaido Shinkansen, and the expense of installing ATS with overspeed control on steam locomotives. Apparently the steam service running between Kushiro and Shibecha, the "SL Fuyushitsugen", will continue to run in season. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/hokkaido/news/20140710-OYTNT50006.html

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001256520