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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.

(this might belong in general?) So for my layout I’m eventually going to build, I want to include a JASDF/JGSDF/USAF/etc. base, and theTomytec aviation equipment series looks perfect for it, but I have been unable to find it in stock anywhere other than overpriced on eBay or probably on Yahoo auctions somewhere(I haven’t looked yet, because I’m not entirely accustomed to the site yet). Does anyone know of a good place that I could find it reasonably priced?

Hey guys, I recently bought a Tomytec Railway Collection Gudetama Seibu 30000 系. Tomytec suggest using the TM-08R motor kit, TT-04R wheel set and 0284 pantograph. This doesn't add lighting or keep there interior pieces though. I'm curious if anyone has taken the railway collection trains and added the frame from another manufacturer before? In this case it, Greenmax seems to make a set with motor and cab cars that could questionably have these car bodies placed on top.

I need some help from y'all! I am expanding my lay-out with the Tomytec moving bus system. I got one of the starter sets but for the most of it I will be designing and bustling my own roads and bus stops. I will be running a number of busses and by means of a sort of block system, prevent that they run into each other. So I got myself some extra buses, i.e. two Yokohama city buses. Below you see the package. Now I am struggling to find out which motor unit belongs to this bus. Tomytec manages to confuse the hell out of me with their descriptions of which buses belong to each motor unit. There is no look-up table that tells you which motor belongs to e.g. a JB041-2. The Tomytec customer service page (allowing to contact them by E-mail) is not responding (not very Japanese). Who can help me to find which motor unit fits my new buses? Many thanks Jan

Hi all! I am considering to have a bus or two driving around on my lay-out. My layout does not lend it self to the use of the standard off the shelf road sections supplied by Tomytec. I have no experience with this system yet and I am searching and reading about it on internet and on this forum. In all it is a bit confusing to me and I am left with a number of questions that I hope some of you may be able to answer also to check if my idea's are feasible. I plan to create my own road sections and maybe even a complete station square with a bus stop. Will the Faller Car system wire work with the Tomytec buses? What would be the minimum turn radius for the bus? Is it possible to have a level rail crossing? I have the standard Kato automated rail crossing. Would be nice if I can have the bus cross that crossing. E..g. if there is no guide wire, will the bus automatically continue straight on or will it behave erratic and swerve off the road onto the tracks? There will be junctions with traffic lights. How can I make a bus stop at the red/amber light? I understand that you can control the bus with magnets under the surface. Is there a spec to buy a electromagnet that does the job? Would it be possible to create a remote controlled turn-out, such that one bus may go straight and the other pulls over or turns left or right? I may like to have two buses. Is there a way to detect the position of a bus to create a block system that prevents that the buses run into each other?

Just received the 3D prints for my new project: an Onsen on a mountain slope. It will be integrated with my lay-out under construction however as a sort of diorama on its own. The basis of the diorama are the two Tomytec buildings that, together with a base and a few other structures, form the Tomytec Hot Springs diorama. However the base is no longer available and I would have trouble fitting it in my lay-out. So I decided to start from scratch. To keep it easy I designed the base of the diorama in 3D (SketchUp) and had it printed. Same for the wall and bridge over a small stream. The whole thing will be situated on a mountain slope besides a road winding up the slope, hence the heavy embankment walls. I'll keep you posted as things progress. Jan

So I’ve got the kit mostly assembled. It’s been an adventure! I’m glad they included three pieces of “ABC”, as I managed to get it wrong first time.... One thing I can’t work out is what is the bit in the lower right hand corner for and where does it go?

Finally found a number of Tomitec taxi's at a fair in Houten, The Netherlands. Yozu Bruinsma had quite a collection for sale, albeit without the original box. I am a bit puzzled about the make and types. Are these indeed Toyota Crown's and two Nissan Cedric's? And one more thing: the car with the red light on the roof, is that a police car?

Hi guys! Can't wait anymore! Even when I have other projects on the workbench, can't stop thinking on the next layout. So, I've been playing with scarm and track I have available and came up with a little desing based on a layout seen on the net some time ago in the dissapeared blog of Mr. Hidetaka Ishijima (great layouts!). My problem comes withe height gradient to meet the right height on the left curve. Any ideas on this? I don't have yet defined the design. First design: Second, reduced size, but I think I'll go back to the original size: And where I am now: started the elevation earlier but still too much, Was thinking on making an exit to the station on the right: Well, that's all for now. Any super suggestions welcomed! :) :) Martin

I just received from Japan The Tomytec Moving Bus System Basic Set B2. Well, speaking no Japanese I looked at pictures and was able to construct this simple little set. I already knew the batteries were tough to install, but having the correct tools sure helps! A tiny Philips head screwdriver does the trick. I ran the bus all night and woke up to a dead bus, but it works like a charm. Haha... This IS FUN! I'm sorry, I think I posted in the wrong place!

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